I had the pleasure of sitting down with one of Dance music’s rising talents Jengi. The Dutchman has seen a rise to fame this year thanks to his track ‘Bel Mercy‘. While the song was out for years, Diplo discovered Jengi thanks to this track. He loved it and footage of him playing the track went viral, amassing millions of views. Jengi’s sound is diverse and ambitious. He consistently goes beyond the Dance realm incorporating Hip-Hop, Soul, Groove, and Funk into his tracks. He debuted at Tomorrowland this summer and just dropped a new track titled ‘Take U’ on Tomorrowland Music. Our full interview with Jengi is below!
How does it feel to debut on Tomorrowland Music with ‘Take U’ and also to have played there 3 months ago?
Jengi – Yeah, I’m pretty excited about it. It was my debut at Tomorrowland at the festival. It’s, I think for a lot of DJs, it’s a big dream. I am very grateful for having that opportunity. Yeah. That was really exciting. And of course, releasing a track like ‘Take U’ on that. It seems that Tomorrowland is still interested in my music, that’s a good thing. I’m really happy about it. And I already had a lot of good responses from people in my, like my audience. And they can’t wait to hear the full recorded track. I’m really excited about it.
What is the message or meaning behind this track?
Jengi – I always was a fan of the 90s house, you know, with the steps. Of course, the ‘Take U’ got the lead steps are pretty, pretty epic, pretty classic 90s stems. I always wanted to create something like that and not too rough, just like ‘Bel Mercy’ or my other projects. I just wanted to make something refreshing either for the summer festivals, the summer gigs, or the winter gigs. And yeah, the meaning it’s… I don’t know, I just want to try out different stuff. And I think this is something new that people haven’t heard of me.
Very Cool. So it’s like a little new sound is maybe evolving for you?
Jengi – It’s an in-between. It’s not like a rave track. And it’s also not like a chill track, I just want to bring it back together or something, you know, I like it. And it’s also the vocal chops you hear in it. It’s a trick that I’ve been doing for like ten years. It brings back a little bit of the old Jengi in it with new refreshing stuff like DJing and yeah, I made the song during my Asia and Australia tour at the swimming pool. You know, you can hear I was somewhere you could hear the pool. And even though it was like winter in my country, in Holland, when I go back to the studio in the winter, I make dark music. And when I, when it’s summer, I make bright music.
You mentioned ‘Bel Mercy’ going viral. Diplo played it in Paris. How did that feel that it went viral? Did you have a feeling that that might happen, or was it a surprise?
Jengi – I made it in 2019 before Covid, and I already tested it out in the clubs. And I was a little bit certain about the fact that this track would do pretty well in the clubs, but that’s it, you know? And then it was a really big surprise when Diplo played it, and I saw the reaction of the crowd. And after a year, the ski baby TikTok came and it went bigger and bigger and more viral. I’m super surprised about that. The track already has over 100 million Spotify streams after four years. That’s huge. I made yeah, it’s crazy. So it’s a big surprise for me. But I was a little bit sure it could be a good banger. Yeah, but just on the ground or on SoundCloud. Yeah, yeah. First I dropped it on SoundCloud. So without the intention to drop it on Spotify.
So are you a hip-hop fan?
Jengi – Actually, it’s a fun story. I started with the music thing with the production making beats as a hip-hop producer. So it’s kind of fun. But when I, when I got older, I went to parties and to festivals, and I fell in love with dance music. So that’s when I decided to continue with it.
Do you have some collaborations you’re working on?
Jengi – Yeah, after this busy year, I’m back in the studio. Right now my focus is to collaborate a little bit more than I used to back in the days I got. I’m working with the magician. The magician from Brussels. So that there will be more minimal and a little bit funky collaboration. I had some collaborations with Sony ATV with my publishing at ATV. Nice. So to work on my own music with some really talented artists. I’m slowly collaborating with artists right now. And tomorrow I got, Dillon Francis in the studio. Yeah, I think I’m going to help him out with some ideas or something. So it’s very, very interesting.
A lot of dope artists that I would like to collaborate with. Of course. I just want to collaborate with one and only Tiësto.