Vika Petlakh
Most DJs aspire to ascend to the level of commercial success Jonas Blue has reached. With 22 hits on Billboard Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart. But commercial success doesn’t necessarily equate to happiness.
In 2024, he felt lost in his corner of the music industry. After a decade of club banger after club banger, he wasn’t connecting with the pop sound he’d been churning out to since 2015, when he dropped a cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” which landed him on the Billboard Hot 100.
That summer in Ibiza changed everything. While on the dance floor, rather than in the DJ booth, he heard house tracks that inspired him to make music in the first place, leading to a record deal with Defected Records at 18 years old. Once again inspired by those same songs, Jonas dropped everything – major record label included – to return to his roots and Defected Records. Since then, he’s rebranded and released “Edge of Desire” and his latest track, “Girl.” The former, has hundreds of millions of streams and the latter already pacing to be just as successful.
Billboard caught up with Jonas over Zoom as he started his day in Tokyo, before he had to catch a train to Nagoya; The location of the first of four shows in Japan. He told us about his love for country, how he plans to activate your sense of smell in Ibiza this summer and how he finds the state of AI “absolutely horrendous.”
Okay, let’s start by talking about your tour. This entire summer is jam-packed. Europe, Asia and North America. For you, what does tour-life look like? What are your favorite parts and what are the hardest parts?
Being able to obviously tour the world, meet all different people, fans from around the world, and being able to connect, hear stories of how over the years, my music has been able to be the soundtrack to people’s lives and really special moments. That’s a really incredible thing to be able to have from touring. The worst thing from touring is the traveling. Constantly, I’ve got no idea what time it is. My body clock is all over the place. There’s no real stability in anything when you’re touring.
You’re in Tokyo, currently, about to head to another show. How did you gain this connection with Japan specifically and how’s the mutual love between you and the Japanese audience grown over the years?
I think it initially came from my second single, which was ‘Perfect Strangers.’ I think somehow that song had such an impact on the Asian market, especially in Japan. I think so many of the Asian audience were just able to connect with my music. Melodically, the way my songs are, with a lot of the hooky melodies and the simplicity in the songwriting, I think it’s very easy for the Asian audience to understand.
From a very early point in my career, I just had a very, very strong Asian fanbase and we put a lot of time into touring here. When a market really appreciates your music, you have to tour it. I’ve been touring Asia since 2016, solid. So, every year I come back.
Part of your summer includes a nine-week run in Ibiza. What can you tell us about SENSES? It sounds like it’s going to be different from any other residency we might have seen.
With my music, from a very early point I’ve been able to travel so much globally. Like my first song, ‘Fast Car’ which was a cover of Tracy Chapman, was my first number one in Australia. So, being a British artist, my music has always traveled around the world before ever hit the UK. This thing that I’ve been able to experience over the years with all the different cultures, languages, sounds, within music, that’s what we’re trying to do with SENSES.
Throughout the night, there’s all different sounds from all different cultures, not only sonically but visually and basically with smell. Certain parts of the set, when they explore different cultures, from different parts of the world, you get different scents. So, you’re standing there on the dance floor, and we start going into some Italian sounds or Italian language spoken songs. All of a sudden, you have this influx of lemon and it’s kind of representing the lemons that grow on the trees or the lemon smells in food markets within Italy. I’m trying to explore, really elevating people’s senses throughout the night, not only musically but visually and all senses, essentially.
And how long has this been a work in progress?
Probably the last three years. I was actually very much inspired by going to The Sphere in Vegas for the first time, funnily enough. There was a really incredible documentary film that I saw called Postcards from Earth. Just the way it was able to go through different parts of the world and really just elevate every type of senses. I just remember sitting there and smelling all these types of different floral smells and woody smells. Exploring the world through these drones. And I was just like, wow, imagine if you did that through music. So, that was where a lot of the influence came from. It was always an idea for me to captivate everyone’s senses whilst listening to music and being part of an experience of a night.
It sounds like you’ve gained deeper thoughts on music recently. We saw, on Instagram, you posted about how you felt like you had to “fall back in love with music.” Can you tell us more about why that was and what you did to fall back in love with music?
