I had a lot to catch up on with one of the world’s biggest DJs, Martin Garrix. The 22 year-old recently celebrated a birthday and spent his Billboard Music Award weekend in Las Vegas performing at Omnia Nightclub where he has a residency along with headlining Electric Daisy Carnival. In addition to the birthday and touring, Martin and I talked about the success of his past collaborator Dua Lipa and the upcoming single he’s dropping with Khalid.
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For my sixth consecutive year, I made the trek out west to Sin City on the weekend before Memorial Day to cover the Billboard Music Awards. This year, due to I presume the Vegas Golden Nights’ deep playoff run, the broadcast relocated from the T-Mobile Arena to its original home – the MGM Grand Garden Arena. The BBMAs also switched networks, moving from ABC to NBC. Despite the changes, the Billboard Music Awards held true to its trademark of celebrating the past, present and future of music in both the awards handed out and the performances showcased.
In addition to covering the show and interviewing artists backstage, I also served as the warm-up act for the broadcast. This was the fifth straight year that dick clark productions asked me to join the production in this capacity, and I could not have been more honored to stand on-stage in front of thousands, including many artists I adore, while previewing the big night ahead.
Check our interviews and photos from the event below.
You know her from #FifthHarmony but tonight, @Normani performs at an award show for the first time as a solo artist on the @BBMAs stage. We chatted with her for a hot second backstage yesterday. @92profm @955PLJ #WestwoodOne #BBMAs pic.twitter.com/4MUuXlbtSw
— Ralphie Aversa (@ralphieaversa) May 20, 2018
THIS will be one of the big moments from tonight's #BBMAs : @TheSaltNPepa taking the stage with @EnVogueMusic! Chatted about it with Terry and Rhona from En Vogue yesterday. #WhattaMan #WestwoodOne @955PLJ @92profm pic.twitter.com/DB7DrIK96i
— Ralphie Aversa (@ralphieaversa) May 20, 2018
Norwegian DJ/producer Kygo is on a hot-streak at the moment between the infectious Selena Gomez-assisted “It Ain’t Me” and “First Time” featuring Ellie Goulding. The songs are the first and second singles, respectively, from his forthcoming sophomore album. He also played two more tracks, one of which John Newman sings on, at Ultra Music Festival this year. But despite these big collaborations that he’s completed, the DJ now has his sights on another, although it might be difficult to accomplish.
“Ed Sheeran is one of my favorite artists,” he told me recently, noting that there are other singers he’d like to share the studio with as well. “(Ed) is so busy all the time so it’s tough to find time to go in to the studio but that’s a dream collaboration for me, to work with Ed Sheeran.”
Working with Sheeran might be a tough task to clear though – pun intended. The only known, notable Electronic Dance Music collaboration the Englishman has ever participated in was on the Martin Garrix track, “Rewind Repeat It.”
Does it sound familiar? It shouldn’t. The song never saw the light of day. Garrix offered up his side of the story this past March during an interview in his home country of the Netherlands.
“It’s all label issues and a lot of headaches,” Garrix told Dutch station Radio 538, via Billboard. “It was going to be an official track, so we postponed all my other singles, but the label delayed the track because they wanted to release other tracks from Ed first. At one point, it was two years ago, I didn’t release a radio single for five, six months. So, then you get annoyed. So, I don’t think we’re ever going to release the track.”
Another person that Kygo has worked with though is Julia Michaels, who is also finding quite a bit of success on the American airwaves these days.
“I’m so happy for her,” he said. “She’s such a nice person as well. She’s been writing so many hits, and now she’s releasing her own hits. It’s just very well-deserved. I think she’s going to do a lot of big things in the future.”
The two teamed up for “Carry Me” off Kygo’s first LP “Cloud Nine.” There is no title or release date for the follow-up album.
It was a crazy six hours that saw nominees, presenters and performers all stop by our broadcast area as everyone prepared for the 2017 Billboard Music Awards. We chatted with everyone from the show’s co-host Ludacris, performers Jason Derulo, Halsey and Julia Michaels plus presenters Lindsey Stirling, Chris Daughtry and Hailee Steinfeld. Check out more below!
