Sonique is a true dance music star, being one of the first female DJs that has achieved global success in the club scene all over the world. As a singer, she has had iconic and everlasting hits like “It feels so good”, “Sky”, “I put a spell on you” that helped to promote club music at the beginning of the 21st century from underground raves to mainstream, top charts positions and MTV broadcasts. This powerful and charismatic woman is still in great artistic and physical shape, as she is full of energy and creativity.
This summer she released her new dance anthem “Melody” with famous producer Mauro Picotto that is storming the charts and dancefloors. At the moment Sonique is working on new EP and album that will be, as she describes, a really personal, solo work that will stay away from the direct dance hits that we are used to hearing from her. During her holiday in Ibiza Sonique was kind enough to find time to talk with all-andorra.com about her new album, views on modern club music, memorable gigs and places she has visited, and thoughts about the option of performing in Andorra.
Interview by Dmitry Tolkunov
This summer you had a big hit “Melody” that is doing well in the charts at the moment. Will be we lucky enough to hear some new stuff, maybe an EP or a new album soon?
Yes, I’m planning to have a new EP soon that will be followed by an album.
Who are you working with on this new material? Some interesting collaborators?
I’ve done a lot of collaborations in the past, but this album will be more like solo kind, personal artistic work, which is a kind of thing that I haven’t done for a while and now I feel that I have to go back to myself and to put out something that I’m really in love with. It doesn’t mean that I don’t like the stuff that I was doing recently, but you know usually when you produce a dance track you are thinking mostly about how good it’s going to work on the dancefloor. And the album is not going to be so dance-oriented, it will be more about the music, a mix of different styles, rather than just a simple go out and party vibe.
You have been a very influential artist since the beginning of the 2000’s, one of the first who made electronic music used in places like underground raves to MTV and to the charts. Nowadays it seems that electronic music is trending again – a lot of big festivals and new top DJs… How do you feel about your position and status in this scene at the moment and are influenced by the new stuff that is going on around you?
I think most of the people in this scene now are very into what happened in the past. I‘m not very interested in new generation music, as a very upfront person, I can say that generally, I don’t really enjoy it. I’m in Ibiza on holiday now and we just had a night out, checking everywhere around. I’ve heard the stuff that is played on the island at the moment and can say that mostly it is a revamp of 90’s and 80’s music, things that I played long ago. There is nothing new and there is a feeling that most of the modern DJs are afraid to be original, they are using old ideas and clichés. Even big name DJs like David Ghetto started to play some old trance stuff in his sets. Everything is going backwards in this scene, but I’m personally glad, for me, it is a good position.
You are a well-known singer and also a DJ. What of the two do you enjoy the most?
Well, I’m a proper Gemini and enjoy both kinds of things. Sometimes I like DJing more, sometimes singing. DJing gives this instant response from the people. You are with them for 2 hours, you are creatively constructing the set that puts them on a musical journey. Singing is great too when you sing your hits to the crowd that really knows and loves them. Not so long ago I had an opportunity to perform with a symphony orchestra. And it was a really great experience, many of my songs are very melodic and fit really well with the orchestra. It’s a new approach for me and I’m planning to use some parts of it on my new album. But the thing that I enjoy most of all is being in the studio and creating new music.
You have been touring intensively all your professional career and have seen so many countries and places. What are the most memorable places for you, that you love most of all?
I think Ibiza is still the favorite one. It’s a place where I used to live and that inspired me to be a DJ. There is still something special about this island, it’s atmosphere, the people that you meet here. But there were so many places on the planet that I have been to, and they were all so memorable and good, so it would be unfair to say that one place was the best one. All these trips are pieces of my life that I really love. I have recently been to Australia and really enjoyed it, as well as New Zealand, Hong-Kong, and Singapore, they were great. Just a few weeks ago I did a killer gig in the UK – in Leicester for the Gatecrasher festival. I performed in front of 30 thousand people and straight after moved to another stage where I was DJing and just smashed the room to pieces.
Have you ever performed in Andorra?
No, not yet, But I’m always willing to discover new places I’m really fascinated by, that is why I travel. So I really hope that sooner or later I will have a possibility to discover Andorra.
