I get to travel the world doing what I love to do - making other people happy... They might not even understand my words, but the one thing everybody understands is music.
— Martin Garrix
Lately, I love creating ideas on my acoustic guitar. I sit in my living room for hours trying different chords.
I'm always excited to see the reaction of the crowd when I'm playing a new song.
I was really young when I signed with Spinnin' Records, and the huge success of 'Animals' hit me by surprise. I didn't expect my life to turn like that at all. But it was a very welcome surprise, to say the least!
I love Deadmau5 as a producer, as a person. He's super interesting. He's very funny to follow on social media. But as a producer, he gets every single credit I can give him. He's nuts.
I played the Spanish guitar for eight years, like flamenco.
I'm not sure if I'll make the Europeans feel bad, but I'll say it like this: The U.S. crowd is even better than the European crowd.
I think Dutch people are very sober. I don't know if it's the right word. Like, you have the most famous person walk by some Dutch people, and they're like, 'Oh, hello.' And they maybe take a photo, but most of the time, they'll respect you and leave you alone. And if you go to some other countries they will literally mob you, go crazy.
I want to produce more number one hits but not follow trends blindly! What I really hope to achieve in the long-term is to get that cross-over status such as Calvin Harris and Avicii. I'd love to be a household name in pop music.
Using social media to hurt and destroy is callous, acted out by cowards hiding behind computers. My advice is to ignore negativity. Focus on the love around.
I watched my idol and fellow Dutchman Tiesto. He was the first DJ to play live on stage at an Olympic event - the Opening Ceremony of the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens. At eight years old, all I can remember thinking was, 'I want to be a DJ.'
Food-wise, I'm trying to eat a lot of fruits. I take vitamin pills. For me, that's helpful. Luckily, if I don't go to the gym for two weeks, I'm not feeling it yet, but everybody is warning me, 'Just wait a few more years. You'll feel it.'
When I was nine, ten, I was super young, but I installed a program on my computer so I could start producing music. I just started messing around. Then, after a couple of years, I got better. I actually learned some tricks, so I knew what I was doing instead of just messing.
The bigger your songs get, the bigger the festivals you play at will be, until you make it to Ultra. It happened super quick for me. I'm still in shock, actually. I have to pinch myself a lot.
For me, I don't feel all the pressure. I make music, and I release it because I like it myself and I want my friends to hear it from me.
It's great to surprise people. If you do the same thing all over again, which people expect you to do, they're going to get bored.
The thing is, people only care about their selfie. I am a fan of artists, and if I have 30 seconds with an artist, I am not going to take a photo just to prove on social media that I was with the artist. I am going to enjoy every single second of those 30 seconds, ask questions, talk, actually make something of the moment, thank them.
When I come up with a melody in my head, it could be anywhere: in the shower, on the plane, in bed - often when I'm on the go. I'll record it on my phone with my own voice, humming. When I get to the studio, I check which melodies work.
Radio helps you break into a whole different audience. Radio has so much power. And that's my mission: to not only break into the EDM audience, but to break also into the mainstream audience.
I think it's difficult to say what exactly made me become a successful DJ. It depends on so many different things. If I were given an award, I would thank my family, friends, Tiesto and the great team behind me for all their support and hard work. Without them, I wouldn't be where I am today.
When 'Animals' released, I still had one year left in school, so it was, like, super weird. I had number one in the U.K., and I would still go to school five days a week. They made, like, a schedule when I could tour and when I had to be home for tests. But my team made it happen. My parents, they helped as well.
I love Disclosure. Dillon Francis. Bauuer. Flosstradamus. I listen to a lot of different genres.
It doesn't matter how tired I am; I will always still be happy. As soon as you go onstage, you get adrenaline. You hear the crowd: they're screaming your name. They have posters. The energy gives you energy.
Before I realized what was happening, everything blew up. I made 'Animals' when I was in high school, and literally, from that moment, I've been living a different life. I've been touring a lot, traveling a lot, doing great shows. I've been in the studio with my biggest idols.
I want to learn how to do balloon art and make dolphins.
Education is a cause very close to me. What matters is encouraging my fans to focus on their education, because only an educated generation can ensure a better future. Even when I was on tour, I did my homework and studied.
I like making all kinds of music, it really depends on the moment. Sometimes I feel like making a weird trap song, and sometimes I can't even attach a track to a genre.
I love decompressing with friends. Sometimes when a tour is long, I'll fly friends over for the last part of the tour. I love to bring family with me, and spending time with them and my family is really the way to decompress.
For me, having a balance between work and personal life is very important.
I'm a computer nerd. I'm behind my computer, like, 12 hours a day making new music.
I'm just having fun. I go in the studio, and I have no idea what I'm going to do, what I'm going to make. I'm going to make whatever I feel like making.
I will never, never ever sing on stage, but when I'm in the studio, I do sing melody lines. When I'm working with singer-songwriters, and I hear melodies, I can guide them. I will be like, 'Oh no, do this this this.' But you will never hear my voice on a Martin Garrix track.
There's so much more that I want to do. Of course it's great what has happened so far: Ultra, Coachella, EDC. But still, production-wise and show-wise, I'd love to play a show at Madison Square Garden. Stuff like that is beyond my imagination.
I think I will never stop working with music; it has become a part of who I am.
I didn't start my label out of a business perspective. I did it because I wanted to create a platform where new musicians can have the chance to get into a studio, work with each other, and get their music noticed by a large audience.
Of course I party. Of course I go chase girls. Again, for me, balance is important. One hundred per cent, my work goes first. Martin Garrix is my main priority. But to maintain Martin Garrix, I have to enjoy my downtime.
Guetta, in general, what he did for the entire industry, same as Tiesto, same as Daft Punk, they paved the way for us. If Guetta didn't exist, 'Animals' would have never been played on the radio. Because of people like him and Avicii. But mainly Guetta.
My parents even let me switch schools, to leave my regular school to go to the producer's school, because I told them producing is what I love to do, and it makes me happy to share my music and my passion with others. I was dreaming to go to that school. I begged them. They were like, 'Yah, know what? If you are happy, we are happy.'
Tiesto is legend. I've been in the studio many times. We did a tour together; I jumped onstage with him, he jumped onstage with me. Still, every time, I have to pinch myself and realize this is the guy who made me start doing what I'm doing right now.
The hardest part for me is to finish a track. I start new projects all the time.
The first day I'm back from a tour, I have dinner with my parents. I sleep in my old bed. It's amazing.
I want to show everyone that if you pursue your dreams, they can come true no matter what. That's what I want to do.
I always try to evolve my sound - innovate, improve, be different but still Martin Garrix. It all starts with an idea in my head, which I work on until it starts to shape itself into a track.
Of course I would love to have another track as big as 'Animals,' but 'Animals' became big also because of luck, the timing, and hype.
I wanted to have a label to not only release my own stuff but to also give young talent a chance to release their music without signing away their life. I had a great time with Spinnin', and the people I worked with were amazing, but the contract wasn't really for me. It wasn't what I wanted.
I'm very positive - music-wise, production-wise and life-wise.
I would love to work with Pharrell one day. Like, my biggest dream.
I like myself still kind of being... because DJs used to be the background guy - the guy who was just doing the music - I see myself more as that guy than being on the stage.
