‘Spreading happiness with my music, well, there is no better job in the world.’
Having taken to massive (main)stages worldwide, including at Ultra Music Festival, Coachella, Tomorrowland, EDC, and many more, the Dutch DJ, producer, entrepreneur, and sustainability pioneer is now moving into an exciting new phase of his already stellar career, with a new deal with Sony Music freshly inked and driven by the ambition to elevate his career to even greater heights.
First up for 2023 is his new single, "Enough to Drink", which was released on Friday, 13 January. "Enough to Drink" provides an intoxicating snapshot of Feldt's current sound. Expansive, uplifting, and melodic, the song features a famous TikTok sound by Cate Downey and is the first of a series of singles coming over the next few months.
Since 2014, when his remake of Robin S's "Show Me Love" demonstrated his widescreen sonic vision for appreciative electronic music fans globally, the Dutch artist has been steadily, and with genuine care, building the Sam Feldt brand. In 2023, the platinum-selling DJ and producer has an enviable ecosystem that includes Heartfeldt Records, Heartfeldt Publishing, Heartfeldt Radio, and Heartfeldt Events - and, along the way, he established (and then recently sold) Fangage, a platform built to enable creators to connect with their fans better.
Sam scored a massive hit with 2019's "Post Malone" (feat. RANI, with over 530 million streams on Spotify and counting). In addition, a raft of other great singles have tracked not only his considerable musical evolution but his rising star amongst the heavy hitters in the mainstream pop world who now seek him out for collaboration, like Kesha ("Stronger" in 2021) and Rita Ora ("Follow Me" in 2021). A prolific 2022 also saw the release of several singles, including "Better" with Gavin James and "How Many Tears" with Kygo and Emily Warren, along with a host of remixes, most recently of "Never Not Gonna Dance Again" by P!NK and "Don't Cry For Me" by Whitney Houston.
For Feldt, making melodic house music that takes in multiple radio hits a year and tracks that get the dancefloor heaving is what drives him. Also, consistently innovating and evolving. And chasing the summer - always chasing the summer.
"Since I began this musical journey, I have been chasing the summer. You can hear it in my music - nine out of 10 Sam Feldt projects have a summery vibe - and it is so amazing that I can now literally chase the summer by playing in one sunny place after another. South Africa, Brazil, Los Angeles. I have found a way to have an endless summer."
"Endless Summer", Feldt's collaborative project with British producer, Jonas Blue, captures the summer feeling he loves - through a single "Till The End" and live performances, including at ADE, EDC, and Ultra Music Festival. This and a host of projects - including a Flo Rida collab - are coming up in 2023, along with exciting new things from the different Heartfeldt entities.
But, says Feldt, "it all starts with me as an artist". "Everything flows from that and into the other areas of the Sam Feldt brand". The latter includes his Heartfeldt Foundation, a non-profit organization that promotes a conscious lifestyle and supports local sustainability initiatives globally, based on a Give, Do, Inspire & Empower framework.
It's a busy world that Feldt inhabits but in choosing how he spends his professional time, the artist is clear: "The good thing about having created an ecosystem is that when I spend time on something, it is because it benefits something else in that system - the radio show or the label or me as an artist or the foundation."
In the end, says Feldt, "I like to make people happy". "Seeing happy faces and spreading happiness with my music, well, there is no better job in the world."
With his Heartfeldt Foundation, Feldt is passionately working towards a more social and sustainable dance music industry by promoting a sustainable lifestyle according to the Do-Give-Inspire and Empower model that combines the reach of many different influencers to create awareness around sustainability.
This same philosophy is applied to Sam's extracurricular endeavor to mitigate the climate impact of his DJ activities as much as possible. He is aware that as a DJ, he flies worldwide and thus has a large carbon footprint. For this reason, his flight behavior is measured and calculated, visitors to Heartfeldt events are asked about their way of transport to his shows, and 1% of the stream earnings of Heartfeldt Records releases goes to Heartfeldt Foundation. "The whole idea is to maximize the impact of what I'm doing," Sam elaborates. "The transition to a circular economy is something we are all part of, and I think companies and people trying to do their best for the environment should get attention and support."
As an ambassador of Plastic Promise, Plastic Soup Foundation, and partner of Blond:ish and Bye Bye Plastic, many positive adjustments are already made within the events sector. Feldt believes sustainability is needed in all areas of our consumption. Therefore, he is open to working with all interested parties to investigate how life, from everyday consumption of food and drinks to flying and performing music, can be sustainable.
