Artist Interview: 1-on-1 with Prezioso

Have you heard the brand new single “Havana” yet? Italian stalwart Prezioso teamed up with vocalist/producer Laurell on this energetic summertime hit out now via Universal Music.

I don’t know much about Prezioso, but after hearing “Havana” I wanted to learn more. This guy is active on Instagram and his single “Thunder”, in collaboration with Gabry Ponte and ‎LUM!X reached 293 million streams on Spotify and was certified Gold in the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Denmark, and Norway, as well as Platinum in Italy and Sweden. He also worked with Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike and R3HAB on “Shooting Darts”, another banger.

To help him promote the new single, and get “Shooting Darts” over 300 million streams, I reached out for an interview. I encourage you to turn on some tunes and dive in to this conversation. It is my pleasure to introduce you to Prezioso.

The song sounds like summertime!!! Tell me about your new single “Havana” out now on Universal Music.
It has born from a single that I really loved back in the 90s. I proposed it to my team and we sat together jamming on it, we unintentionally wrote only nostalgic big room top lines, like what Akon or Jason Derulo would say back in the 10s and decided to go with that mood, recalling back those years with a little bit of satire in it.

Laurell did the vocals on that track. Did you enjoy working with her? How do you decide who you want to use for a song like that?
The idea of having a girl singing what you would think is a “male” song instantly hit us, I was looking for a powerful voice. Something that could drag people into a feeling of happiness. Got instantly that vibe while listening to some of Laurell’s works. She is truly a professionist, she has a strong energy, never afraid to speak her mind and give her own perspective, but also very respectful and welcoming for anyone else’s idea.

It was great!

You teamed up with Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike and R3HAB on “Shooting Darts” earlier this year. How did that collaboration compare to this one? I bet it’s fun working with so many different people!
Every artist is different, and every experience is unique. It would be hard to compare any of them. They’ve all contributed to create something new with me. I love to work with artists from other countries, it’s very refreshing to hear what’s popping in other nations. I’m glad we got to collaborate they are great.

“Havana” reminds me of “Tom’s Diner” by Suzanne Vega and DNA. When using that as the foundation for your song, do you need permission from them first?
Of course Suzanne Vega is between the authors of “Havana”. I respect and admire her work, so naturally it was an honor for me to contact her to propose this idea! It’s fundamental to credit every contributor when making a song, I can’t think of any other way to show them how important they are to the projects.

There are a lot of great clubs in Europe. Where are some of your favorite places to play?
I do! OHM in Berlin, AIR in Amsterdam and Ibiza’s DC10.

When you’re not producing your own work, what are you listening to? Who inspires you?
Classical music.

It seems like every DJ has a podcast. Do you have any plans to produce a weekly or monthly show?
Not yet, but surely will consider it.

Your single “Thunder”, in collaboration with Gabry Ponte and ‎LUM!X reached 280 Million streams on Spotify and was certified Gold in several countries, as well as Platinum in Italy, Sweden and France. That is amazing! Tell me more about that release.
It was a very rough demo idea at the beginning with only the chorus. I instantly felt something about it, called in my writing team and they wrote the lyrics and finished the topline. Then I thought about what musical direction could fit the new song. When I finished I send the final demo to my friend Gabry Ponte who then got as well ‎LUM!X in the project and they finalized the master. Then what happened next, you know!

I love the video, too. Where did you shoot that and what production team did you work with? Could listen to this song over and over again!
Spinnin’ Records took care of the music video, under our supervision.

You’ve done a lot of work with Marvin. How did you first connect and are you planning to collaborate with him again anytime soon? You worked with him on “The Riddle”. That is such an iconic song of Gigi Dag. A true dance music classic. Not really a question, just neat to connect the dots here!
Marvin was a super talented keyboard player, our roads connected thanks to the passion for electronic music. As you mentioned, the last song we released together was “The Riddle”. For now I’m not planning further releases with him.

When you sit down to produce a new song, do you grab a yellow pad and start making notes or do the sounds just come to you in your sleep?
Inspiration always comes from the unexpected. Once I get that I start from a concept. For me it’s important to have a vivid imagination and always have a vision over it to bring the chaos of creativity to its final order.

Do you ever make a mistake? Not even sure I’d know if you did! But I love watching a DJ spinning. How do you know what to hit when and how long does it take for you to get it perfect?
Well it would be pretty cocky to say I’ve never. I’ve done mistakes as every one else on this planet! Must sound boring but it’s the absolute truth, what’s important is how you make up to a mistake. That makes the real difference between failure and success!

You are sharing a lot of short videos on social media. You are crushing it on Instagram surpassing 424K followers. Where are you recording those clips and who is managing your social media content?
I’m personally managing and taking care of my social medias. It’s something I truly enjoy to do, everything is based on my ideas and to make some videos can take moments up to days!

What else can you tell me about this single?
I wish it can get to the United States.

What’s next for Prezioso?
Next on there’s a collab with Timmy Trumpet, and after Harris and Ford featuring Shibui.