Few artists have experienced such a quick rise to fame as American producer Borgeous has. After sending shockwaves around the EDM community in 2013 with his massive breakout tracks “Tsunami” and “Stampede,” he followed them up the year after with songs like “This Could Be Love,” “Wildfire” and “Invincible,” quickly cementing himself as an artist to watch.
Since then, Borgeous has found himself playing on main stages around the world at some of the largest EDM festivals, all while continuously putting out music that spans multiple genres and always gets people moving on the dance floor. Along the way he’s also built himself one hell of fanbase that he calls the Borgeous Army. And, with a debut album on the horizon, 2016 looks to be another incredible year for the DJ
Last week in Miami, after his set at Ultra Music Festival, we caught up with Borgeous for a quick interview. He discussed how he got his start in EDM, how he’s built such a loyal following and much more.
Check it out below and enjoy!
How did you get into dance music and was it always a career you wanted to pursue or did you just fall into it?
Borgeous: As a kid I was always involved in entertainment in some way, whether it be dancing or singing or making music or acting. I was always trying to do something. Then I got into the nightlife industry and started promoting and DJ’ing a bit at some of the clubs I was promoting. I taught myself how to DJ. I’d practice for hours and when I played my first show I knew that’s what I wanted to do. It was mostly small club gigs at first but I loved it.
From there I started working on making my own music. I put out a couple free downloads and then “Tsunami” happened. And the rest is history [laughs].
When you have a track blow up so early in your career, does it put more pressure on you to deliver and live up to expectations?
Borgeous: It does to an extent. Mostly people just expect you to put out a certain sound after a track like that. I did “Stampede” after “Tsunami,” but then I did “Invincible” and “Wildfire” which were completely different from those two. And that’s what I wanted to do, I wanted to do something different. I got lucky though that my first two songs were received really well so I was able to do different things for my next tracks.
At what point did you know you had a huge hit with “Tsunami?”
Borgeous: I never know. I don’t think anybody does. You never know, it just happens. What you think and what the world thinks are two different things.
Did having a huge track so early on in your career help you overcome some of the roadblocks and challenges that other artists may face when they’re just starting out?
Borgeous: There are always obstacles, for any new artist. It’s hard to get your name out there, no matter what. There’s so much content being thrown in front of people and it’s always a challenge to get yours to stand out.
So how do you make your music stand out?
Borgeous: It just has to be good [laughs]. Just do a good job and work hard.
How would you describe your sound, and what kind of sound are you trying to get across in your music?
Borgeous: I don’t really have a specific direction. I always start with the vocal though, if it’s a vocal song. If it’s just a collab with someone then we just go back and forth.
Do you ever feel like you have to compromise part of your vision in collabs?
Borgeous: I’ve never had that experience. Every collab I’ve done has gone really smooth. There’s never been a point where I haven’t felt comfortable putting out a song. There’s always edits that need to be made to my contributions and the other producer’s contributions, but it always works out in the end.
Talk about the Borgeous Army a bit. You have an extremely loyal and passionate fanbase. How did you build that?
Borgeous: I’m really interactive on social media. I interact with my fans all the time. You have to. It’s extremely important. I just imagine myself back in the day, like when I was young. I used to love Nirvana and if they had Twitter back in the day and Kurt Cobain responded to me it would have been the best thing of my life. So that’s how I look at it.
You have a pretty rigorous travel schedule, how do you keep going?
Borgeous: It’s tough for sure. I did 200 shows last year. I just get in a zone and know what I have to do. My manager calls me a machine [laughs]. It’s tough to travel so much though, being on a plane 4-5 times a week. I can’t produce on the road either, which makes it hard.
You’ve been working on an album right? When can we expect that?
Borgeous: Yeah, I’ve been working on it for about 7 months. I believe the first single comes out May 13th, and it features Sean Paul. Fatman Scoop, Lil Jon, Neon Hitch, Lauren Dyson, Ashley Wallbridge and a few more are also on the album.
With so many new sub-genres popping up in EDM, is there still a place for big room?
Borgeous: I don’t think about things like that. Maybe big room isn’t as big anymore, but if you go to a festival and go to any main stage that’s still what you hear. That’s what gets the crowd moving. But it’s good for sound to evolve and for artists to have their own unique sounds and niche.
That concludes our interview, but we’d like to thank Borgeous very much for his time!