‘RS Interview: Special Edition’ With David Guetta

If there’s anyone to credit for the jump EDM made from niche underground scenes to mainstream pop back in the late 2000s, it’s David Guetta. “I started in underground clubs and I always wanted our culture to be bigger,” he says when we connect for a conversation. “During this time when I did ‘When Love Takes Over and ‘Memories’ and [Black Eyed Peas collaboration] ‘I Gotta Feeling’ and ‘Sexy Bitch,’ it was really a moment that our genre crossed over to radio and this is something I’m very proud of.”

The French DJ joins us from home over Zoom to talk about everything he’s been up to for the last few months. He’s got a big smile on his face and looks relaxed and happy as we talk about the past, present and future of EDM. We start by discussing his new single “Let’s Love,” a gleaming Eighties synth-pop inspired track with Australian singer-songwriter and longtime collaborator Sia. Guetta and Sia have worked on a whopping nine tracks together, starting with the smash hit, “Titanium” in 2011, then delivering “Flames,” “Bang My Head,” “She Wolf (Falling to Pieces)” and more. Their latest collaborative effort aims to spread positivity and good vibes, written as an anthem to help people heal in the wake of everything the world has been through in 2020. “The idea was to make a happy, feel-good song about going through this together and that’s exactly what we did,” Guetta shares about the writing process. About why he chose to write “Let’s Love” with Sia he says, “Because I was so attached to the message I wanted to deliver in this song, that’s why I texted her and only her because she’s really the best for this type of topic.”

Guetta spent the first half of 2020 raising over $1.5 million for COVID-relief funds via his livestream concert series United At Home. The event saw two concerts, one streamed from a DJ set on top of New York City’s Rockefeller Center and the second in Miami where people could watch him from their balconies. “I was home like everybody else and a lot of DJs they were doing [performances] from their bedrooms, even famous DJs, and I was feeling like, ‘No we are big entertainers, we should come with a show,’ you know?” Both performances together racked in 50 million views online, breaking the Guinness world record for most views on a Facebook live, earning Guetta a second record after being the most followed DJ on the platform.

In addition to spreading positivity with “Let’s Love,”  2020 saw Guetta start a movement in the electronic music scene with a new sound he created in collaboration with Danish DJ Morten called ‘Future Rave.’ The duo explored the sound on the EP New Rave which dropped on July 17th and it’s something Guetta really wants to expand along with the Eighties sound on “Let’s Love.” He remembers the Eighties as some of the happiest times in his life and it’s one of the motivations behind wanting to explore what else he can do with the vibe. “I’m getting into a new cycle, so I want to push this Eighties sound more and I want to keep coming with those type of records. That’s what I want to do this year.”

As for what the future holds, he’s determined to stay his positive self and keep on hoping that things will get better. “I’m an optimistic person, so the way I see it is that in 2021, everything is going to come back to normal and it’s going to be the craziest party year we’ve ever known in our lifetimes,” he says with a big smile. “If it doesn’t go like this and we’re still closing 2021 [on the same note as 2020]… then I’m going to start to worry.”