Steve Aoki had to slow down in 2020 because of the global coronavirus pandemic, like most of us, but being stuck at home turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

“I just was working on music all the time,” said Aoki, noting that he generally thrived on challenges, which help get his creative juices flowing. The downtime from not being able to tour and having some time to just be in one place helped.

“I’m enjoying the non-touring life,” said the superstar EDM DJ who’s become the favourite remixer of the K-pop world. “It’s grown on me. It’s allowed me to spend a lot of time with my family. I kinda want to have more of that time now, knowing that I can, because I gave up my personal life for the tour life. Having a balance now would be ideal.”

During the year, he spent a lot of time thinking about his work and got creative, leading to plans for many releases in 2021. His first release of the year arrived on January 8, a collaboration with K-pop group A. C. E, remaking their 2020 single Goblin (Favorite Boys), which dropped in September.

The project with A. C. E came about after the group mentioned they wanted to work with Aoki, and eventually they decided to do something together. Although everything took place virtually, the experience was enjoyable for Aoki.

“I was so down to work with these guys because they’re so cool – they have something totally different. They’ve got this X factor appeal that was pulling me to them.

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“What these guys have done with their sound is something different with the genre. They’re taking harder EDM sounds and making them their own.”

Aoki ultimately decided to turn Goblin (Favorite Boys) on its head and revamp the sound entirely, creating a downtempo techno vibe for his Fav Boyz version, which also features rapper Thutmose.

“I flipped the whole production into something different. I wanted it to be challenging as well for my own production. I needed it to stand out from other things I’ve done in [K-pop], because I’ve worked in the space multiple times. I’m very proud of this remix, I think it’s interesting and works really well with this sound,” he explains.

A. C. E is just the latest K-pop collaborator for Aoki, who has also worked recently with BTS and Monsta X, but started working with the scene back in 2012, when he remixed Girls’ Generation’s Mr. Taxi, and even created a low-budget music video featuring Iggy Azalea.

To Aoki, K-pop represents the future of pop music, both for its musicality and the way there are multiple platforms of engagement, including videos and social media.

“There’s a lot that the world learns from K-pop because it shows that music is not just auditory. I feel even though it’s not in the dominant language of English, it dominates culture. If you just look at some of the statistics, they dominate over other artists numbers wise.

“It’s because it’s the way they push their culture forward and push the envelope constantly, they’re really putting it in a way that others haven’t done yet. Others haven’t even come close to it yet. I feel like everyone else is six months to a year behind.”

At the moment, his wish list of K-pop collaborators includes Blackpink and working with BTS again, but Aoki says he really would like to bring just about anyone into the studio. His list at the moment? Elon Musk, Neil deGrasse Tyson, his mother, his dog, and the chess champion Deep Blue Computer.

“At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if it’s music, fashion, tech, whatever, we’re all trying to connect to each other through all these different tools. Music is just a tool to connect, my primary tool.”

Usually, Aoki connects with people through his live performances, but because he doesn’t know when he’ll be able to tour again he is just trying to take what he’s learned from this period into the future.

Last year was “a year you found the things you may have taken for granted and found gratitude in things around you,” he reflects. “I want to keep that going in 2021. When, and if, we get back to living the way we did, touring and playing shows and being around people, [I hope] we don’t forget that.”

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