Bruno Martini has one of the most notable sounds emanating out of South America, with the Brazilian superstar DJ and producer coming off of his debut solo album Original, with Universal Music. The 17-track LP traverses through a multitude of genres and features a star-studded lineup of collaborators including Timbaland, Becky Hill, IZA, Luísa Sonza, Magnificence, and many more.The platinum-certified producer made history with collaborative global hit “Hear Me Now” with Alok and Zeeba in 2016, reaching a monumental half-billion streams to date and holding the record for the most played Brazilian record on Spotify. The São Paulo-native DJ has also been widely recognized on the pop and dance circuits with marquee remixes for Zedd, Lady Gaga, Jason Derulo, Alan Walker, and Benny Benassi.Original dives into Martini’s sonic universe, with house, hip-hop, indie, pop, and R&B all fitting in somewhere across the LP’s duration. Bruno Martini sat down with Dancing Astronaut to explore some of the album’s standouts, and give a broader look at the album as a whole. “Wake Up With You” represents your first collaboration with Becky Hill; what can you tell us about how the single came together?“It was a big honor to work with Becky Hill and my good friends Magnificence. Me and Robin from Magnificence had been chatting about doing something together for a while and finally ‘Wake Up With You’ is out. Becky also did an amazing job, she’s so talented!”This is the second single from your debut album, Original. How does “Wake Up With You” fit in among the different sounds that listeners can expect on the LP?“I just dropped ‘Original,’ my new album. It’s an album I’m working on for more than two years already… I’m super happy to finally see this album out. As an artist, it’s something I always wanted to do. With this album, I explored different genres of music that also inspired me. I could say there’s a lot of rock, hip-hop meeting with electronic dance music on [the] project. The songs on this album I produced and co-wrote. I wanted to let people know more about my life, about my influences in music, about my stories.”Timbaland features on the LP which is a pretty big collaboration for a producer of your standing. Can you talk about your relationship with Timbaland a bit?“Timbaland is a legend! I feel blessed with the opportunity he and his team gave me. We spent some time in LA doing music. We also worked for different projects together.”Can you talk a bit about your priorities for Original and what you hoped to achieve with this project, given that it marks not only a shift in format but also a major career milestone for you? “I think about music and I always dreamed about releasing an album but to be honest not even in my better dreams [did I imagine] releasing an album with so many great artists. There are some big names in Brazil on some songs…those artists are super talented and deserve to be recognized also outside of my country. It was great to see artists like Iza and Luisa Sonza singing in English. I’m blessed to have some songs on this album with Timbaland. I have songs on this album with an amazing artist from Mexico named Jorge Blanco and another great artist named Diarra Sylla, my good fella, Zeeba, Mayra and many more.”Aside from the release of Original, do you have any other initiatives planned for 2021 that fans can anticipate?“My focus now is promoting ‘Ain’t Worried,’ which is a great single in Brazil from my album. We also just dropped a great video from it.”You’re a chart-topping artist in your home country of Brazil. Can you mention, briefly, highlights of your certified-Gold records? What’s your “secret sauce” when composing a song; is there a moment in the recording studio when you know you have a hit?“I earned some amazing awards from all over the world. ‘Hear Me Now’ went diamond in some countries. ‘Never Let Me Go’ went platinum in Brazil and Mexico. ‘Sun Goes Down’ also went platinum. ‘Living On The Outside,’ ‘Road,’ and ‘With Me’ all went gold in Brazil. I have some songs in Portuguese that also did amazing, here. ‘Morena’ went Diamond here in Brazil, and “Sou Teu Fa” went Platinum. I’m blessed with all of that and can’t thank [my fans] enough for listening to my songs. The truth is, you never know when a song is going to be a hit.” As a touring DJ and a music producer, how have you evolved—as an artist and as a professional—during this time where the world is transitioning from a pre-pandemic to a post-pandemic reality?“Yes I miss touring… but the good thing was that I had more time to spend at my studio, so I’m producing and making a lot of new songs. It’s a great time to look inside of yourself and explore different sounds and evolve your sound.”Stream Original in full below.Featured image: Joo MurgaTags: album, Bruno Martini, Dance, debut, electronic, hip-hop, house, interview, POP, r&b, Timbaland
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