Yeah, I’d been part of a world, if you’d like to call it the EDM world, for a very long time and had some amazing experiences over the years. I just kind of felt I’d got to a point where I wasn’t exploring much anymore. For me, as a creative, as a musician, I get really bored really easily. I made some big changes a few years ago, I guess musically first, being able to take all the reins off. Especially, when I was signed to a major record label, it was very much “You gotta do this, deliver this type of song and hit these kind of numbers every month.” I just got bored in the end; to be honest and I just wanted to explore my musician roots again.
Being able to bring real musicality back into my music, along with the songwriting, explore sonics with the music; I wasn’t doing that for a while. Now, I could start a song with any type of instrument and really let loose. Where I’m at now, musically, there’s no real barriers. I’m kind of exploring everything and anything at the moment. That was something that wasn’t happening for a long time. I’m, kind of, having the most fun I’ve ever had in my life.
Incorporating all these live instruments, is there any instrument you’ve found yourself gravitating towards or playing around with it that you didn’t expect to with your music?
For me, the piano is first and foremost my instrument. So, in today’s world, with today’s technology, being able to play piano, you can kind of play any instrument. One thing I’ve been thinking about recently, one of kind of the instruments that I don’t know how to play with is guitar and I’ve been thinking about maybe just buying a guitar on tour and just learning it. One of my idols, Max Martin, he did a similar thing quite a few years ago, I think, when he was working on the Katy Perry project, he never knew how to play guitar. So, he just bought a guitar and started learning how to play.
I think as a musician we all have this muscle memory and we all go to certain things that we that we know. But then when you learn a new instrument, it forces you to go somewhere else. So, yeah, I’d probably say guitar is my next thing that I’m looking at buying. Yesterday, I was here in Tokyo and saw a Fender shop and I was like, “Maybe I’ll just go in and buy a guitar.”
We’ll have to check in at the end of the tour and see how far you’ve progressed.
[Laughs] Hold me to it.
Your latest track, ‘Girl’, feels like a summer anthem. Is that what you envisioned while you were making it and what’s the reception been like now that it’s out?
I guess my music has very much summer connotations. I’m always traveling sunny parts of the world. So, I try to get my music to reflect that. But that’s also where I feel happiest emotionally and I try to bring that out in my music, but I wasn’t intending for it to be like a summer specific song.
But yeah, “Girl” has been so well received, and I think we’re at point in music, especially within dance music, there’s just not much original music written from the ground up. One, with musicians and two, with original songs. There’s a lot of people at the moment that take old samples and remixes them. But for me, I have a very strong point of view that all my music has to be original. I just find, at this point in time, especially with the industry being so busy at the moment with so many different artists and DJs, you have to be original and stand out from the crowds.
But ‘Girl’ has been so well received by so many DJs, which has been amazing. The intention of the track and same with “Edge of Desire” was to really touch on my early influences within dance music. Some of those early 2000 songs that I love, like Modjo – “Lady” and Stardust – “Music Sounds Better With You.” There was a point last year, I heard a lot of DJs playing those kind of classic songs and I just stood there on the dance floor, and I was like, “Why is no one write new songs with this kind of influence?”
I realized that maybe not a lot of people can write original songs anymore. For me, coming from a pop music background and dance music, I’ve always tried to blend the two. Now I’m trying to really dig deep into my influences and “Girl” is of a product of that.
I was about to bring up the early 2000’s inspiration. What else is inspiring you right now?
What’s inspiring me right now is doing the opposite of everyone else, to be honest. But the one big inspiration for me is actually working with musicians that I have worked with in my younger years. You know, I’ve worked with some amazing musicians; People like Derrick McKenzie from Jamiroquai, Randy Hope Taylor from Incognito, like all these kind of original classic musicians that we’ve done a lot of session work back in the early days. I was making disco music for quite a long time, like classic Philly soul, disco music.
So, I’m getting back in touch with a lot of those musicians and I’m working with them. That’s a big inspiration for me with this sound, you know, being able to have that kind of friendship again with musicians and putting that out on records. I think it’s very important for me.
