'I just wanted to make melodies'

He always had a fire burning inside him — to make music. Since the age of six when he took piano lessons, Kyrre Gorvell-Dahll, popularly known as Kygo, hasn’t looked back. He began his trip to success by remixing some popular tracks.

Rhythmic, lyrical and melodious; his remix of ‘I See Fire’ by Ed Sheeran spread like wildfire on music sites. Soon the world knew him. And that brought him face to face with ‘Coldplay’, the rock legends. He fused their popular song ‘Midnight’ with melodious beats, which got a million views overnight.

It was after leaving behind his studies in Finance and Business that Kygo plunged into the ocean of music. “I want to spread happiness through my songs. Music can influence you in a large way. When you hear a tune which is cheerful, it can change your state of mind, it can change your day,” he says. With his unstoppable energy, he went on to make his first single ‘Firestone’ that received over 100 million views.

This 24-year-old artiste, with die-hard fans all over the globe, will make his Indian debut at the current edition of ‘Sunburn Goa’.  He says, “This is one of the world’s biggest music festival and I am honoured to be making my Indian debut with this. I’m looking forward to experiencing the culture here as well. Also, I’ve heard Mumbai, Pune, New Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad are cities where a lot of artistes perform and I would love to perform in all these cities.” It is Avicii, the biggest name in the EDM industry, who has been his inspiration.

Collaborating with the big names in the industry, it is his affair with the piano and relationship with mainstream pop music that keeps him going. “Working with ‘Coldplay’ was a dream and the remix I did for them remains close to my heart. It is a different feel when I play this song at a festival and it’s encouraging when I see people singing along.”

Kygo, who attained international fame for his unconventional mixes, talks about the turning point in his music career. “All the dance music songs sounded the same. Suddenly, everything was about who had the most ‘badass’ drop and I got really tired of that. I just wanted to make melodies. I started trying to do my own thing and let the melodies make the genre themselves. I introduced tropical house, which has that summer vibe. It’s not like hardcore, jump up and down music, which the fans like.”

However, he now wants to deviate from the tropical house vibe and experiment with different sounds. A part of the big music family, he says he does not want to be stereotyped as a ‘remix artiste’ and he goes on, “I am working on a lot of original material that I’m super excited about. I've been so fortunate to have the opportunity to work with some incredibly talented vocalists, guitarists, and producers and I can’t wait to share more originals in the future.” Excited to perform live and looking forward to more such gigs in the near future, he says, “I am open to collaborating with super talented Indian producers.”