Exclusive | Afrojack reveals early start of making music at 11 impacted his mental health: ‘I skipped adulthood, it was me against the world’

You have lots of winding roads there (in Shillong)! There are no straight places. I got car sickness last time. But outside of that, it was nice to perform at places I haven’t been before, meet some fans, and eat some good local food. It was really fun! Now, I’m excited to come back to places I have never been before.

What’s your expectation from this tour?

Well, there’ll be no car sickness because I know that the roads are straight in Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru. It’ll be special because I haven’t said this yet, but these will be my last shows in India for a pretty long time. Because I’m working on a new project. Since I’ve been performing the music I’ve been performing for such a long time, I’m ready to start something new. So, this is going to be the final show of doing ‘Ten Feet Tall,’ ‘Can’t Stop Me’, ‘Take Over Control,’ and ‘Give Me Everything’. Then it’ll be time to do something new. So, very scary, but I’m excited I get to do this one more time.

What do you enjoy more — touring and performing live on the stage or making new music in isolation?

I enjoy both, but right now, I’m really focusing on creating. I’m excited I get to be here one more time in India, and celebrate the music of the past. But I’m also very excited to be creating the stuff I am this year, which I’m going to be presenting in the future. So, working alone towards the future is different. So, it’s lonely but at the same time, there’s anticipation of building a new relationship with the fans. I’m looking forward to it.

What do you think are the pros and cons of starting very early in the field of music production?

I started making music when I was 11. There’s the disadvantage of being you against the world. It was not good for my mental health as a kid. But it did give me a head start than other people who don’t start making music until they’re 18. I started DJing when I was 15. So, by the time I was 18, I was pretty skilled at most of the technical stuff.

How did making music at 11 impact your mental health?

I was talking to a few friends about mental health last night. The funny thing is I skipped adulthood. I just went straight from coming out of a school to becoming a DJ. So, I never went to office. When I was 16, I quit school, did a day job for probably six months out of a year, and then went straight to becoming a DJ. So, it definitely has an impact on the way you view life. But I do think in my case, it’s definitely been an advantage.

What’s your first memory of making music?

My first memory of making music is probably this programme called Magix Music Maker. It was literally me pasting beats of one song onto another song, and trying to figure how to loop it correctly. Then there was Music on PlayStation, which was actually a video game, but also a music production programme on PlayStation. Everything was timed to the beat, so I had a lot of fun with that for sure.

You’ve collaborated with David Guetta, who’s also headlining the Sunburn Music Festival in Mumbai this year, on hits like “Hero” and “Hey Mama” over the years. What’s your equation with him like now?

We’ve been working on a few songs together. I co-produced one of his new singles (“Raving”) that we’ve been playing already this year. Then there are two more songs with him in the pipeline, very very big ones. The nicest thing about working with someone for so long is of course that you learn so much, but you also become family. FaceTiming David is like FaceTiming one of my closest friends. Business and music are secondary. We’re friends first and foremost. A lot of times, we call each for things that have nothing to do with music.

You also recently collaborated with Guetta, Martin Garrix, and Amel for the song “Our Time.” How smooth was that?

It was complicated. Because the initial idea was great. And then everything is fine until we’ve to make a decision on what’s going to be the final one. And then there’s a lot of ‘I don’t like this part, but I don’t like that part. I want to do it like this, but I want to do it like that.’ I have to say both David and Martin are very established and the #1 DJs in the world. They were very free about it. So, they were like, ‘Nick, if you say so, we’re okay with that.’ I got very lucky with them! There was a lot of back and forth over the lyrics, the chorus, whether it should be shorter or longer. We all agreed on the instrumental, but had a lot of discussions over the writing. Amel is also a great producer, but he also got lucky to be able to work with the two #1 DJs in the world. For me, they’ve of course been my friends for a long time. But it still feels out of this world that I got the chance to make a song with them like that. It’s pretty cool.

How has collaborating with Pitbull on iconic songs like “Give Me Everything” been like?

Fun! I’m actually working on a song with Pit right now. He’s touring through Europe right now, and America next year. It’s like his resurgence. He’s selling out arenas. The nicest thing about working with Pitbull is you get what you see. How you see him on stage and in interviews, he’s just like that even while chilling in the studio. So, it’s always fun to work with people who don’t have any fakeness. He doesn’t care about the industry, algorithm, and marketing. He just wants to make good music.

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Finally, your partner Elettra Lamborghini is also an artist. Do you guys exchange notes at home?

We listen to each other’s music, but we’re from very different genres of music. She’s full reggaetón and I’m full on dance. But when we like a song of each other, we always say it. Because if we like a song of each other, that means it’s out of our genre, so it’s something special. But outside of that, we don’t work together. We really try to work separately and be home together.

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