Nicky Romero Talks Wanting To Collab with The Weeknd, Protocol Radio and New Single with DubVison & Philip Strand

If you’ve stepped foot inside any club anywhere in the world since 2012, then you’ve most likely heard Nicky Romero’s work for some of the biggest pop and dance hits in the past decade. Romero is a force to be reckoned with and has pierced through Billboard’s Pop and Dance charts with official remixes to tracks like ”Where Them Girls At” with Madonna, Nicki Minaj, Flo Rida & David Guetta, ”Stay The Night” with Hayley Williams & Zedd, Afrojack’s “All Night” ft. Ally Brooke, “David Guetta – Bang My Head ft. Sia, Fetty Wap” and even ”Right Now” with Rihanna. In 2013, Nicky was topping the charts with “Could Be The One” by Avicii, “Like Home” with NERVO and more landing him the #7 spot on DJ Mag’s Top 100 DJs.

Since the start of his career, Nicky Romero has soared to new heights becoming one of the world’s most successful DJs. Having already worked with artists like Madonna, Steve Aoki, Britney Romero, Rihanna and more, he has his eyes set on Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Max Martin and The Weekend for collabs on the bucket list. ”Most of them have in common that they represent a true own signature sound that I value a lot, and that inspires me a lot,” says Nicky in his Contrast Magazine cover story with Editor, Michael D. Monroe.

Nicky’s music has filled the hearts and ears of crowds across music festivals around the world taking on some of the biggest stages such as Ultra Music Festival, EDC Las Vegas, Tomorrowland, Coachella and more. Standing out as one of Nicky’s most prominent performances to date is his 2013 set at Tomorrowworld, where Romero was the first DJ to play equipped with Google Glass.

Romero just teamed up with DubVision & Philip Strand for their recent single ”Stay A Little Longer,” and its festival-ready sound is sure to have you singing in the shower. The track is available on Protocol as well as all other streaming platforms. When he’s not in the studio producing his next Pop/Dance hit, Nicky can be found at Protocol Radio interviewing artists, producers and DJs for his own radio show. Raking in more than 40 million listeners every week (you heard that right), Protocol Radio is distributed across more than 100 FM radio stations across the globe.

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“Protocol Radio is a combination of my passion for radio, but also the passion of our producers Adrian and co-host Lisa Michels,” says Nicky Romero. “They have truly grown into the radio side of our brand and together we represent a certain ‘live feeling’ that I think most shows don’t have.”

Catch the complete one-on-one interview with the multiplatinum producer and global artist Nicky Romero below.

You recently released “Stay A Little Longer” with DubVision and Philip Strand. How was it working on this project and how did this song come together? Really incredible. We have been working on ideas for a while now, also I think Philip is an incredible writer, Dubvision I have been keen to work with since their very early records, super talented, and also a lot in the same lane as what I’m producing myself, felt supernatural.

Over your career, you’ve worked with artists like Madonna, Steve Aoki, David Guetta, Sia, Rihanna, Ellie Goulding and more. Name 3 artists you’d love to collaborate with, but haven’t yet, and what you love about these artists! I would say Chris Martin of Coldplay. Max Martin as a composer and The Weeknd. Most of them have in common that they represent a true own signature sound that I value a lot, and that inspires me a lot.

Looking back at your first project in 2007, what would you say is the most major way you’ve grown as an artist? Being open to all sounds and all different genres is something that I grew and levitated towards the most in the last few years, I can tell so many different songs have inspired me that are not necessarily in my sound but deff to represent the same emotion.

Throughout your career, you’ve tapped into multiple genres ranging from Hip Hop, R&B and Pop. Why do you think it’s important to be so versatile as an artist? To be successful in the long run its important to stay open to anything and everything, something I think David Guetta and Calvin Harris do very well, I admire them a lot for seeing this and being so open, you need to be resilient in order to stay relevant over the years.

Do you have any projects outside of music that you’re working on or have plans to work on? I think mostly plugins Kickstart has been doing well over the last years, and now there is a Kickstart 2 just released also working on something new together with a new partner that is coming soon! 

Your radio show “Protocol Radio” brings in more than 40M listeners every week worldwide. That’s incredible. What do you think has contributed to the success of the show? Protocol Radio is a combination of my passion for radio, but also the passion of our producers Adrian and co-host Lisa Michels, they have truly grown into the radio side of our brand and together we represent a certain ‘live feeling’ that I think most shows don’t have. 

What’s next for you that you can share with us? My guess for winning the Worldcup, that would be France!

The definition of Contrast is ‘to be strikingly different.’ What makes you strikingly different? The fact I’m a DJ that produces music plays music creates music and plays more than 2 instruments in a scene that people consider to be ‘easy’ because people think it’s only about pressing play. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiZCbLGHVG0