29. Martin Solveig

Martin Solveig

The most memorable achievement of the past 12 months for Martin Solveig? “I wouldn't know where to start,” he says. “The success of 'Hello' has obviously been incredible, the video shoot ...


 

Style: Anything that makes a Frenchman jump
Best known for: Top-selling record 'Goodbye.
Tune of 2011: Skrillex First Of The Year
Breakthrough DJ/Producer of 2011: Skrillex

What's the future of DJing? Video-synched DVD mixing or something like that
Favourite app? I actually don't use apps very often - I must be in the minority!
Discovery of the year? How much I love stuffed animals. Bernard the cougar is the newest member of the office.
Rediscovery of the year? AC/DC 'Thunderstruck (Crookers Remix)', I forgot how much this track goes off in clubs!
Awkward Moment? Stage-diving and having my arse mauled by… who? I've no clue, and having an arm torn off a very special jacket in the process
Style or substance? Substance with style - you have to have substance to be good, and it's always good to do it well
Pet Hate? I don't like people who think they are ten steps above everybody else.

The most memorable achievement of the past 12 months for Martin Solveig? “I wouldn't know where to start,” he says. “The success of 'Hello' has obviously been incredible, the video shoot in the Stade De France [for the follow-up 'Ready To Go'] is something I'll never forget, and my first tour of the US was very special. I could go on forever, this year is a blur of me smiling!”
It's no surprise that Solveig has a sunny outlook. He was able to capitalise on the booming success of dance culture in the US with a bona fide crossover hit with 'Hello', which hit No.1 in several countries and secured over a million sales worldwide. It was accompanied by all sorts of silly tennis antics in a series of extended videos, which saw Solveig permanently donning a headband and gleefully playing with his image, a theme that carried across to his subsequent 'Smash' album.
“It's not necessarily the aim in the sense that I want to sell millions of pop records - they are just the product of the music I want to be making right now,” Solveig says. “They are full of the same fun and light-hearted styles I've been playing around with my entire career... I'm still Martin Solveig, the nerdy Frenchman who makes fun music.