Spinning the right track

Sahil Sharma, better known by his stage-name Zaeden, has been one of the youngest in the country to showcase his remixes on a global platform.

He rose to fame with his remixes of ‘Magic’ by Coldplay, ‘Animals’ by Maroon 5 and ‘Love Yourself’ by Justin Bieber. 

The 21-year-old DJ and producer has been gearing up for his next release and a TEDx Talk. He speaks to Anila Kurian about his journey thus far.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I started producing music when I was 14 years old. I used software and watched YouTube videos to learn how to make music.
I made my sister and a friend (who is currently my manager) listen to the track and things have never been the same since.

Any reason behind the name ‘Zaeden’?
Sahil is a very common name and I wanted something out of the box to match my music. My manager and I brainstormed and we came up with this when I was 16 years old.

Tell us about your latest track.
The track is called ‘Never Let You Go’ for which I collaborated with Nina and Malika of ‘Elektrovertz’.
They are good friends of mine which made the mixing a lot more fun. Though it usually takes a lot of time to prepare the track, this one was fairly simple.

You’ve already spoken once at TEDx; what was that like? 
I think it’s a great platform for people to share their experiences about their success. It motivates the listeners and tells them to also follow their passion. It was wonderful to hear others share their stories and that I could share mine as well. I look forward to the upcoming TEDx talk soon.

You were one of the first Indian electronic music producers to perform at Tomorrowland, Belgium...
Yes, it is the biggest music festival in the world with more than 50,000 people from 120 countries present. I still can’t believe that I played there last time.
It’s still surreal to me.

Your opinion about the music scene in India? 
I personally love playing in India because you’ll never find this level of energy anywhere else in the world. The music scene is definitely growing and I can’t wait to see more of it build up here.

Any misconceptions about DJs?
Yes, many come and ask if I can play at their wedding. My reply is ‘I’m not going to play at your wedding’. It’s time people realised that DJs are much beyond a wedding hall music.

Your upcoming projects...
I’m working on my single ‘City of the Lonely
Heart’. I’m also collaborating with Niles Hollowell-Dhar and with Indian singer, composer and director Raghav Sachar to revamp the track ‘Tempted to Touch’.

Three random things about you.
I am addicted to tattoos. I am very hardworking and I love my four dogs.