Fans of house music or electronic dance music (EDM) have recently showered their love for the Italian musical trio, Meduza. Producing such smash hits that would revolutionise the genre of house music, they’re a huge deal in the music industry. The production trio consists of members Luca de Gregorio, Mattia Vitale, and Simone Giali.
Before the group was named Meduza, the three musicians started working together in 2014 as a production team. They joined together to create rap instrumentals and various tracks as they were active DJs and electronic musicians. Then after a few years, they settled on making house-influenced type music and started working on that style with their current name, Meduza in 2018.
The trio has spent years of great success, with their debut single “Piece Of Your Heart” featuring Goodboys garnering over a billion streams worldwide. The song has also reached double platinum in the UK as well. Meduza then won multi Diamond, Platinum, and Gold certifications across the globe and even a GRAMMY nomination.
Even their next hit, “Lose Control” featuring Goodboys and Becky Hill has reached the UK Top during its first week, with the song now attracting a billion streams and achieving Gold sales in the country. Meduza has also featured a lot of incredible artists for a handful of remixes. Such artists include Friendly Fires, MK, and even John Legend himself, which all demonstrate Meduza’s ability to make a release that stands out by showcasing their signature sound and energy.
Recently, the now globally recognised Meduza has collaborated with popular Irish artist, Dermot Kennedy, together on the new single “Paradise”, which came out on 30th October last year. Creating such a powerful and heartfelt record, the song was shot at the trio’s homeland of Italy with amazing production and an outstanding performance by Kennedy’s amazing vocals. Hence, which is why the song was able to dominate charts around the world with over 24 million views on YouTube.
Meduza has started their journey together as musicians in 2018. Ever since then, they are now thriving in ensuring house music continues to be more relevant and more alive once they start sending out more tracks in the future. Moreover, such great potential can be taught from the group in encouraging new or growing artists to develop the house music genre, growing a wider audience for it.
One of MEDUZA’s members Mattia Vitale, was kind enough to let us interview him about the house music genre, collaborations with other artists, their recent “Paradise” single, the music industry, and their experience of making music together:
1. Ever since “Piece of Your Heart” became a smash hit worldwide, it not only got a Grammy nomination but also won 2 International Dance Music Awards. Did that open more doors for you guys?
It’s never enough, like everyone says. Yeah, it was a really good start. Obviously being nominated for a Grammy and winning the talent award was a great start, especially if you think there is just one year of the project. But obviously, the most important thing for us was not the award itself. It was the recognition of the people following our music and sharing, dancing, and singing our music. That was the most important thing for us and it still is.
Obviously, a Grammy is always welcome. We got just a nomination but we are also trying to be nominated again and hopefully win in the future. Obviously, that’s the plan, but we are not making music just to win the Grammy. We’re making music because it’s our passion and because people love our music as much as we do. So that’s the most important thing for us.
2. Can you recall when you first fell in love with electronic and house music?
Oh yeah, it was with Daft Punk. I remember, it probably was “Homework”, the title of the album. It was the second album, with “One More Time”, “Aerodynamic”, and all those tracks. I remember when I was listening to that album for the first time I’d say “Wow, what is this? It’s something completely new, something like a game-changer for dance music from electronic music. And it was like that, to be honest. Yeah, that was my first crush on electronic music.
3. What is the best part when making electronic or house music? What sort of fulfillment do you get from producing your songs?
The best thing is having fun in the studio, every time. No matter where you are, no matter what you’re using to make music, it’s just the fact that you are in the studio with other people like songwriters or singers, and you’re trying to create something fresh or different from the standard and the usual. And the magic happens when you create a feeling with these people in the studio. You create a kind of magical atmosphere in the studio. That is the best part of making music, I think. It’s the connection.
4. All of your singles, of course, involve collaborating with other artists. What were the challenges you guys had to face when working with other singers? Was it easy or difficult to find a voice to match your sound?
It was easy, and not at the same time. It was not easy because house music is not like pop. So, everyone is looking at dance music like something that is not mainstream, like we show that it is. So maybe a lot of pop artists don’t want to collaborate with us just because we do house music.
But a lot of artists like Dermot Kennedy, Goodboys, Becky Hill, and MK – they come from a different world from John Legend. But they’re excited to work with us and we had sessions together, creating new music because they want to create something that goes out of the standard for dance music. So it’s the only way to create something really special.
