Quotes
“2015 has been a crazy year for me, and Spotify have supported me right from the start. It's an honour to be their Breakout Artist of the year, and I'm super excited to see what we can do together in 2016!”
“A lot of producers don't have any musical education. I couldn't make the music I make without playing the piano.”
“All my collaborations happen in different ways. Sometimes it's through a chance meeting at a festival or event, while others can happen just off the back of me liking their music and reaching out.”
“Avicii's melodies were so simple and cool, and they were actually similar to the melodies I played on piano. I thought if I could teach myself how to produce and get those melodies out of my head and into the computer, maybe I could make some cool music, too.”
“Coldplay doesn't have to stay within a certain genre; they just go where they go.”
“'Coming Over' was probably the fastest collaboration I've ever done.”
“Compared to EDM, I feel like there are a lot of girls at my shows.”
“Edinburgh has a similar climate to Bergen - it's very rainy and grey. There were a lot of days I'd sit inside in front of the computer, make music, and dream about summer - instead of the rainy reality outside.”
“Edinburgh is where I started. A lot of the remixes I made were done in my room there, and it was a good place for me to make music.”
“Elton John and Billy Joel, I find them both to be huge inspirations, those guys are so talented.”
“I always knew I wanted to create original material, and after having meetings with all sorts of record labels, I decided that Sony was the right place to do it. They knew what I wanted to make and gave me the freedom to express myself.”
“I am proud to perform at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert.”
“I called it 'Cloud 9' because that's the place I want to take people when they are listening to my music. It's also where I am when I make music.”
“I consider myself more of a producer and a musician than a DJ.”
“I didn't think it was cool for me to walk around with a huge Kygo logo on myself.”
“I do have in the back of my head that you never know how long it lasts.”
“I don't like to classify my own tracks as a genre.”
“I don't really know too many designers. I like a lot of what Kanye West has done with Yeezy, but I think it's a bit too, how you say, elevated; it's a little bit too special. Like he's trying to make something that's kind of a little bit too cool sometimes.”
“I don't want to make just tropical house. I want to make everything, just like, whatever I feel like making.”
“I feel like music can affect you in so many ways. When you hear a song with a happy melody, it can change your mood; it can change your day.”
“I feel like when I get the demos - I get a lot of demos - but when I get the right demo, I get very inspired. I produce around it, and it often goes very fast.”
“I find inspiration in what artists and regular people on the street wear, but I'm also very influenced by what I like to wear since I style myself.”
“I get a lot of demos sent my way, and I listen to them, and sometimes they just have something very special.”
“I get better and better every day, but there is still a lot to learn.”
“I get inspired by a lot of different stuff. My father is a huge music fan.”
“I get into a zone where I'm really in my own world when I make music.”
“I guess the biggest thing I had to get used to was people staring. At first it was like, 'Am I wearing something odd? Is there something on my face?' It was kind of weird because when I go to the grocery store, people, they're not necessarily coming up to me asking for a photo, they just... look at me.”
“I hate being put in a box labelled 'tropical house.'”
“I just like playing songs with happy vibes and good feelings.”
“I just want to keep challenging myself and keep, like, trying new things.”
“I just wanted to make melodies. I started trying to do my own thing and let the melodies make the genre themselves.”
“I like to try to keep my music happy because it can make other people happy. And that's the way I feel when I listen to Avicii's songs. I get happy because his melodies are so happy.”
“I love finding talents to pair my music with such as Conrad on 'Firestone', Parson James with 'Stole the Show,' and Will Heard on 'Nothing Left.'”
“I really do try and play as many festivals as possible.”
“I really enjoy doing remixes, but I don't want to be known as just a 'remix artist' for the rest of my career.”
“I really like melodies.”
“I really like streaming services. It's a great way for people to find your music.”
“I started studying business and finance in Edinburgh as a backup plan. I was still making music many hours a day, and when I was at university, the electronic music boom started really taking off globally.”
