Interview | Niiko x SWAE

The young, EDM duo, Niiko x SWAE, chat about the impact of their debut, Coachella performance and future acts. The Orange County hometown heroes had gone to Coachella for years with all their closest friends, so it was especially exciting for them to experience performing with said friends. In a short time, this pair came on the scene with two major breakout singles, “Run This Town” and “Flavor.” Both tracks made it onto Billboard’s Dance Club Chart, at #16 and #7 respectively.

They’re best known for their explosive live sets, which landed them a residency at Hakkasan Las Vegas in 2019! Throughout the summer, they’ve opened for Zedd, Steve Aoki, Loud Luxury and NGHTMRE at the renowned Vegas club. Before the summer, Niiko x SWAE released their collaboration with Subtoll titled “Hold Tight”.  Now with a new song, ‘Summer Love,” with singer LINDZ, they’re stoked to make more appearances as rising EDM producers.

Niiko x SWAE grew up together in Newport Beach and ended up going to the same college, which explains their super infectious, rambunctious, brother-like chemistry. They’re quite the funny pair who always seem down to clown but also are thoughtful in making lasting industry connections and learning from the greats.

 

 

 

 

 

This is quite the age of collaborations.  What upcoming releases and remixes do you guys have? 

Our remix package of “Hold Tight” has come out. 

We have so much content so there will probably be an EP coming out later in the year.  We just want to make sure that every song that we’ve made gets our individual and the listener’s attention.  I’m making sure that our singles will be getting their own attention; we want to make sure that we put out the best quality of music. 

 

 

Anything you want to talk about in regards to your new hit song, “Summer Love,” that just came out? 

“Summer Love” is for the people who think they found the person of their dreams. While we all know a lot of summer flings don’t last, it’s about the memories and experiences created during that time that help us grow as an individual. Also for the relationships that do last, the memories of the first summer together are usually the strongest, at least for us personally. We really pushed ourselves to make something as uplifting and vibe-y as possible, with funky verses and powerful drops to set the mood. When we found LINDZ one day, scrolling through Instagram, we knew she had the perfect vocals to absolutely slay the song!

 

 

What was it like working with LINDZ? 

Working with LINDZ was awesome! She is an amazing writer and works so quickly and efficiently that half the time she was more on top of it than we were! LINDZ has become like our sister and we will totally work with her again in the future. The way she set the scenery with her lyrics was absolutely incredible, and the second we heard the original demo we knew we had an epic summer song on our hands. We actually only went back and forth twice for the vocals because the first take LINDZ sent us was insane. Most of the vocals you hear in the song are legit from that first take.

 

 

You guys are from California; how did that feel to perform at Coachella? 

It’s crazy.  We are about an hour and a half away.  It did feel like our hometown festival.  We have so many people that we go out here every year with.  So, for them to see us playing, and for us to see us playing, it’s amazing. 

 

 

You guys have definitely worked your way up, it seems?

Of course.

 

 

How many other artists have you seen play at Coachella that you really want to work with? 

Jauz.  Definitely, Jauz and, like, NGHTMARE.  It’s crazy seeing people we’ve looked up to just walking around. 

Everybody we see has just been phenomenal.  We take something away from every show.  For us to be amongst these line ups that we’ve been in and to be amongst these other artists – it’s been a phenomenal experience. 

 

 

What do you like about your online radio station, and has it brought fans closer to the music you produce?

So, we are on DASH radio right now; our show is called NXS radio.  It’s a play on words for ‘In Excess’ so we would probably keep that going.  Ice Cream Sundae is our Spotify playlist, so we would continue to play off that.  Like, if it played on Sunday’s we could see it being called ‘Ice Cream Sunday.’

So, the really cool thing about our radio station is that it gives us a platform to play music that we’ve gotten success with at our live shows, as well as to support our musician friends.  So it’s cool, as nowadays everyone has their own podcast – so you never know, you get someone on your show then a couple months later they have their own show.  It’s an ecosystem of giving it right back. 

 

 

What artist has been the most memorable for you in helping with your career? 

Well, we both got our business degrees together, so NGHTMRE is pretty up there.  He is someone we look up to because he went to school and got his finance degree.  That’s what we were all about, we were about getting our education and then pursuing our dreams. 

Another one is Steve Aoki.  We’ve gotten to open for him twice now in Vegas due to our residency.  He was one of the first artists we’ve shared a stage with, and it’s incredible, especially with a guy who you’ve looked up to for your whole career. 

We’re really focused on the relationships and connections that we’ve been building from our residencies and other shows. 

 

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