Joining us at the KEF space in the Nexus Lounge, Amsterdam, we spoke with Justin Mylo about his favorite dance music, working with Karen Harding, and the importance of layering your music with meaningful emotions.
Perhaps best known for his feature on Martin Garrix’s “Bouncybob,” Justin Mylo first hit the scene in 2015, and since then, he’s been making the dance music rounds exploring just about every house sub-genre there is. His first album What Am I Looking For? came out in 2019, followed by Sentio in 2022.
Now, to understand a musician, it’s always good to start with their biggest inspirations, and perhaps unsurprisingly, the early 2010s were a hugely influential time for Mylo. In particular, he cites Swedish House Mafia and Avicii as two major inspirations.
In discussing what makes a good track, many artists would point to the quality of the production – especially in the dance space where the Venn diagram between songwriters, DJs, and producers can feel practically like a circle at times. Mylo agreed with this sentiment but emphasized sound quality as an expression of musical skill.
"It's your craft, basically, so you want to have that as good as possible to deliver the highest quality of music."
And what better example of Mylo’s production skill in full display than in his 2023 collaboration with Karen Harding, “Rescue Me”. When asked about the experience, Mylo had this to say:
"Karen was actually such a beautiful soul to work with. I had never worked with her before, and as soon as I saw the email, I was super hyped."
Of course, many artists like to fill their work with meaningful messages, and Mylo is no different. When asked what he hopes listeners take away, he focused on the importance of the emotional experience.
"I always try to have emotion in all my songs, and that could either be happy, sad, melancholic, but as long as people feel things when they're listening to my music, then that's what it's all about for me."
Before wrapping up, Mylo also had some great, simple advice for aspiring musicians to take away and apply to their work:
"Spend as many hours as you can making music and honing your craft."
Suppose you’d like to learn more about Justin Mylo, his incredible music, his celebrity crush when growing up, and the story behind one of his most popular tracks. Why not check out the full, exclusive Nexus Radio interview? You can also follow his social media on Instagram for all the latest about his upcoming releases/concerts.
