S. G. Lewis remembers the first time he stepped into a nightclub. New to university, friends took him to Liverpool's East Village, where techno-industrial DJ Ben Klock DJed: "I remember feeling a kick in the chest every time I dropped a beat and I knew I wanted to be a part of it." .
Lewis's own music was very different from the German techno that first popularized him. He belongs to a new wave of nostalgic nu-disco artists who have made synth-pop the hottest style (Dua Lipa, with whom he worked, and Harry Styles also come to mind).
Samuel George Lewis was the middle of three children. Growing up in Reading, he first became interested in music as a teenager, playing guitar in bands before experimenting with dubstep online. Far from being the happy DJ he is today, he was a somewhat shy and introverted teenager who spent his summers remixing in his bedroom. “I'm all about music,” he said.
It quickly became his way of expressing himself; She told me she would comfort her mother Sarah when she was sad by playing the aptly named "Sarah Smile" by Daryl Hall and John Oates. But it is interesting things that make her sing.
Among the many tattoos of the 28-year-old guy is the image of Turpsichord, the Greek goddess of dance, which was the reason for talking about the genre that brought him fame and success. While her main musical influences range from Bon Iver to James Blake to Timbaland, she has found dance music to be the perfect vehicle for this eclectic mix. She adores Max Martin, the Swedish multiplex script for Britney's films Baby One More Time (1999), Taylor Swift's Shake It Up (2014) and The Weeknd's Blinding Lights (2019). "I'm inspired by his ability to record pop music in such a precise yet energetic way," said Lewis.
© Provided by Evening Standard (brochure)Posting her first song online, she quickly gained a loyal following and landed a spot at Liverpool's Chibuku Club. There he learned to DJ the old fashioned way: live, all on board.
Dance music has become its raison d'être due to its unique ability to bring people together. “This is why I do what I do and why I will do it even if no one is listening to me,” he said. “Knowing that you wrote a great song that makes people dance is not such a feeling.”
He clearly has experience. With Dua Lipa, Lewis recently collaborated with Elton John, who called Lewis the day after he appeared on the Apple Music Rocket Hour show; The next thing he realized was that they were writing a song together. Orbit was featured on the album John Lockdown Sessions (2021) and twice on FaceTime to catch up.
Of Lipa, he said: "He's so good on the microphone that you don't answer more than three times." name is done. "It was a really cool record to be able to play a small part," Lewis said.
Her new album AudioLust & HigherLove itself is a show of strength in the same bright and upbeat style that made her remixes of New Rules and More Than A Woman so irresistible.
Although his debut album Time (2021) was released before the pandemic and was inspired by the dance floors, this album came during the lockdown, which forced Lewis to look inside himself.
Self-isolating means "everyone is taking a break and thinking about getting into a relationship," says Lewis. As someone whose songwriting aligns with her stream of consciousness ("I'm always typing something on my phone"), the themes for the new album were clear even before she even thought about producing it.
The results are stunning in two parts: AudioLust evokes the frenzy of insanity, and HigherLove explores love in its entirety. This is a classic case of art imitating life: the sound effects stand out (Infatuated, Oh Laura), but the intricate new lyrics are lost; the second half goes better and more fruitful, with Fever Dreamer at the heart of the album, evoking the transition from passion to love, its incredible depth and soaring mood, captured by deep synths and a warmer sound enhanced by Charlotte's great vocals.
Lewis was excited about releasing the album in the "real world" where he could watch people's reactions live on set. "It's annoying to know how good or bad my songs were on the first album when you go to Spotify or SoundCloud and look at the numbers," he sighs.
The young people who had locked themselves in their rooms to play music had already left. Lewis, excited on stage, is looking forward to performing in front of an ever-growing audience. From the start, his career as a producer and occasional guest artist seemed stable. He released his first album, relying on the strength of his staff and guest singers. But when Chemicals, the only song he sang solo, turned out to be the most popular, he realized that listeners wanted to know more about him.
“It gave me the green light to explore that part of myself,” says Lewis. Suffering from impostor syndrome, he once confessed, "Sometimes... I wonder why artists want to work with me." Her newfound confidence helped her overcome this fear. "I'm really interested in working together now," he said. "I can't wait to get back in the studio." He found time to do so in February before heading out on tour in March.
A self-proclaimed "musical nerd", he has an exceptional knowledge of music history and is constantly learning new techniques, resulting in an otherworldly and futuristic sound. “I think a lot of my music is nostalgic for a bygone era, so I wanted to try the opposite,” says Lewis. Their curiosity is refreshed in today's increasingly homogenous pop landscape.
“We literally had a hyperpop moment,” he admits. “The industry is obsessed with speed. Everything is finalized and contains a lot of information in a very short time.
While he admits that TikTok's style is overly stimulating, he tries not to appear ungrateful. She owes much of her huge success to the social media platform, where her versions of "More Than a Woman" have been used in videos over 318,000 times.
Lewis warns against doom and gloom: “Trends will flow and evolve with technology; If you think TikTok is destroying music, you are just left behind. He added, "I think it's more important to understand why a certain sound or style resonates with people than to go down and call the wrong person."
After completing the European tour, Lewis will return to California to spend time with his girlfriend, who lives in Los Angeles. He is also looking forward to returning to Coachella for the third time, the site of his first US show. “He has a special place in my heart,” he smiles. “And it's also very nice to see the growth of the line-up and attendance!
In June, as just announced, Lewis will host a series of parties at Elsewhere Space, one of Brooklyn's most popular music venues. The crowd will only grow.
AudioLust and HigherLove (Astralwerks) are now available
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