How Steve Aoki laces EDM into every genre imaginable
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Steve Aoki is more than a genre-defining musician with years of EDM hits. This is a man whose touring gear is in the Smithsonian. He's in the Guinness Book of World Records as most-traveled musician in one year.

And alongside his fashion line, memoir, charitable foundation, and more, Steve Aoki is still churning out enormous hits, working with some of the biggest artists around. His latest album is called Hero Quest III Paragon. Just about every song on this album is a collaboration, and with artists from a huge variety of genres.

Nile Rodgers, the Brazilian singer Ludmilla. One of the main singles is this pop country song with Tyler Hubbard. And I said we won't forget tonight The way I feel my whiskey, I can't believe it

I asked Steve Aoki how he corrals such a wide array of genres into a quote-unquote EDM sound. In the beginning, a lot of it had to do with the fact that I was in L.A. People would come to L.A. and get in the studio and you could work.

But since then, since I left L.A. and I've been touring about 200 plus shows a year, I take that as a way to be able to experience and explore different genres and meet different artists from different genres. Sometimes it doesn't go anywhere. Sometimes it ends up becoming boring.

something really unique that sits between EDM and that other genre. Yeah. Was there one style of music that you thought to yourself, I don't know if this is going to work with what I do, but let's give it a try. And you were pleased with how it turned out. I mean, I remember like even like 15 years ago when I started working with hip hop artists, I was getting a lot of hate, a lot of like people that just were not down with that. Like stay in your own lane kind of hate. Yeah. Just like, I, you know, anytime you do something outside of,

of the space that you're supposed to be in, you're going to get some criticism. But I mean, that worked, obviously. Yeah. I mean, at this point, the hybridization between hip hop and EDM feels so completely integrated that it's not even a question. Yeah. You know, it's,

At the end of the day, like electronic music, EDM, it's like the instrumental of a vocalist. Tell me what you know about dreams, dreams. Tell me what you know about night terrors, nothing. You don't really care about the trials of tomorrow. Rather lay away.

You have now been in the EDM scene for so many years through the kind of rise and fall of dance music, and it feels like right now we're in a boom time. There are more electronic acts at music festivals, fewer rock acts. Digital platforms like Boiler Room are huge. How do you see the state of electronic music right now? Yeah, I agree with you. I think, you know, I've seen the wave from the early 2000s to now

And it's absolutely peaking. From a cultural standpoint, when you see the multi-genre festivals, like you're talking about words.

The artists that are viral or the artists that are being talked about more at the Coachella's are the EDM acts. And the pace moves so much more quickly now when social media allows somebody to trend on TikTok and you've never heard of them before. And then the next day it's someone else after that. It's true. How has that changed the landscape, not just for new artists, but for you personally?

working to remain relevant after all this time. You have to think differently about how you release a song at the same time. I mean, you're still releasing a 20-track album, which nobody does anymore, especially not an EDM. Yeah, so I definitely have always thought differently in this space.

I am one of the few people in the EDM space that care about dropping albums. A lot of my friends, they're like, we don't ever have to drop an album. We just have to drop a single. And you're like, shouldn't I do that? Should I just focus on one song versus a project? And I veered towards the project. It would hurt my soul to just have to hold back these other ideas, even if they're smaller.

From this latest batch of like 20-some new tracks, is there one that you're like, I know this is not going to be the one that's constantly getting radio play, but I love it and I need it to be in the world? Thanks to You, I think, is a song I really hope has a huge impact for my world, at least for the EDM world. This is featuring Bomb. Yeah, it just has a really great vocal resonance. The lyrics are meaningful. That's kind of like going to be...

An underdog for the album, for sure. You're constantly on the road playing shows along with so many other projects that you juggle. And I have a sense of what your fans are chasing when they buy a ticket to a Steve Aoki show. What are you chasing by keeping up the pace that you do? Well, I love it.

You know, it's like first and foremost, I love playing shows. And the fact that I get to play to different crowds from all different parts of the world, going to these different countries and meeting different producers and different cultures and sounds, it expands my music. I have to say the fans make the biggest impact to me on if I'm going to work with artists in that region. That's interesting because when I see you perform, the fans look like

a mass of thousands of people, the idea that you connect with individuals when you're in and out of those countries in a day is something I wouldn't have expected. It's also the after effect. You know, you see it on social media. You know, like whenever I play Romania, it's... I mean, the crowd's crazy everywhere, but then when I leave, I just keep seeing Romanian fans like just...

making sure they're heard and seen, then I want to work with Romanian artists. Have you collaborated with a Romanian artist? I did. I was being driven to the show, and I asked the driver, I'm like, I want to work with some Romanian artists, but I need some fresh takes on it. So I was like, can you play me some records out here that are big? So he played me this song, Do Da Do. Do Da Do

And I immediately DM'd the artist while I was listening to the song. I'm like, this song is so good. And I DM'd her. Irina Rimes, right? Irina Rimes, yeah. And she sent me the stems and I got it done in like seven days.

And I played it at the festival, and people went crazy because I'm remixing a Romanian song. And then it just makes me feel just happy that I'm able to be of service to a world of people that show me so much love. Steve Aoki, thank you so much for talking with us about your career and your music. Thank you. His new album is called Hero Quest 3 Paragon. I lost my friends, I don't know why