I've never had that boring office job. All my jobs were music related.
— Jonas Blue
I got on a bit of a rollercoaster looking into how Herbie Hancock used to make his tunes, and I remember a picture of Jean-Michel Jarre at one of his concerts and seeing the Memorymoog. When I heard the sound it I was like, 'Arrrgh, I really need that.'
The way it always starts with me making my music is I will never, ever start with the production first. It's always me at the piano, fresh on the day. I never come with anything prepared.
I was a bit of a hot head when I was younger so I used to burn a lot of bridges.
I'm really not one of those deejays who go, 'I play music that I like.' I play it for the crowd. I believe that's what a deejay should do.
Even when I'm travelling - which is when I do most of my writing - I have a little portable keyboard.
What is pop music? It's not a genre. It's just the music that is popular at a given point in time.
To be honest, I'm like a sponge so my inspiration and influences really can come from anywhere.
My music is very global.
Trying to write new music is definitely daunting, but I try not to overthink it.
My version of 'Fast Car' is in the same key as the original. To me that is where all the emotion lies.
I think the best thing about performing as producer is to hear the fans sing along with your tunes.
If I'm honest, I never knew 'Fast Car' was going to be my first single.
I'm a little bit of a show-off; I just wanted to get girls and be popular.
I try to find very simplistic melodies, which are the hardest ones to create.
When I was seven years old I played the flute, then by 11 I quit being a musician and got into Djing.
My first bit of gear was a Roland JV-1010 sound module. I used to hammer the hell out of that.
I love the idea of Pro Tools, but it doesn't seem as attractive to me in terms of the music-making side. It's great for recording, but with Logic you get the best of both worlds, the ability to do great tracking and producing something that sounds great as well.
My mates are absolute nutters. They're all Essex boys in the true sense and they definitely keep my feet on the ground.
I try and have two to four days a month to just be at home.
Before I hit any country I always do my research. I look at what's on the chart there, what's worked in the last few years. As a deejay, as a producer, that's when I get editing. I bring my own edits of tracks that are really cool and happening out there.
I know it sounds weird for a 12-year-old to say that he wants to start writing songs, but that's what happened.
I love touring, it gives me the ability to see the world and meet some amazing people who are into my music.
Well after 'Fast Car' was so huge, everyone was asking me, 'What's the next song?' At the time I just had ideas I was working on, but it was very clear I needed to finish another song ASAP, and that's how 'Perfect Strangers' came about.
It's great to see Latino music coming to the mainstream, but at the same time, there are also a lot more styles to explore: African music, Indian music, Chinese music.
I come from a songwriter background, so essentially with my music, I'm trying to make songs that will last a lifetime and although 'Fast Car' was a cover, it reflects what I'm trying to do.
The focus is on melody: If you get it right, and it connects to the mass audience, it doesn't matter if it's a studio album or played on the dance floor.
At times, for sure, I do love a party. However, I do love going back to my room and putting on 'Only Fools And Horses' and having a cup of tea.
I've always wanted to collaborate with Shawn Mendes, he's an amazing artist, but the thing with Shawn is that I won't collaborate... me just sending some beats. It has to be in the studio where we'd both be there recording together.
It's the worst feeling, going into your record label when you haven't got a hit. It was like: 'Maybe you've lost it.' And, once you're done, that's it. There's no support, or anyone to help you.
I don't drink or party. There's literally no time for that. As soon as I finish a show, I go straight back to the hotel room, do emails, I sleep, that's it.
I've always worked from a young age and was never big on drinking or smoking, so whatever money I had I put into synths.
I used to follow artistes like David Guetta and Swedish House Mafia a lot before making a full fledged career in EDM... their music inspired me too much.
I'm very close to my family but this life moves so fast. Coming off stage, you're so tired so forget to make the call or send the text. By then five days have gone by and you haven't spoken to your family.
That's the whole part about being a deejay: You've got to make sure you are prepared. At the end of the day, you do have your genre - house music, dance music - but there are many different ways of playing that.
I find in America, actually, I actually prefer it because it's all about energy. It's all about making everyone feel happy and smiling. In the U.K. sometimes people are a bit too concerned about, 'Did you play that track? Did you play that track?' It's not so much about the music in the U.K.
Instead of the Beatles and the Stones, my mum and dad were listening to Michael Jackson, Barry White.
Obviously the music I listened to growing up helped create my musical pallet. My parents were into pop, soul, disco, RNB, Latin, jazz and Middle Eastern music.
I grew up with all different genres of music, and I want to include that in my production as well.
The concept of 'Blue' is to transport its listeners to a different world with music. And I chose to release a full-length album because it enables me to experiment with many different production styles, not just a single sound, and take listeners on a journey.
I've been writing since I was 12 years old.
As much my music is dance music, it is also pop.
The one thing about Essex is that there's a lot of people there that are into their soul music. And I'm talking '80s and '70s soul music, that was a big part of my childhood, there was Al Green, Luther Vandross, Stevie Wonder, people like that.
I saw school as a business and, once I had got what I needed out of it, I left.
I don't get along with many people, especially in studios. I'm quite blunt and I know what I want - and songwriters are very sensitive people.
I've always wanted to be a star.