Vika Petlakh
I feel like everything related to this recent project is all about, like you said, “real instruments.” And I noticed your logo was made by with real clay and various different real mediums, real tangible things. Do you feel like that’s really important to you right now in this moment?
Yeah. I’m looking for what’s real in this day and age, to be honest. We live in a new age now where you don’t know what’s real and what’s not and I think, for me, that it really just hits hard in every aspect, whether it’s visually with the artwork that we’re doing with the logo…
It’s funny that you mention the logo. Your logo is a big thing, and I’ve probably changed it twice in my career. But we had about, like, 20 different designers work on a new logo for me. We got some incredible designers. I just wanted to be impressed by designers, by how they came to kind of the conclusion of putting a Jonas Blue logo together and with the artist that I worked with, Ryan, on this one, I said to them, “You need to go out the box for this. It’s how you put it together more so that impresses me. Not just the end product.” And he had this idea of creating a logo, not by a computer and using blue tack. And I was just totally impressed. I was like, “Wow, I don’t know anyone that would go to those levels these days to kind of create something like that.”
But that’s kind of what I’m doing with music, you know? Especially with “Girl”, the only thing that’s programed on that record electronically is it’s the drums. Everything else is completely live. So, I have this real fascination of finding realness and things being organic.
It seems like, with the incorporation of real instruments and the way that you came about your logo, a little bit like a resistance to this AI-obsession that everyone has right now.
Yeah.
I’m curious to know what your thoughts are on AI and where it is in the music industry right now.
I think the fact that it’s still unregulated is absolutely horrendous. I saw something last night where you can now type into a search engine to see what certain AI music creations are modeling all of their platforms. You can put your artist name in and see what these platforms are modeling. My whole catalog was within this search website and it was like, “Wow, I spent my whole life and career working on my art and now anyone can just say they want to make a Jonas Blue inspired song” The fact that it’s unregulated and anyone could compete with me using my own sonics, it’s a crazy time, you know?
I’m kind of for it, in terms of people that have always wanted to be able to create. Why not? You should be able to be excited about having these new platforms and this new technology to be able to help you do things you’ve never been able to do before. However, the fact that it’s still totally unregulated, I’m just completely against it. It’s so wrong for people who’ve spent their life working on their craft and their passions and to just be able to have anyone copy it and release music. It’s just not right, ethically.
Does, that give you a sense of satisfaction or a sense of accomplishment where you are right now, coming back and using all these real instruments and doing it the old-fashioned way?
Yeah. Although, I’m sure “Girl” or “Edge of Desire” is going to be put into these platforms and it will be modeled to be able to create that, I feel like I’m the first to be able to do it before the before it gets modeled. If that makes sense. Like you said, it’s kind of fighting against the New Age World a little bit. But it’s mainly just for my own sanity, to be honest. It’s what makes me tick in the studio these days. What allows me to create new music. It’s definitely not AI. I’m not against it but I get more inspiration working with musicians and catching up with old friends and going over old stories. You can’t do that with AI.
Vika Petlakh
Lastly, this feels like the tip of the iceberg. What else can we expect from this next chapter and beyond?
To be honest, I don’t really have any plans. I know that sounds terrible, but I’ve always had a plan. As we stand today, I’m unsigned. I’ve never been freer in my life and I’m a beautiful point where I can release music whenever. I can work with whoever.
I’m just having the most fun I’ve ever had in my life and there’s really no boundaries. I’m trying to not plan because every day is a bit different for me. I might have a conversation with someone that might lead to a collaboration that I would have never done before because of the situation I might have been in with a record label, or something like that.
I have some plans for some collaborations, but I’m really just focused on being inspired and working on SENSES and being able to stay sane during touring. I’m not really trying to plan like, “I’m working on an album and I’m doing ten singles this year.” I’ve done that before and I’m just trying to live each day, be inspired and have fun.
Thank you for taking the time to chat. We’ll be looking forward to your guitar heavy tracks after the tour.
Oh my god! Yeah. Now that I’ve said, it’s stuck in my mind. I’m going to have to head to Fender and grab myself guitar.
