ADAM THE GREAT® — INTERVIEW

INTERVIEWER: There seems to be a lot happening around Adam the Great® right now. Agencies, festivals, international interest. Does it feel like things are starting to move?

ADAM THE GREAT®:
Yes, definitely.

For a long time, you are simply creating music, releasing it and building something without really knowing how far it is travelling.

Then suddenly people start contacting you.

I’ve had approaches from agencies in New York and London, interest connected to Awakenings Festival in the Netherlands, and conversations with a few countries regarding Eurovision.

That is when you begin to realise that people outside your immediate world are starting to notice what you are creating.

INTERVIEWER: Does that surprise you?

ADAM THE GREAT®:
A little.

Not because I don’t believe in the music. I absolutely do.

But when you create something, you are very close to it. You hear every detail. You know every decision behind it.

You don’t necessarily know who is listening on the other side of the world.

So when somebody from New York, London or another country suddenly gets in touch, it gives you a completely different perspective.

INTERVIEWER: You describe yourself as a creator rather than a performer. Is that important to you?

ADAM THE GREAT®:
Very important.

I don’t perform.

My role is creating the music.

Writing, composing, producing, developing ideas and building the world around the songs — that is what interests me.

I don’t have a desire to stand in the middle of a stage just because I created the music.

If somebody else is the right voice or the right artist for something I have written, I would much rather see them bring it to life properly.

INTERVIEWER: So you are comfortable being behind the scenes?

ADAM THE GREAT®:
Very comfortable.

Actually, I like it there.

I think there is sometimes an assumption that creating music is ultimately about becoming famous or being recognised in public.

That has never been the interesting part for me.

I want people to know the music.

Whether they know exactly what I look like is much less important.

INTERVIEWER: Then what does Adam the Great® actually represent?

ADAM THE GREAT®:
For me, Adam the Great® is the creative identity behind the music.

It gives me the freedom to build different worlds.

One track can be electronic. Another can be cinematic. Another could have orchestral elements or pop influences.

The important thing is that there is an idea behind it.

I don’t want to make music just to fill a release calendar.

Every song should have a reason to exist.

INTERVIEWER: You’ve been contacted by agencies in both New York and London. What are they interested in?

ADAM THE GREAT®:
Different people see different possibilities.

That is probably the most interesting part.

One person might hear potential in the catalogue. Another might see opportunities for collaborations, artists, sync, publishing, international releases or larger creative projects.

I’m listening to those conversations.

But I’m not in a hurry to sign something simply because an agency comes from a major music city.

The relationship has to make sense.

INTERVIEWER: What would make an agency the right partner?

ADAM THE GREAT®:
Someone who understands that I’m trying to build something long-term.

I’m not looking for somebody who only sees the next song.

I think in chapters.

I think about what happens after the next release, and after the release after that.

There are different artists, different musical directions and different concepts that can exist within the same creative universe.

I want somebody who understands that ambition.

INTERVIEWER: What about Awakenings? That is one of the biggest electronic music festivals in the Netherlands.

ADAM THE GREAT®:
That was particularly interesting because Awakenings represents a world where the music itself is everything.

The scale of electronic music festivals is extraordinary.

The sound systems, the atmosphere, the production and the audience create an environment where music can become much bigger than the recording itself.

For me, the interesting question isn’t whether I would stand on that stage.

I wouldn’t.

The interesting question is what could be created for a stage like that.

INTERVIEWER: So you could imagine your music being part of something at that scale?

ADAM THE GREAT®:
Absolutely.

That excites me enormously.

I love the idea of creating something that can live in a huge environment without me needing to physically be the person performing it.

The creator and the performer don’t have to be the same person.

Music existed that way long before the modern obsession with everyone having to become a personality.

INTERVIEWER: Does that give you more creative freedom?

ADAM THE GREAT®:
I think it does.

Because I don’t have to ask myself, “Can I perform this?”

I can ask, “What should this sound like?”

Those are completely different questions.

If a song needs a female vocalist, I can use one.

If it needs a choir, an orchestra, a rapper, a huge electronic drop or almost nothing at all, I can follow the song rather than trying to force everything through one artist persona.