5. Of all the artists you’ve worked with, who has left a lasting impression? What surprised you about them?
Dermot Kennedy, basically. I was really surprised that a singer like him (who would usually sings on something more rock, soul, and country) wanted to work with us on a dance track. He’s so passionate and he’s so good at recording a dance track but it’s not easy for an artist like him who isn’t quite used to dance music. So I was really happy and excited when he decided to work with us. I was on a session with him, obviously not personally, and I got to listen to him recording with a lot of passion on what we wrote for him.
6. The music video of “Paradise” took place in the Italian ghost town of Craco. What was it like filming in such a location? Does it have any significance to the song?
It’s not particularly linked up to the song. MEDUZA in the videos and the official clips, it’s all about the location, like we do with “Piece Of Your Heart” in Ukraine, “Lose Control” in Turkey, and now “Paradise” in Italy. It’s all about the location because we can show the people that we can tell stories from locations like those examples and also playing house music, and not only pop. So we can create a feeling to the people and emotion to them.
Also with this kind of music, we can also show the people that every place is different like if I play you a song at home, your perception is one. I mean you feel comfortable, or you’re having fun dancing. But if you hear the same song in a different place, it can tell you something completely different. You can describe maybe a completely different feeling. So that’s the power of music and we can show the people telling this that house music is the same. It’s music so it can create different feelings and different emotion from different places.
7. Do you think time affects the way people listen to music as well, like day and night?
Yeah, I mean, it can be different, not only from one place to another but also from one hour to another. You can be in a completely different mood. Music can create the same song and give you a completely different emotion.
8. What was it like working with Dermot Kennedy on “Paradise”?
It was great because he has such good talent and I think he’s gonna smash the world in the next three to four years. He’s going to be one of the biggest artists in the world. That’s it, I mean I can only have good words for him.
9. We heard The Weeknd wants to collaborate with you guys. Have you guys been in contact? Is anything in the works?
I was reading that article and to be honest, it was a mistake. We haven’t had plans to collaborate together. I’m a big fan of The Weeknd. We’ve been in touch, obviously, because in the US, we are under the same label. But there’s nothing yet. We’ve not been in the studio together and there’s nothing planned yet together. Obviously, it is possible in the future, we will see, but not at the moment. It’s unfortunate because I’m a big fan of The Weeknd, so it will be a dream.
10. Any artists you plan to collaborate with in the future?
I would love to collaborate with The Weeknd, Post Malone, Drake, Miley Cyrus, and John Legend. I have plenty of names that I want to collaborate with. But we have time, so it’s going to be step by step.
11. Do you guys ever wish to recreate or remake any songs using your style of music, old or new?
No, we are just focusing now on making originals. Yeah, maybe in the future it will be possible, why not. Never say never. But not at the moment, we’re just focusing on making originals and new songs.
12. How have you guys been impacted by Covid-19? Has making music become harder now?
Yeah, the inspiration is not at our best level, but we try to do our best. You have the right inspiration when you travel, meet new people, and new culture. That’s pretty easy to do and we miss that really much. It’s not easy now but we’re trying to think, what was the experience in the last few years of touring… We’re trying to recapture that kind of experience that we felt in the studio and make music like we usually do.
Obviously, it is not easy. It’s all about inspiration. When you have it, you can do everything in 10 minutes. When you don’t have any, it’s better that you leave the studio and just live the rest of the day without thinking about music.
13. If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?
Wow, that’s a good question. Probably I would like to see more people trying to collaborate with different genres of music. For example, I want to see more people, like coming from rock, collaborating with people coming from soul, dance, or maybe different genre because it’s the only way to create something special and unique.
A lot of people in this industry that does hip hop or rock, only want to collaborate or do things with people coming from their world. It’s not a good thing to me because we are always trying to do something different, and be inspired by a variety of music. Music is good like that because you can mix and try something new or you can experiment every time. That’s the meaning of music.
14. Would you love to perform in Malaysia if you had the opportunity to do so?
I would really love to, honestly. I’m really looking forward to the pandemic to be over and come to Malaysia. I’m really looking forward to playing and raving with people in clubs or festivals.
Meduza’s recent performance such as their smash hit “Paradise” featuring Dermot Kennedy and their remix with artist such as John Legend on “Wild” can be viewed here:
We would like to thank Universal Music Malaysia for giving us a chance to interview Meduza’s Mattia Vitale. Even with the other two members absent, he was able to provide great insight into the trio’s career in music.
