Martin Garrix recently clinched the top spot for the third year running in DJ Mag's "Top 100 DJs" but is yet to snag a golden gramophone at the prestigious annual Grammy awards. The 22-year-old Dutch DJ and record producer says winning awards is great, but it's not the most important thing for him.
"Winning awards is great, but it's not a goal or the most important thing for me. The most important thing is that people love my music," Garrix, whose real name is Martijn Gerard Garritsen, told IANS in an interview ahead of his gigs in Indian cities, including Delhi, this weekend.
The winner of the MTV Europe Music Award shot to fame with his 2013 solo release "Animals". Since then he has been making the world dance to his songs, some in collaboration with popular artistes like Usher, Dua Lipa, Afrojack, David Guetta and Khalid.
"All the artistes I have worked with are amazing in their own way and I'm proud of every track," said the "Ocean" hitmaker.
On how he chooses his collaborators, Garrix said: "Sometimes it happens naturally where you meet each other and decide to hit the studio together. Sometimes I have someone I really want to work with. The most important thing for me is that there is a connection in the studio."
Apart from storming the global Electronic Dance Music charts with his monstrous hit tracks like "In the name of love", "So far away" and "Scared to be lonely", he has been travelling the world and performing at various music fests such as Coachella, Electric Daisy Carnival and Tomorrowland since he was a teenager.
Talking about the pressures that he has to deal with for being a popular name in the music industry, he shared: "Of course there is pressure that comes with it, and the travelling part can be super-exhausting. But the thing is that music is my biggest passion and the thing I love to do the most. So for me, it doesn't feel like work."
Did he ever feel like quitting music? "No, luckily not," replied the "Game over" hitmaker.
This weekend, Shailendra Singh and Radio Mirchi are bringing Garrix to perform in Mumbai and Delhi.
On what should his Indian fans look forward to, he said: "A crazy show with new music and maybe some surprises, but I won't spoil too much."
This isn't his first time in the country. He has already performed in Indian cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.
"Indian people are amazing. Everyone is so friendly here and the dedication from the fans is next-level," said Garrix, who has more than eight million followers on Twitter.
Just few days ago, he performed in Dubai. With back-to-back shows in different cities and countries, how does he manage to bring variations in his gigs?
"We always work on improving the show to make it even crazier. Next to that I, of course, have a lot of new music now as well," he said.
(Natalia Ningthoujam can be contacted at natalia.n@ians.in)
--IANS
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