Martin Jensen Ends ADE With #1 EP on Spotify’s Main Stage [Interview]

Sweeping the electronic dance music scene from Jutland, Denmark, to playing Main Stage at the mecca of all festivals, Tomorrowland, DJ/Producer Martin Jensen has recently wrapped up another delightful week at the 23rd edition of the Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE). Rising a tremendous 16 spots on this year’s DJ Mag Top 100 poll to #54, Martin is now Denmark’s most successful electronic artist to date.

From several radio shows at SLAM! FM and Fun Radio, to a set at the renowned Melkweg nightclub, to a set at Amsterdam’s Bunny Bunny Bar and many more performances, Martin has come a long way from when he first arrived at ADE back in 2016. Now, with a concrete presence in the dance music industry, Martin is very much passionate about the still early stages of his career he’s in right now. With so much ambition and drive for discovering evolutions of his own sound, fans are loving every ounce of Martin pushing sonic boundaries and experimenting with his live performances.

Across the five day span of Amsterdam Dance Event Jensen teased out his new World EP track by track, which left everyone eagerly awaiting each new song. “Rio,” “Djoba,” “Pharoah,” “Osaki,” and “Valhalla” are highlights of all different places around the world, leaving the EP of the same name to tell the rest of its thrilling story. Showcasing his flirtations with different sounds throughout World, Jensen is dishing out an adrenalizing new style to his repertoire of music. Featuring deeper, darker, and heavier vibes, World is jam-packed with endurance and Martin’s high powered potential. Soaring straight to #1 on the Main Stage playlist on Spotify, World is yet another discography carrying Martin into the new year with an arsenal of fresh tunes.

“I’m so happy right now. I wouldn’t be feeling this way if it wasn’t for my fans, it’s as simple as that. I like to let my music do the talking, so the ‘World’ EP is inspired by, and my way of saying “thank you” to, each and every one of you who’s been there with me on this incredible journey over the past three years. And believe me, there’s a lot more to come!” – Martin Jensen

Going above and beyond to do something special for his fans across the globe, Martin and his team are currently in the midst of producing an in-depth documentary series which extends far beyond a surface level look into Martin’s life. Through a television station DR3 in Denmark, episodes will air towards the end of Spring/early Summer of 2019. We also had the chance to sit down with the woman behind the film’s mastery, Sasha Kronby who shared some glimpses behind the production and what we can expect from the story. From family stories with his Dad to a party celebrating his 1 billion hits on Spotify, the television program includes all sorts of behind the scenes looks and is a sweet cherry on top of Martin’s dance music takeover for next year.

Martin got together with us towards the end of his week at ADE – check out our interview below to see what the Danish star had to say about new music, ADE, and future visions in music!

Nocturnal Times: We’re a few days into the 23rd edition of Amsterdam Dance Event – how has the energy been this week, and what has your time here been like so far?

Martin Jensen: It has been very good for us this year! The first time we were here was in 2016, so it’s our third year, and we’re really excited to be here catching up with so many friends and meeting more new friends, and seeing a lot of good stuff and getting inspired, and maybe make some new collabs and stuff like that.

Nocturnal Times: How does this compare to your first year in 2016? Any major differences you see?

Martin Jensen: In 2016 I was brand new as a producer and in the major league of DJing. It was the first year I entered the DJ Mag, but after you’ve been on tour and stuff and meeting people out there it’s a whole different game.

Nocturnal Times: You’ve had a handful of shows already this week. Is today your last one?

Martin Jensen: Yeah, we’re doing two radio shows today so SLAM! FM and Fun Radio, and we’re doing the Bunny Bunny Bar tonight.

Nocturnal Times: The main focus this week for you has been the release of your new World EP. You’ve been releasing a song each day which has been a cool concept. How has the release been going so far?

Martin Jensen: It’s actually been going really, really well. At the start of the week, I was super disappointed because I forgot that things get playlisted on Fridays. One of the tracks only had a thousand plays or something so I was like, how is this even possible. But then yesterday it got added on I don’t know how many new music Fridays and Main Stage, which has like 1.2 million follows. And “Valhalla,” the latest one I’ve released got added to that one, so it’s really nice to see the EP supported.

Nocturnal Times: Digging a bit more into the concept, how did you select the city titles for each track? Was it after touring there, or some of your favorite places, etc.?

Martin Jensen: Well, I don’t really know how it came up. The first thing was actually going for the sound to see what matches, and then we have to get a theme for the whole EP and afterward it was getting the sounds, which of course had to be something with around the world. And “Osaki” was produced because it’s actually more like a spirit, of a good blessing and stuff like that. “Rio” is just Rio, its original name was actually “Salsa” but we changed it to “Rio” because it made more sense since the EP is called World EP. We are really happy with the EP and it just came together because I’m playing harder at my shows, and we want to show that of course with releasing some stuff in a harder way.