That freedom is extremely important to me.

INTERVIEWER: Eurovision has also entered the picture.

ADAM THE GREAT®:
Yes.

There have been approaches and conversations with a few countries.

It is obviously interesting because Eurovision is one of the biggest platforms in music.

But I’m not chasing it.

There is one country in particular that would mean more to me personally, so for the moment I’m prepared to wait and see what happens.

INTERVIEWER: Would you ever perform your own Eurovision entry?

ADAM THE GREAT®:
No.

That isn’t what I do.

If one of my songs ever went to Eurovision, I would want the right artist performing it.

My role would be what it has always been: creating the music and making sure the song has the best possible chance to become what it should be.

INTERVIEWER: You seem comfortable letting other artists become the visible face of your work.

ADAM THE GREAT®:
Completely.

If somebody performs one of my songs brilliantly, that is a success for me.

I don’t need to stand next to them to prove that I created it.

Credits exist for a reason.

The work matters more than the photograph.

INTERVIEWER: Is there also an element of mystery in that?

ADAM THE GREAT®:
Probably.

And I like that.

We live in a time where everybody is expected to show everything.

Where they are.

What they’re doing.

What they’re eating.

What they’re thinking.

There is very little mystery left.

I don’t think a creator necessarily needs to explain everything.

Sometimes it is better to let the music speak first.

INTERVIEWER: How ambitious are you?

ADAM THE GREAT®:
Extremely ambitious.

But ambition doesn’t mean saying yes to everything.

I think people sometimes confuse ambition with impatience.

They are not the same thing.

I would rather build something properly over ten years than have one enormous moment and nothing behind it.

INTERVIEWER: So longevity matters more than one hit?

ADAM THE GREAT®:
Definitely.

Of course I want songs to become huge.

Anyone making music would be happy about that.

But one successful song isn’t really what interests me.

A catalogue interests me.

Having people look back after several years and say, “That was an incredible period of music” — that means much more.

INTERVIEWER: You often talk about chapters. Why?

ADAM THE GREAT®:
Because I don’t see songs as completely isolated events.

A song can introduce an idea.

Another song can develop it.

A different artist can take it somewhere unexpected.

A visual concept can appear again later.

I like the idea that there are connections beneath the surface.

Someone can simply enjoy one song.

But somebody who follows everything might discover a much larger story.

INTERVIEWER: Do genres matter to you?

ADAM THE GREAT®:
Less and less.

The identity matters.

The quality matters.

The emotion matters.

But whether somebody decides to call something electronic, pop, cinematic, hip-hop or something else doesn’t concern me very much.

If the music needs an orchestra, use an orchestra.

If it needs a synthesizer, use a synthesizer.

If it needs silence, use silence.

INTERVIEWER: Do streaming numbers matter?

ADAM THE GREAT®:
Of course.

Numbers tell you whether people are finding the music and whether they are coming back.

That information is valuable.

But numbers are data.

They are not identity.

I don’t want to change direction every time a graph goes up or down.

INTERVIEWER: New York, London, the Netherlands, Eurovision — does all of this make you feel that the project is becoming international?

ADAM THE GREAT®:
Yes, and that is probably one of the most exciting parts.

There is something extraordinary about creating music in one place and discovering that somebody thousands of kilometres away has connected with it.

They don’t know you.

They don’t owe you anything.

They simply heard something and reacted to it.

That is probably one of the purest forms of validation you can get as a creator.

INTERVIEWER: Does the international attention affect what you create next?

ADAM THE GREAT®:
I hope not.

The moment you start trying to create what you think an international audience wants, you risk creating something nobody really wants.

You have to make the music first.

Then let the audience decide where it belongs.

INTERVIEWER: What are you looking for now?

ADAM THE GREAT®:
The right people.

The right artists.

The right partners.

And the right opportunities.

Not necessarily the biggest ones.

The right ones.

INTERVIEWER: And what would you say is happening to Adam the Great® at this particular moment?

ADAM THE GREAT®:
I think we are moving from trying to get people’s attention to deciding what to do with it.

That is a very different position to be in.

And probably a much more interesting one.