“I started taking piano lessons from the age of six years old. It's such an essential part of what I do in the production process. I wouldn't be Kygo today without those piano lessons.”
“I think my music covers a broader sound than just 'Tropical House'... My goal is to simply be a great producer in my own right without being pigeonholed.”
“I think people were looking for something new in the EDM scene and found it in my music.”
“I want to be known simply as a producer who makes music.”
“I wouldn't be where I am without my fans, and I am very thankful for them.”
“I'd love to work with some of the people I've remixed for - Ed Sheeran or Chris Martin or The Weeknd. But it's not just big names like these guys that I want to collaborate with.”
“If I never showed my face, it would kind of be easier.”
“If you do the same thing all the time, it's not very challenging.”
“I'm always looking to develop my sound and I'm in the studio whenever I have the time to do this. Always looking ahead!”
“I'm just trying to experiment with a lot of different stuff and see what comes out of it.”
“I'm so happy people have enjoyed listening to my tracks.”
“It was the fans sharing my music around that started it all for me.”
“It's a cool feeling to see how far my music has been spreading.”
“It's kind of crazy to see how many people actually listen to my music.”
“It's kind of hard when you're on the road all the time, from one show to the next, from one hotel room to the next hotel room, it's kind of hard to think about everything.”
“I've been a sports fan forever.”
“I've been so fortunate to have the opportunity to work with some incredibly talented vocalists, guitarists and producers, and I can't wait to share more originals in the future.”
“I've got a great team around me with my family, manager and label, and we've all worked hard together to make things happen.”
“I've really enjoyed working together with Apple to help launch their new streaming service. It is really cool to see Apple getting involved.”
“Lemaitre has been one of my inspirations ever since I started making music.”
“Making music all the time was my dream.”
“My biggest influence growing up was Avicii, who put me onto creating the sorts of melodies that feature throughout my songs today.”
“People don't really listen to albums anymore. They just find good songs.”
“SiriusXM has had my back ever since day one when I was making remixes in my dorm room at university, and it means a lot that they're supporting my music as I prepare to release my debut album, 'Cloud Nine.'”
“Sometimes I can sit at my computer and find a cool sound, or a new synth patch, and get super-inspired by that and make a track based on that sound. But the piano is where I find the inspiration and come up with the melody.”
“The difference between doing a remix and an original track is that when you do a remix, you obviously already have the original track as a starting point. But with the originals you start from scratch.”
“The opportunity to be a part of the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games in Rio is a huge milestone in my career, and it will be the biggest performance of my life.”
“There's just a completely different vibe at festivals. Everyone gets to hang out and enjoy their favorite music all day. I really do try and play as many festivals as possible!”
“There's nothing like playing at home.”
“To finally be able to actually play the piano with vocalists and actually do, like, a proper concert - that feels really good.”
“What I really enjoy and what I do in the studio is play keyboard.”
“When I am back home, I have an upright piano and I play constantly.”
“When I get up there, maybe I'm nervous for the first song, but then I get into it. It's a lot of fun to stand up there. I always enjoy the moment when I'm actually standing on stage. When I'm done, I'm like, 'Oh, I want to play one more song.'”
“When I go into a store and find a T-shirt that's well-designed with a great fabric but the fit is all wrong, the T-shirt is ruined for me.”
“When I look for people to work with, I'm just looking for talented people.”
“When I make a song, I'm really happy. It's an indescribable feeling.”
“When I started making my tracks in the style that people call tropical house, I didn't do it on purpose to make it sound tropical. I made whatever I felt sounded good. I just wanted to make my own thing, and then suddenly people started calling it tropical ... I'm like, 'Yeah, that's probably a good name for it.'”
“When I travel too much, it affects the music, and that is the most important thing. As long as I make good music, I can play shows, but if the music starts getting bad, the show offers won't come.”
“When I'm on the road and it's super stressful, it definitely affects my music. When I'm hanging out with my friends and my girlfriend and things are good in my life, then it's better.”
“While I was born in Singapore, I didn't actually grow up here. So I don't remember all that much.”