Dua Lipa’s success makes her want to work harder. It does not make her want to leave the place she’s called home since birth though.
“I travel so much so I like being at home in London,” she replied when I inquired if she would relocate any time soon. “I like that being my base.”
London is where Dua Lipa is recording a majority of her work, including the vocals for Martin Garrix’s “Scared To Be Lonely,” and where she flew to after The GRAMMYs to spend Valentine’s Day.
“It’s overwhelming and exciting,” Lipa said both looking back at her past few months, which saw “Blow Your Mind (Muah)” chart at pop radio in the States, and ahead of her first U.S. headlining tour. “It’s exciting when I see some of my songs being received so well… it gets me excited for the next thing.
“The second I do something, I want the next thing to be better than the last,” she added when I followed up about if the success is changing her as an artist. “I want to always be progressing in the right direction; seeing things grow.”
At the moment, Lipa is seeing the country on a trek that started February 24 in Chicago and wraps March 17 in San Francisco. She’ll hop on a quick six-date Europe tour in April and then head back stateside in June for Bonnaroo.
"I was told you were the pro."
That term clearly being used rather loosely these days. 😂 #WWOBackstage #GRAMMYs @DUALIPA pic.twitter.com/fnn5IzgEUb
— Ralphie Aversa (@ralphieaversa) February 11, 2017
Last November I met Martin Garrix for my first time and despite feeling ill, the DJ was in great spirits. Fast forward to February, when I saw Garrix again in Los Angeles, and he was still in great spirits although he also felt a lot better.
So, how does the number one DJ in the world stay healthy amidst the partying and jet-setting?
“Food, working out, trying to sleep as much as I can,” Garrix began listing, before digressing. “Sometimes I’m not that good at that.”
The electronic dance music star revealed that between the flights and live sets he relies heavily on power naps. As for working out, Garrix doesn’t even leave the hotel room for that – utilizing his bodyweight for closed kinetic chain exercises.
It makes sense given his busy schedule of touring and recording. Garrix is one of the hottest DJs in the genre right now, so when he’s not traveling for gigs or making the media rounds, chances are he’s working on new music. His latest release is the Dua Lipa-featured “Scared To Be Lonely.” Over The GRAMMY weekend, Dua sang Garrix’s praises to me.
“The energy in general is most important,” the producer told me in regards to collaborating with others. Garrix broke in to mainstream with the wildly popular instrumental “Animals” but has since scored hits thanks to “In The Name Of Love” featuring Bebe Rexha and “Lonely.” “If you can’t connect with a person, the music won’t be good either.”
Regarding the Dua Lipa track, Garrix said that originally she sent over her vocal and he replied by asking for the entire vocal session. From there, he and producer Valley Girl built out the new compilation heard on airwaves today.
For day three of our broadcast with Westwood One Backstage at The 59th GRAMMYs we chatted with a bunch of current and former nominees while also speaking with a few friends-of-the-show. It was great to see Train’s Pat Monahan and Gavin DeGraw. I also interviewed Lukas Graham for the second time; the first time was at The GRAMMYs last year and now they’re up for three awards including Record and Song Of The Year, plus they’ll perform with Kelsea Ballerini. Noah Cyrus stopped by and compared me to her dad, LeAnn Rimes remembered her big GRAMMY wins from 20 years ago and Charli XCX explained how she chooses to collaborate with people before I brought up Selena Gomez to her.
For our second and final day inside Westwood One’s Backstage at the 2016 American Music Awards, we chatted with a bunch of stars, including a few performers for Sunday night’s AMAs. John Legend reminisced about his time as a church choir director in Scranton and revealed his Thanksgiving plans, The Chainsmokers talked about working in the studio with Coldplay’s Chris Martin and former “Glee” star Jane Lynch popped by to explain why she released a Christmas album. More photos, videos and audio interviews below.
