“Back then we didn’t have streaming yet and I was always really interested in music and a lot of my friends didn’t have a solid collection of music, but I did!” – Felix Jaehn
We caught up with the Hit Maker to find out about his new anticipated release, delve into his journey into music and the challenges faced through anxiety at such a young age.
The Beginning
Felix started DJing at the early age of 15. Initially plugging in his phone/laptop and playing records of iTunes. Following his A levels at the age of 17, he already knew that music was his passion. This led his path to London where he moved for one year to attend a music college, which ultimately defined his focus in forging a career in music.
Finding Inspiration “SICKO”
Felix explains his new release “SICKO” is a result of his development as an artist. Over the past two years, Felix goes onto explain how he started to really get into song-writing and began to co-write all of his lyrics as well and tell his personal story and secrets.
“We wrote the song at 2am at night and it was the third song of the day and we were quite drunk, to be honest. We were just feeling that crazy energy and we were like, okay, we need a song with some attitude now.”
For his listeners Felix hopes that everybody listening to his music ends up with some sort of positive feeling – inspired, connected. Keen to always try to support a sense of togetherness and hope.
Keen to not label the track as dark or negative, because in Felix’s view the track can also be really cool and fun and it’s true to who he is.
Felix describes his music as energetic and positive. It’s dance music, yet really pop oriented. Keen to have vocals on pretty much every song and always start with the song first too. Then look at the production and see where the song wants to take it. Felix has always tried to stay real to the song and never put it into a production dress that doesn’t fit.
Finding the right mix
Different people have inspired the hit maker in different ways. Felix’s view is everybody he meets along the way he believes is somehow part of his creations because every single conversation is shaping who he is and what he believes in.
Felix does however praise his parents with being his main influence,
“They’ve always been hard workers. They’re economists and I think I’m really blessed to have that from them because I’m a really creative soul but I grew up in a business family, so I have the rational side as well.”
He goes on to explain how he finds further inspiration in succeeding in music as he highlights the ability to analyze and be rational about taking decisions and not always be drawn by his emotions.
Life Not at University
Felix looks back at 2014 where he had a tough time when he had to quit uni. Going onto explain he studied business for two months because he had to do something with his life. Choosing to leave uni because it was not for him, and felt like the black sheep of the family.
However, this lit a spark which motivated Felix even more to prove to everybody that it can actually be a profession and that he can make a living off music.
Humbly admitting to having suffered a lot of anxiety and panic attacks over the past couple of years, mainly due to becoming famous at such a young age.
“I was constantly put into situations where I was exposed on red carpets, interviews, shows …and always talking about me without knowing who I was, was really challenging.”
Felix highlighted he was able to overcome this by taking time for himself and began meditating, which he notes as helping him to calm his mind. He also points to coming out as bisexual as really helping as he always felt like he was hiding aside a part of himself that didn’t feel natural, which was causing a lot of stress and anxiety.
Taking a very positive stance today, Felix takes the view that if somebody doesn’t like him, that’s okay. And the second you stop worrying about what other people might think, that’s a major step to freedom and happiness.
Utilizing Social Media
Felix believes social media has a huge role in everybody’s career. Explaining how he started to upload his music to soundcloud for free, he believes “it’s such a beautiful tool that we have, that artists can just share their music and spread the word without big budgets and without the label to get started.”
“…especially now in these times of Corona and lock down. I don’t see the fans anymore at the shows where I usually talk to them and meet them. So I just do it on insta live and it’s amazing. I love it.”
For those students interested in following in Felix’s footsteps, he has these words of advice.
“Just get going. Work on your art most importantly, and if you have something nice to offer, just share it with the world and people will find it…do what you love and share it with the world as long as you do it with passion and a clear heart and pure motive, it’s gonna be great.”
Looking Forward
Felix is currently working on an album, his second studio album, something that is coming out this year and is everything to him. The work will be expressing his personal development in his path from anxiety and panic attacks to a happy and free life.Every song is telling one chapter along the way.
