Jillionaire Interview

A producer and DJ eponymous with Caribbean rhythms mixed with heavy beats, Jillionaire is one of the creative minds behind the hottest summer club tunes, as well as the powerhouse that is Major Lazer. His massive single, ‘Fresh’, alongside Salvatore Ganacci and featuring Sanjin, was released in April 2014, while last year’s ‘Bubble Butt’ is still one of the biggest tunes to twerk to. With all this and more to discuss, we caught up with the man himself to find out about wild parties, Trinidad and Tobago, and his idea of the best bubble butt you’ve ever seen.

Hi Jillionaire, how are you?
I just got out the shower, so I guess I’m ok.

Oh! What have you been up to?
Pretty busy; I flew from Vegas this morning and I go to Dubai in a couple of hours.

We’ve come to know you for massive beats and pumping basslines with Caribbean rhythms, is that an influence of growing up in Trinidad and Tobago?
Yeah, in Trinidad and Tobago carnival consumes six-eight months of our year and we have Calypso, Soca, and all these musical influences you grow up surrounded by. It is a big influence.

Are there any particular musicians or artists that have influenced you?
Honestly, for me there’s a lot of Pop music, so Madonna, Olivia Newton John, Boy George, Prince. The others are from my home town, so Bunji Garlin, Machel Montano, guys that I work with now were my inspiration coming up, I would see them move a crowd and I was like, “Wow, I want to move a crowd like that one day.”

Your remix of Beyoncé’s ‘Drunk In Love’ is one of the best we’ve heard. Can you tell us what you’re working on at the moment?
We’re working on a song with Kid Sister, we’ve got a song with Jovi Rockwell who’s a Jamaican singer that did a few features on the last two Major Lazer albums. We’re working on a remix with Afrojack and Snoop Dogg, and some local stuff with Bunji Garlin. Kind of all over the place, but we’re just trying to keep busy putting new stuff out there.

How do you decide what you work on?
Just whatever’s good and we get excited by. I work a lot with my production buddy, Richie Beretta, and we might say “we should work on this” so if it fits then we make it happen.

As well as producing, your live shows are crazy and you’ve become a really important part of Major Lazer; how did you come to join Diplo and the rest of the crew?
I met Diplo and M.I.A. and Switch during my second album and we all became friends and then when they started working on Major Lazer they hit me up. That was back in 2008 so we’ve been going hard now for the last six or seven years.

What’s the most outrageous thing to have happened during a set?
Somebody shot a gun at Cannes Film Festival while we were performing. There have been weird things like people jump on the stage and take all their clothes off.

Someone that was spotted at one of your gigs this year was Lindsay Lohan; was she a temporary member of Major Lazer?
I guess so, for the night. She kind of slipped into some pictures and just hung out. It was kind of weird but fun.

We’ve got to ask you about ‘Bubble Butt’; who and what were the inspirations behind it?
It was just something funny and experimenting with Pop music. What we do allows us to explore different formats. It was just like, having a bit of fun.

Who comes to mind when you think of a bubble butt?
There’s a picture of a girl from Russia on my Instagram, and she has the biggest, craziest bubble butt I’ve ever seen. It becomes part of my dreams at night sometimes.

You’ve now teamed up with Salvatore Ganacci on ‘Fresh’; will this be a regular partnership?
We’re working on some stuff with Afrojack and Jovi Rockwell, so we have a couple of things. He’s a nice guy and I like working with him so we’ll see what happens.

Apart from music, what are your other passions?
Right now, it’s pretty much just that. I’ve been so busy touring and working on new stuff. Unfortunately, I haven’t really had time to follow other passions. I’ve been trying to follow the World Cup action; I’m a big Holland fan so I’ve been watching the games. I’ve been busy doing something I really enjoy, and have a lot of fun doing, so I’m just doing that as much as possible.

Do you still own a bar?
No, I had to give that up in 2009. I wish I did. I might do one again.

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten?
In Trinidad we eat a lot of strange stuff that people might not necessarily eat outside, like antelope and armadillo. Basically, if they can catch it in the woods and put some curry powder on it and eat it, they will. In terms of travelling, I ate like giant sea cockroaches in Australia, reindeer when I was in Finland. The thing about weird stuff is that, that’s just what they eat. Like, “holy shit, why would I want to eat reindeer?” But, if I live in Finland, that’s what I eat. If it looks good, I’ll try anything.

By Charlotte Mellor