Cedric Gervais talks Ultra Miami, 'Summertime Sadness' and Miley Cyrus

Updated

By: Gibson Johns

This interview is a part of #KanvasLive, an interactive, cross-platform content series brought to life on the Kanvas app and AOL.com. See more on coverage here.

Cedric Gervais can do it all: He's a DJ, a producer, a humanitarian and even owns his own record label. Originally from France, but living now in Miami, Gervais has a lot of exciting new projects in the pipeline, though he's perhaps best known for one song in particular: He's the DJ behind that remix of Lana Del Ray's "Summertime Sadness."

The song, which was inescapable throughout the second half of 2013, earned Gervais a Grammy in 2014 for Best Remixed Recording, a moment he describes as simply "incredible." Coming off such a huge moment, though, was difficult: How do you recreate a massive success like "Summertime Sadness"?

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One answer, of course, was a remix of Miley Cyrus' Bangerz single "Adore You," which Miley herself called Gervais about. Another was to get back to the drawing board.

It seems as though the latter was the better answer for the Frenchman. In our exclusive interview with Cedric Gervais in his Delecta Records studio in Miami Beach, he told us about his rejuvenated spirit and drive, his desire to discover new talent and how those two remixes really came to be.

Check out our full conversation with Cedric Gervais below:

"Summertime Sadness," the remix you did with Lana Del Rey, is your biggest hit to date. It even scored you a Grammy! Can you talk me through how the remix came to be?

My manager is good friends with her manager, and they were releasing the song in the UK, so they asked if I would remix the song. He brought it up to me and it was a no-brainer. I wanted to make sure it was going to be done for the dance floor so that my DJ friends would play it.

The first time I played it was at EDC Orlando, and the reaction of the crowd and social media were amazing. Everyone was talking about it, and then it went to number one on BeatPort when it came out. Then they started playing it on the radio, and I was like, "What's going on?" And then it went Top 40 radio all over the world. Then we sold, like, 5 million worldwide. Then we won a Grammy

What was that feeling like, winning a Grammy?

That was an incredible feeling. I was on a total cloud that day. It's amazing, but then, after that, every song you make you expect yourself to do the exact same. You push yourself and then you get pissed off. But then my manager told me, you know, you can't expect every song to do that. I was stuck for about a year, banging my head, and then I decided to do exactly what I want again.

What about the remix of Miley Cyrus' "Adore You"? How did that come to be?

I was against the Miley Cyrus remix. My manager kept pushing me to do it, saying that it was a great thing. But then she called me personally on my phone and (this is exactly what she said) she goes, "Yo homie!" I go, "Who's that?" And she goes, "It's Miley! Are you going to remix my song or what?!"

Then she came to Miami that day and we met up, went out, and she was cool, actually. Then I did it, and it went well. It was a beautiful song.

There was so much stuff about her out there the moment that they asked me, so I didn't want my fans to ask if I was a sell-out and wondering what I was doing. You go from Lana Del Rey to, you know ... It was different, it ended up going well.

Obviously, it's currently Miami Music Week; talk me through what you're up to this week.

I performed at a lunch for my record label called Delecta Records. It was me, NERVO, Afrojack showed up ... it was incredible. We sold it out. I also did a Sirius XM Lounge in front of a thousand people.

It's a lot of going from party to party, seeing a ton of different friends. So many parties. I'm heading the House Stage at Ultra on Saturday night.

How do you prepare for such a big set like Ultra?

It's a lot of preparation, because when I do festival shows I also do a lot of visuals with it and we create the visuals to sync to the music. Each new track that I make gets its own visuals. So, yeah, it's a lot of work prior to a set. Plus, I have to prepare my music, pick which songs I'm going to play. I can't just go on the fly. You have to be fresh.

What do you like so much about Miami? How are the fans and the energy different from other cities that you've performed in around the world?

I like the different flavors in Miami. There are so many different people from all over the world living here. South Americans from Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina ... Then there are Europeans and people from all over the States. It's a great place with mixed people, which makes music that much more interesting.

The Latinos are into music, strongly. They have been for years. When you go down to Colombia and Venezuela they love this kind of music, and you have those people also living here. Ultra Music Festival is always one of the craziest crowds, with people climbing on top of each other and jumping. It's that Latino blood.

You participated in a charity event last night. Can you tell me a bit about that?

It's great — it's for the Miami Children's Hospital. It's a joint venture with Electric Family. It's great, they do this bracelet that they sell to the fans and all of the money goes to a charity of my choice, and I chose the Miami Children's Hospital. We did a toy drive, and people brought a lot of presents. We then went back to the hospital to meet the kids and give them the presents. It was special.

How important are events like that and having contact with your fans in general?

It's very important. I make sure that in every city I go to, I meet and greet with the fans. You get feedback from people and really hear what the fans are saying, and it's great. I just love doing it. You also meet producers, which is great now with my label, you never know who you might find.

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Talk to me about Delecta Records. What inspired you to start your own label? What are your intentions with it?

My intentions are just to put out great music from myself whenever I feel like it. I'm also releasing music with major labels like Interscope, but I also want a platform where I can release club music on, because club music is really important. I also want to meet young producers and sign them. Ive always wanted to have a label and work the label side.

What are your current and upcoming projects?

"With You" feat. Jack Wilby is out now. Great feedback from all of my DJ friends and listeners. We have over 250,000 Spotify plays already. It's doing well after just a week out. People are connecting to that record.

The next single is called "Make Me Feel," and it's very house-y. The third one is a track I'm doing for Moby called, "Natural Blues." It's for a book he's releasing, and they were actually kind enough to let me release the track on my label.

When you look out at the landscape of EDM in 2016, who do you think is doing the most interesting things? What excited you these days?

Disclosure is doing great stuff. I love what they're doing. What excites me right now are more of the underground guys — the techno scene all over the world. I like to listen to that music and get inspired.

In my world, nothing is really inspiring me. I think Skrillex and Diplo are doing very cool shit. It's different, but apart from that, no.

Talk to me about your approach to social media, and it's importance to your career and connection with your fans.

It's important. It's a new generation. It's hard because it's a full-time job. You have to be a full-time entertainer. Some artists are so good at it that they have no music, but they're good at social media so they're well-known. I come from a world where you have to have good music to do well, though. I didn't have a phone when I started. We searched for new music in record stores. Now I have to do more of this, post more of that. It's not about the music anymore.

How do you keep your music at the forefront, then?

When you do Snapchats, you do your songs and play your songs. I love the new live streaming on Facebook. Instagram you do recap videos and hashtags and stuff like that. I have a team that helps me with social media, too.

Collaboration is really prevalent in the electronic scene. Why do you think that is?

It's good because, basically when you collar with someone, you tap into their fanbase and vice versa. That's why everyone is doing it. I haven't done much collaboration. I would love to do stuff with other people, but I haven't thought about it much.

And tapping into other people's fanbases must be especially important in dance music, as it's such a global phenomena, right?

Yes, it's a global movement. It's everywhere that I go.

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