Nocturnal Times: Sticking with the discussion of cities, are there one or two across the world that each time you go back are very memorable, or stand out for some reason?

Martin Jensen: We really like Bali. It’s an amazing place, it’s beautiful, it’s peaceful. The traffic is horrible but the parties are amazing so it’s really nice to be there.

Nocturnal Times: How about one you haven’t gone to yet that you’re looking forward to seeing most?

Martin Jensen: Not that I haven’t gotten to play, but I really want to go to the Maldives.

Nocturnal Times: This year has held a lot of new releases for you, one of which was “16 Steps.” How did you come together with Olivia Holt for this track?

Martin Jensen: I made a remix back in 2017 or so. I made a remix of her “Generous,” and then I made “16 Steps,” which is a more R&B track. This would suit a rapper of course, but instead of doing a rapper I thought it would be more fun to try to put on a singer because everyone is doing rappers anyway. And it was not possible to get Drake on it, apparently. He was doing an album, so I asked Olivia because she has an amazing voice and she sings really, really well, and it fits the track perfectly. About one and a half months after we released a version with Yxng Bane, the British rapper, (I got a rapper on it anyway) and it ended up working really well, and the U.K. market loves it.

Nocturnal Times: In general when you look back on your productions, is there one that you think of as being particularly memorable or special to you?

Martin Jensen: All the productions have been really good and really terrible at the same time because you have to work with the management, record label, the songwriters, the singers, and everything…it is so much work to do a single. It’s not like doing a club track – that’s so easy. Doing a commercial single is so much more work, and right now we are actually doing another one in a huge rush, so a new pop single is actually coming on the 16th of November. So it’s very very soon! I’m actually going to play it today all day, and it’s going to be my first time to play it, so people will react to that. There has been a little process because it had been speedy, speedy, speedy, and we got told last Monday it has to be finished now. So it’s mastered and it’s uploaded now!

Nocturnal Times: What can fans expect for the remainder of 2018 (besides this single) and into the start of 2019?

Martin Jensen: We have some really, really big radio tracks coming, like how it used to be with “Solo Dance” and “All I Wanna Do” and stuff like that, like the new one coming. And then of course I’m going to continue doing a new EP. I think the name is going to be Universe or something in the world of space. It’s going to be more club music as well, and a lot of remixes coming up.  I like to do that on the side. And a shit load of shows!

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Nocturnal Times: Tell us a bit about what started the idea for the documentary, and how it all has come together.

Sasha Kronby: I’m working for a production company and we produce different television programs for different channels in Denmark, and this idea started because we had a girl who is an intern at our company who had worked for Disco:wax, the record label that Martin is signed with. So she thought this could be a great idea because in Denmark Martin is not very famous. It’s like he has millions of streams on Spotify, but nobody knows who he is. So we thought we should do a television program about it. So we got in contact with Martin and he was up for it, and we did a promo and sold it to a channel, called DR3 – it’s like a channel for young people primarily. And they were up for it so now I have to produce like four episodes of 28 minutes about Martin and his career, but also his more private life. He is always looking to be acknowledged also by his Dad because he was supposed to take over his Dad’s company in the outskirts. So it’s going to be about that as well, like a more personal story linked of course with his career as a superstar.

Nocturnal Times: And this is his first documentary of the sorts as well?

Sasha Kronby: Yeah it is! Of course he is used to having a camera with him but this is quite different.

Nocturnal Times: When will you be releasing the episodes?

Sasha Kronby: We don’t know exactly yet, but probably during May or June – something like that. I have to film him for almost half a year, so it’s going to be a long time. It takes a lot of time! It’s almost two hours that we have to produce in total, so I have to have a lot of material.

Nocturnal Times: Are there any events coming up in the next few months that you’re particularly looking forward to having featured on it?

Sasha Kronby: Well, of course there are some things that are very interesting. He’s having this big party in Denmark actually where he’s going to celebrate his 1 billion streams on Spotify. And at that party, his Dad is going to come too so that sort of links into the story about that, so we’re looking forward to that!

Nocturnal Times: Do you think you’ll be releasing the episodes on YouTube, Netflix, Facebook, etc. or what kind of platform can we expect these on?

Sasha Kronby: Well it’s very rare that DR does something like Netflix. DR is the big broadcaster in Denmark and it’s paid through our taxes, so it’s very difficult for them to make a cooperation with Netflix and stuff like that. So it’s probably just going to be on their platforms, and on Facebook and stuff like that which they always do.

Photos courtesy of Martin Jensen’s Facebook