(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “WARP 1.9”)
THE BLOODY BEETROOTS AND STEVE AOKI: (Singing) Whoop, whoop.
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Steve Aoki is greater than a genre-defining musician with years of EDM hits. It is a man whose touring gear is within the Smithsonian. He is within the “Guinness E-book Of World Information” as most-traveled musician in a single yr. And alongside his trend line, memoir, charitable basis and extra, Steve Aoki remains to be churning out monumental hits, working with a few of the largest artists round. His newest album known as “HiROQUEST 3: Paragon.”
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “FORGET TONIGHT”)
TYLER HUBBARD: (Singing) I assumed it was going to be only a two-beer Tuesday night time.
ARI SHAPIRO: Nearly each track on this album is a collaboration, and with artists from an enormous number of genres – Nile Rodgers, the Brazilian singer Ludmilla. One of many foremost singles is that this pop nation track with Tyler Hubbard.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “FORGET TONIGHT”)
TYLER HUBBARD: (Singing) And I mentioned, we can’t neglect tonight. The best way you laughed once I, I spilled my whiskey. I am unable to imagine I requested. You mentioned, shut up and kiss me.
ARI SHAPIRO: I requested Steve Aoki how he corrals such a big selection of genres right into a, quote-unquote, “EDM sound.”
STEVE AOKI: To start with, it was – a variety of it needed to do with the truth that I used to be in LA. Individuals simply come to LA, you get within the studio, and also you simply – you realize, you could possibly work. However since then, since I’ve left LA and I have been touring about 200-plus exhibits a yr, I take that as a manner to have the ability to expertise and discover totally different genres and meet totally different artists from totally different genres. Typically it does not go anyplace. Typically it finally ends up changing into one thing actually distinctive that sits between EDM and that different style.
ARI SHAPIRO: Yeah. Was there one model of music that you simply thought to your self, I do not know if that is going to work with what I do, however let’s give it a strive, and also you had been happy with the way it turned out?
AOKI: I imply, I keep in mind, like, even, like, 15 years in the past, once I began working with hip-hop artists, I used to be getting a variety of hate, a variety of, like, those who simply weren’t down with that.
ARI SHAPIRO: Like, keep in your personal lane sort of hate?
AOKI: Yeah. Simply, like, I – you realize, anytime you do one thing outdoors of the area that you simply’re speculated to be in, you are going to get some criticism. However, I imply, that labored, clearly.
ARI SHAPIRO: Yeah. I imply, at this level, the hybridization between hip-hop and EDM feels so utterly built-in that it is not even a query.
AOKI: Yeah. , it is – on the finish of the day, like, digital music, EDM, is just like the instrumental of a vocalist.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS (STEVE AOKI REMIX)”)
KID CUDI: (Singing) Inform me what you realize about goals, goals. Inform me what you realize about night time terrors. Nothing. You do not actually care in regards to the trials of tomorrow. Reasonably lay awake within the mattress stuffed with sorrow.
ARI SHAPIRO: You’ve now been within the EDM scene for therefore a few years, by means of the sort of rise and fall of dance music, and it looks like proper now we’re in a increase time. There are extra digital acts at music festivals, fewer rock acts. Digital platforms like Boiler Room are enormous. How do you see the state of digital music proper now?
AOKI: Yeah, I agree with you. I believe – you realize, I’ve seen the wave from the early 2000s to now, and it is completely peaking. , from a cultural standpoint, you realize, whenever you see the multi-genre festivals such as you’re speaking about, the place it is – the artists which might be viral are the artists which might be being talked about extra on the Coachellas or the EDM acts.
ARI SHAPIRO: And the tempo strikes a lot extra shortly now, when social media permits someone to development on TikTok, and you have by no means heard of them earlier than. After which the subsequent day, it is another person after that.
AOKI: It is true.
ARI SHAPIRO: How has that…
AOKI: It is true.
ARI SHAPIRO: …Modified the panorama not only for new artists, however for you working to stay related in spite of everything this time?
