Digital 21 + Stefan Olsdal – ADE, Redefining Success & Touring

Fresh off their amazing set at Amsterdam Dance Event 2025, Digital 21 + Stefan Olsdal once again showcased their ability to captivate the audience by fusing electronic sound, live instruments and cinematic visuals. This duo – consisting of Digital 21, who’s the pioneer in the Spanish electronic music scene, and Stefan Olsdal, who’s the founding member of the iconic alternative rock band Placebo – brought an immersive experience to 20 Years of Dave Clarke Presents show in Amsterdam, that blurred the lines between art, technology and human connection. 

Funktasy caught up with them after ADE to chat about their creative process, the evolution of their sound, and what’s next for their ever-expanding musical universe.

Hey guys, so you just performed at Amsterdam Dance Event 2025. How was it? What was the vibe like, in comparison to other shows and festivals you’ve played in the past?

Stefan Olsdal: It was a great experience to be a part of such an epic event as the ADE. We played a night organized by Dave Clarke, whom we have worked with in the past, but never in a live context. So doing a live event with other like-minded artists was a pleasure – there is nothing that beats the energy created in a live show between artist and audience. It was electric!

Your visuals are such a big part of your live shows. Your set on Friday was incredibly immersive. How do you come up with all your visuals, do you start with a specific concept?

Digital 21:Thank you. I’ve been creating video art, videos, and so on since the 1990s. I feel lucky to have had Stefan’s trust to create our visual side from the very beginning. Our music guides the video art — just like in films, the better the music, the easier and the better the video art. Sometimes the image may influence or complement the sound by about 50%, but the sound always affects the image by 99%.

Given the cinematic quality of your music, have you ever considered scoring films or other visual projects?

Stefan Olsdal: Yes, we just scored the documentary ´Garbo: Where Did You Go?´ about the iconic film star Greta Garbo. Writing 90 minutes worth of music to reflect the mood and vibe coming off the screen was a challenge, but we loved it and are up for more projects like it.

You guys have both been part of various music scenes, e.g. rock, electronic, alternative, classical music – how do these mix and influence your current work?

Stefan Olsdal:There are no boundaries when it comes to creating, and we are fortunate to be alive today with such a wealth of technology and music that has preceded us. As we embrace it all, we search for the human connection; we have to feel that the music we write is true to us. That is what is most important, not necessarily the instrumentation or genre.

When you [Digital 21 + Stefan Olsdal] are collaborating, what does your creative process look like? Is it spontaneous, or do you go in with a clear plan, maybe a vision of what you want the next track to sound or feel like?

Digital 21: I think it’s precisely easy because we’re not collaborating. We are one whole — a band, a team — whether we’re working together or from different parts of the world. We can use every possible and even impossible way to keep making music as a team. That makes it easier for each of us to complement the other, without the egos that often come with collaborations between two separate parties.

We have two bands – ‘Digital 21 and Stefan Olsdal’ for 14 years!, and ‘Made For Humans’ for 5 years now — and we’ve released 4 albums, plus remixes for Timo Maas or Placebo, a soundtrack for Embankment Films, work as songwriters and producers for other artists, and many collaborations with singers from different parts of the world, such as the Icelandic Margrét Rán from Vök and GusGus, Katrína from Mammút, or Cuushe from Japan, among many others. We’ve also worked extensively with string quartets for our music.

But in all those cases, we are one whole, and the works or collaborations are with those other artists. I think that’s the secret formula. Every song is a new opportunity to surprise each other — and that’s a real gift, even when we’re working against the clock.

Your live performances feel really authentic, raw and emotional – not just electronic. How important is that human sound to you? 

Digital 21: Oh, thank you. That means a lot. For us, that human side is everything.

A concert should be an experience; it should feel like a human dialogue — between the two of us, and between us and the audience.

Speaking of humans, “Made for Humans” [an instrumental project by Digital 21 + Stefan Olsdal] feels like a more introspective side of what you do. How would you say it differentiates from your other music projects?

Stefan Olsdal: It started during the lockdown, where we felt we wanted to connect with each other when we physically couldn´t. We wanted to travel through sound. That was the starting point.

Electronic music keeps evolving so fast. How do you keep your sound fresh while staying true to what makes Digital 21 + Stefan Olsdal unique?

Digital 21: We love music so much that it’s impossible not to evolve constantly. At ADE, besides performing at the 20th anniversary of Dave Clarke Presents at Melkweg, Dave Clarke also invited us to give a talk the following day — a panel where he himself led a really interesting and emotional interview about our careers and our sound, just as you mention.

It was in this beautiful 18th-century place called ‘Felix Meritis’ — it means “Happy through Merit” — an old Amsterdam society for the arts. So yes! Thanks to our sound, we were ‘happy through merit’ that day!

What’s next for you both? Any upcoming releases, tours, or collaborations we should know about?

 Stefan Olsdal: We are always working on new music, so expect something soon!