Alexis Duvivier, known as Aazar, is a Paris born and raised DJ and producer. Since 2018, his sharp remixes of the most established DJs in the world became official ones from David Guetta (Flames then Let’s Love this year) to Skrillex passing by Martin Solveig to name a few. He has the ability to understand and feel another artist’ work while twisting with this little magic productions which are not primarily in his codes. Funktasy Spotlight gets direct and personal with Aazar.
What is a daily routine for Aazar?
My daily routine is pretty simple actually. It starts with my daughter waking me up and watching “Frozen” with her. Then I take her to the baby school, and finally my working day starts when going to the office or the studio. As you may know, I love cooking, so I’m taking my lunch break very seriously and my time to cook some dope stuff! Then going back to work again!
What has been the biggest driving force in your career?
I think that I always knew that one day I would be doing big things you know. I knew that I was good at DJing – I always believed in myself, and I never gave up. That’s the key to me. Being confident and working hard no matter what.
Spotify shows Mexico City as your largest listener base. Being from and still based in Paris, how do you have such a big following from Mexico?
I think it’s just the result of what I’m trying to achieve. I want my music to be worldwide, and no matter where you come from, you can feel the vibe and have a good time listening to my music. Mexico’s fans have showed love since day 1. The crowd is crazy, probably one of the best in the world, and they love to go hard as well. I guess that’s why we are connected!
Your remix of David Guetta’s “Let’s Love” has a crazy mix of trance and drum n’ bass which also isn’t your regular sound. How did that come about?
I was listening to this record, and I loved the chords and the acapella. I started singing in my head a drum’n’bass version with trance sound. I cannot explain why. It just happened! The way I was thinking of this mix between both vibes was looking so dope in my mind but I had to try it for real. It happens a lot that I’ve got ideas like that and when I’m doing it for real, it doesn’t sound as good as when it was being played in my head. So, I started working on it and I really thought it was fire. I texted David Guetta and told him “David, I did this crazy remix, I know you already released the remix pack, but I think you should give it a listen” and he replied 5 minutes later “This is AMAZING. Let me send you the clean acapella, and let’s release this fire remix!”. Actually, that’s a good story for all the newcomers and young producers. David Guetta didn’t ask for this remix and I didn’t have the stems and the acapella. But nowadays, you can find a lot of things on the internet; so I found a dirty acapella version which was ok to start working with. I did my thing and now it’s an official remix. So yes, I know David, it helped, but these guys are listening to a lot of demos and remixes that producers are sending them, so, try it and if it’s fire, they will probably reach out to you!
Tell us about your creation and production method. Do you work in the box/analog/hybrid?
Lots of time, I’m start working in my living room, with my headphones on. Sometimes I can finish a production within 2 hours with nothing but my laptop and headphones. And sometimes I need to add some magic with the studio equipment. The studio where I work from has a wide range of dope synths such as Moog Matriarch & also Voyager, the classic MS20 (from the 70s), SH101, Juno106 and more and these are the ones I work with the most with. So when I’m home I work with my software and I’m super cool with it and when I’ve got something very specific in mind… I go to the studio and work with all those beauties!
How has your music evolved since your breakthrough single “Pop Dat” with 4B?
My music evolved a lot since Pop Dat. I did this record 6 years ago and now a lot of things have changed. I’m looking for something with more vibes and groove. While making the music, I want to love it without thinking about its genre. I’ve got house records on the way for the clubbing side and a few trap bangers as well. To sum up where I stand today, I’d say that I’m writing a new chapter of Aazar’s music, I’m not the same as I was 5 years ago. The energy is different and I really want to work on creating songs, even maybe working on a live – not only a DJ set. We’ll see!
What can we expect next from Aazar?
Music of course! I’m working on my next big single which was supposed to be out last year, but COVID changed my plans! Club music as well and as you know. I’m a big cooking and food aficionado so I’m working hard on something that I can’t speak of just yet, but Chef Aazar is coming in a big way and sooner than you might think!
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