Sirius
Sirius is a music producer originally from Italy. Now living in Paris, France, he is creating his own path in the music industry. Member of the UnitedFutureCreators, he has been working with worldwide multi platinum artists such as Exile, Generations, Kery James, Zaz, David Carreira, CREAM, Selah Sue, and so on… His passion for music is undeniable and I truly admire all the things he has been accomplishing over the years.
In this interview, Sirius shares with us his music experiences, advices and his upcoming projects.
Introduce yourself. When/How did you start making music?
I’m French/Italian, I was raised in an average sized town called Pescara in Italy and came to Paris in 1998. I started making music at the age of 10, when my parents forced me to take piano lessons (haha). I quickly become addicted though, and started learning guitar and singing at the age of 11 and 13. At 14 I started making piano bar live gigs in my hometown and I think all those experiences made me want to make music for a living, but at that time I wanted to be an artist, that’s why I moved to Paris, my mum’s hometown. I attended a Musicology university in Paris for 4 years but had to work at the same time, so at the end of the day I didn’t have much time to make MY music. I started self learning songwriting and production and realized that it was more interesting for me than being on the spotlight, so long story short I quit my dayjob overnight to concentrate all my efforts in that field, rather than trying to be a successful singer. Eventually I was lucky enough to stumble upon a very talented artist and make a couple songs together, one of which ended up in her huge selling debut album, her name is ZAZ. That was in 2010.
You’ve been working with different multi platinum artists accross the world, what is the best thing about collaborating with so different people?
As a music lover, I had all kind of style periods in my life, I love so many different music styles from jazz to soul, from hip hop to rock, EDM to r’n’b and that’s exactly the way I work, following my inspiration and creating music in many different directions. I also love to adapt and challenge myself in things I’ve never done before production-wise for example. The outcome is working with many different artists and collaborating with other people coming from different worlds. Collaborating for me is learning and blending each other’s experiences and sensibilities together, it’s what makes our music richer.
You are part of the United Future Creators/ Future Unison team. What do you like the most about it? What makes a good team?
I’m very proud of being part of my team ! We are all from different countries (US, Sweden, Japan, Australia, France…) and as I said I love how our experiences and culture mix when we create songs together, it’s an amazing process. I think we all learn from each other and bring something unique on the table that make our songs what they are.
Hide Kawada directs our creations and knows how to put our talents together to achieve the best result.
Listen to ‘Follow Me’ by Hardwell & Jason Derulo. Co-written by SIRIUS & Trackstorm.
You’ve been working with japanese artists for a while now. You must have a strong knowledge of the japanese market. could you tell us a little bit about it?
Yes, I’ve been working for Japan for 4 years now, it’s an amazing experience! The first thing that people may not know is that the Japanese market is VERY domestic. All the huge US acts don’t sell that much in Japan, Japanese people love their own artists and they are REAL fans, they still buy tons of music and music is everywhere in Japan, it’s amazing. I really had a blast when I first went to a big J-pop concert there for J-Soul Brothers 3 years ago, I think I spent most of my time staring at peoples smiles and happiness during the concert rather than looking at the stage. Japanese people love music so much, it’s all about being moved. When you make music for that audience you have to be aware that even on an EDM song they need to « feel » something special, it’s hard to describe but there has to be some kind of soul in the melody to grab their hearts. Once you achieve this you can have a fan for life. I feel really grateful and blessed to be part of it, and once again this is thanks to Hide Kawada who is also my manager and lives there. I learned a lot from him especially when we worked together in Tokyo. I go there at least one a year now, it’s really inspiring.
Listen to 'All Night Long’ by EXILE. Track produced by SIRIUS.
What is your favorite memory of your career so far?
September 26th 2012, the monster band EXILE performing my song « ALL NIGHT LONG » at the Tokyo Dome, 50.000 people dancing and singing along something that I participated in creating was absolutely amazing.
What appeals you the most when creating music?
I love challenging myself. I don’t know if this is a good or bad thing but I don’t really have a signature or a particular style that I focus on. I can make a sentimental piano ballad today and a pop rock song tomorrow, a four on the floor EDM smash today and a groovy beat the next day. I follow my inspiration no matter what without setting boundaries, and I listen to a lot of different music to be inspired. I guess the most appealing thing for me is freedom. I feel more excited than afraid when I see a blank project on the screen.
How do you feel when people are liking/buying your music?
We all know how difficult it is to make it in this industry today and I feel blessed to be part of the few that still have the chance to succeed at selling their craft. I’m always touched when people tell me they like what I do but I always try to push myself to do better. I’m in the process of learning 24/7.
In your opinion, what are some key skills someone should have if they want to work in the music industry?
It might sound obvious but as a producer/songwriter you want to have some (even basic) music theory knowledge : scales, harmony…that kind of things.
In our era everyone is able to make music just with a low cost computer and some softwares, and this fact makes people think that it’s kinda easy…but it’s not. I meet people everyday working in the music field that don’t have a clue about music theory, it just kills me. Some have very good ears and can do the job of course, but to move to the next level you HAVE to know what you’re doing. Learn how to play an instrument, learn how to harmonize vocal works, push yourself, because standing still today means going backwards.
Also as a producer you want to focus on 2 big things : learning how to mix and choosing your sounds wisely. I’m not saying that you require high engineering skills, but once again if you want to move to the next level, your beats have to sound pro, and sounding pro means you need to mix while you produce, this is really key. Back in the days the only option was attending sound engineering schools, but today with internet you have tons of great tutorials that can help improve your skills.
Listen to 'Explanations’ by Selah Sue. Arrangements by SIRIUS.
What does the rest of 2015 has in store for you?
2014 was a fantastic year filled with a lot of travels and music, I hope 2015 will be even better ! I’m looking forward to be in Tokyo again this April and I got a couple releases planned in Japan that I hope will do good.
Also, I’m starting a new adventure producing a whole project for a new pop act here in France signed to my company. We’re just at the beginning, we’ll see how it goes.
But I’m not much of a planner, I live day by day, I’ll see what 2015 had in store in December ;)
What is your goal? What do you want to accomplish?
That’s a hard one. I’m already blessed with what I do and the fact that I make a living out of my music. All I can hope is that my career keeps going on and gets filled with more amazing collaborations and experiences around the world….eventually good things will follow as they always do when you expect them the less :)
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