Nobody can criticize eight year old Garrix for not being determined, and that sense of work ethic hasn't changed. “I think in the end it’s all about how much time and effort and how much work you put into something,' said Garrix. We caught up with the Dutch superstar before his Isle of MTV performance in Malta last week to get to the bottom of what it takes to become a DJ.Īt eight years old, Garrix first saw Tiesto playing on television at the Olympic Games in Athens and was hooked, immediately saving up money for his first DJ setup. Going from playing around with software or plugins in your basement to flying around the world to perform for over 50,000 people takes a bucket load of hard work. But while the rise of the DJ as an artist and the ascension of electronic dance music seems to be everywhere (Calvin Harris, Avicii, David Guetta, Tiesto), the competition is fierce (Steve Aoki, Kaskade, Armin Van Buuren). You may even play around with mixing tracks now and then yourself. He's got 3.5 million Instagram followers, YouTube video views upwards of 25 million, and his 2015 was pretty fly, from playing at some of the biggest dance music festivals on the planet (Exit Festival in Serbia, Ultra in Croatia, Sziget in Budapest) to DJing at the most lucrative clubs in the Med.īeing an international superstar DJ and producer seems, well, pretty sweet.

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