It’s been a hot minute since Djakarta Warehouse Project (DWP) returned to Jakarta this year for its 11th instalment — and all we can say is, it was one for the books. Having seen the likes of many critically acclaimed DJs from around the world, this year’s festival has broken records with its highest turnout to date! Over the 3 days, festival-goers were welcomed with a lineup that featured DJs like Calvin Harris, Disclosure, Skrillex, Martin Garrix and many more.

But that’s not all. As we danced through the night, we also got to catch up with fellow Dutch DJ, R3HAB on his new track with ZAYN and English DJ, Jonas Blue, to find out more about his future plans for 2020 (hint: he’s releasing a big project next year that we can look forward to — and it might just include Tiësto!).

R3HAB

Dutch-Moroccan artist Fadil El Ghoul, otherwise more popularly known by his moniker, R3HAB, took the decks on the second day of the festival with his exhilarating tracks of heart-thumping beats. Having circuited the globe for countless shows over the years, it’s clear that the DJ has made waves around the world with his driving basslines and hard-hitting synths. Besides producing his own tracks and remixing countless tracks, he also has his own record label named CYB3RPVNK and has clinched 14th position on this year’s DJ Mag’s Top 100 List in 2019!

Ahead, we sat down with R3HAB himself for a short interview to find out more about his moniker as well as his new tracks, including his chart-topping hit, “Flames”, with ZAYN and his track with Sofia Carson, “I Luv U”.

R3HAB IS SPELT WITH A NUMBER 3, WHAT’S THE REASON BEHIND THE NAME AND THE NUMBER 3?

“When I was a teenager, I was thinking of an alias to go by, and so I thought of rehab. And so I styled it as R3HAB, because you know in gaming, sometimes the number 3, is seen as a stylised version of an ‘E’? And that’s how it basically came about.”

HOW DID YOU COME ABOUT COLLABORATING WITH ZAYN FOR THE SONG “FLAMES”? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8JyqMGcJ1U

“I felt like I always wanted to do something with ZAYN, because he has a really good vocal performance and such a nice story to tell. I felt like this record was the record that works for him, and I feel like he did a phenomenal job.”

WHAT’S THE INSPIRATION BEHIND THE SONG “I LUV U” WITH SOFIA CARSON?

“I was looking for something different than my usual tracks. So, the track “I Luv U” was perfect because it’s pop-driven and focuses more on melodies and organic rhythms. The lyrics, on the other hand, focuses on a story about unrequited love that you play when you’re feeling down. So it’s very different from my usual tracks and I like it.”

FUTURE PLANS FOR R3HAB?

“Really nice records coming. Album 2020 that’s the main thing — so January, February, March, I’ll be working on the album and then it’s back on tour in quarter 2, 3 and 4.”

JONAS BLUE

With the success of his first mix of the tropical hit, “Fast Car” by Tracy Chapman, DJ, music producer, songwriter, and remix artist, Jonas Blue, took the world by storm with his own heady stream of hits. Producing a blend of sounds from dance to pop music, the DJ has drawn the likes of many with his unique melodies and rhythms. During our short interview with Guy James Robin (yes, that’s his real name!), we found out more about his inspiration behind his hit “Polaroid”, and his future plans in 2020 which sees a new album to drop in the first quarter.

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THE NAME JONAS BLUE? 

“I chose the name Jonas Blue because at the time no one from the UK was big, other than Calvin Harris. So the only people who were big were Swedish people, like Avicii, Alesso. So I thought, to be big, I need to be Swedish. So I picked the most Swedish name which was Yonas, and I changed to it to Jonas because I’m English. And it was too short to be just Jonas, so I thought I needed a second name. And I thought maybe a day of the week — like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday — so Jonas Monday — but it didn’t work, so I thought of a colour, so that’s how Jonas Blue came about.”

WHAT’S THE INSPIRATION BEHIND THE SONG “POLAROID”? 

“I wrote the song with three of my co-writers, RØMANS, JP Cooper, Ed Drewett. We were talking about the kind of love story when you’re meeting at the point in your life when it’s right, and kind of these circumstances where you end up seeing each other many times but it never quite happens. The Polaroid aspect came in because they were at a party, they take this Polaroid together, he puts it in his wallet, and they have a great night and kind of lose sight of each other and completely forget about each other. And they keep meeting over the years but they don’t know or see each other. And then later on in life, they come back around, he remembers the Polaroid in his wallet and he sees her.”

FAVOURITE SONG TO PERFORM LIVE

” “Mama” would be my favourite. I managed to get William Singe and I was a big fan of his for many years on YouTube and to finally have him on one of my songs is great — and it blasted; it was a massive hit, so it was a win-win.”

MOST ENJOYABLE SONG YOU’VE MADE SO FAR

“No, for me it was “Perfect Strangers” because it was during the time where I didn’t really know what I was doing. I had “Fast Car” which was a massive hit and then I came in with “Perfect Strangers” which was a completely different sound to “Fast Car”. It was a way to showcase my songwriting, so that would be my favourite.”

FUTURE PLANS FOR JONAS BLUE

“I’ve got to sleep first, but then I have a new single in January and I’ll also be back with crazy touring. I also just launched my electronic label called Electronic Nature, so we’re now on the second single with them — we’ll be doing a lot more collab releases next year, all of the singles as well, and more collaborations with Tiësto, remixes, and everything.”