AOKI: It – it’s important to suppose in a different way about the way you launch a track. On the identical time…
ARI SHAPIRO: Wait, you are still releasing a 20-track album, which no person does anymore (laughter), particularly…
AOKI: Yeah.
ARI SHAPIRO: …Not in EDM.
AOKI: Yeah. So I positively have all the time thought in a different way on this area. I’m one of many few folks within the EDM area that care about dropping albums. Quite a lot of my buddies, they’re like, we do not ever must drop an album. We simply must drop a single. And you are like, should not I do this? Ought to I simply deal with one track versus a mission? And I veer in the direction of the mission. It will damage my soul to only have to carry again these different concepts, even when they’re smaller.
(SOUNDBITE OF STEVE AOKI AND JAMIS SONG, “THANKS TO YOU (FEAT. BONN)”)
ARI SHAPIRO: From this newest batch of, like, 20-some new tracks, is there one that you simply’re like, I do know this isn’t going to be the one which’s continuously getting radio play, however I find it irresistible, and I want it to be on the earth?
AOKI: “Thanks To You,” I believe, is a track I actually hope has a huge effect for my world – at the very least for the EDM world.
ARI SHAPIRO: That is that includes Bonn.
AOKI: Yeah. It simply has a very nice vocal resonance. The lyrics are significant. That is sort of, like, going to be an underdog for the album for positive.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “THANKS TO YOU”)
BONN: (Singing) Sophisticated emotions happening (ph). Take a look at what my [inaudible]. I am model new due to you.
ARI SHAPIRO: You are continuously on the highway taking part in exhibits, together with so many different tasks that you simply juggle. and I’ve a way of what your followers are chasing after they purchase a ticket to a Steve Aoki present. What are you chasing by maintaining the tempo that you simply do?
AOKI: Nicely, I find it irresistible. , that is, like, at the start. I really like taking part in exhibits. And the truth that I get to play to totally different crowds from all totally different elements of the world, going to those totally different nations and assembly totally different producers and totally different cultures and sounds – it expands my music. Yeah, I’ve to say the followers make the largest affect to me on if I’ll work with artists in that area.
ARI SHAPIRO: That is attention-grabbing ‘trigger once I see you carry out, the followers appear to be a mass of hundreds of individuals. The concept that you join with people whenever you’re out and in of these nations in a day is one thing I would not have anticipated.
AOKI: It is also the aftereffect. , you see it on social media. , like, every time I play Romania, it is – I imply, the gang’s loopy in every single place, however then once I depart, I simply preserve seeing Romanian followers, like, simply ensuring they’re heard and seen. Then I need to work with Romanian artists. I am like, I – you realize…
ARI SHAPIRO: Have you ever collaborated with a Romanian artist?
AOKI: I did. I used to be being pushed to the present, and I requested the driving force. I am like, I need to work with some Romanian artists, however I want some contemporary takes on it. So I used to be like, are you able to play me some data out right here which might be huge? So he performed me this track “Dudadu.”
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “DUDADU”)
IRINA RIMES: (Singing in non-English language).
AOKI: And I instantly DM’d the artist whereas I used to be listening to the track, like, this track is so good. And I DM’d her…
ARI SHAPIRO: Irina Rimes, proper?
AOKI: Irina Rimes, yeah. And she or he despatched me the stems, and I obtained it achieved in, like, seven days.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “DUDADU (STEVE AOKI REMIX)”)
RIMES: (Singing in non-English language).
AOKI: And I performed it on the competition and other people went loopy ‘trigger I am – you realize, I am remixing a Romanian track. , after which it simply makes me really feel, like, simply pleased that I can be of service to a world of those who present me a lot love.
(SOUNDBITE OF IRINA RIMES SONG, “DUDADU (STEVE AOKI REMIX)”)”)
ARI SHAPIRO: Steve Aoki, thanks a lot for speaking with us about your profession and your music.
AOKI: Thanks.
ARI SHAPIRO: His new album known as “HiROQUEST 3: Paragon.”
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “ON OFF”)
TAKIS: (Singing) I misplaced my buddies. I do not know (ph).
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