Teddy beats is an outstanding name to watch in the chill-dance genre. According to Teddy Beats’ Instagram bio, he’s “too EDM for pop and too pop for EDM.” This unique style of music production allows the Washington DC born and raised DJ/producer to produce music that allows fans of electronic music and pop music to dance to their heart’s content and not think about the little things (especially when it’s about noticing the differences between the sounds of pop and electronic music).
Teddy Beats has performed at prestigious music festivals such as Moonrise and Firefly. The young DJ/producer has also amassed 15 million streams on Spotify and seen his music chart internationally on SiriusXM Chill and Virgin Radio. Additionally, he’s signed to major labels like Armada, Soave, Smash The House and Knightvision/Warner. Here’s One EDM’s exclusive interview with Teddy Beats as he discussed his early career, latest music, and all the upcoming projects in 2022.
Kenny Ngo: How are you, Teddy? How are the first two months of 2022 going for you so far?
Teddy Beats: What’s up man? Everything is Gucci on my side! The first two months of 2022 have been great. I took a kind of creative sabbatical at the end of December to recharge my batteries. Now I’m back with a vengeance!
What was your most memorable achievement in 2021?
There were so many great ones. 2021 has been a hell of a year, but probably my most memorable achievement was performing on one of the main stages at Firefly Festival this year.
According to your IG bio, your catchphrase is “Too pop for EDM, too EDM for pop”. Can you explain to readers the meaning of this catchy slogan?
My musical style is somewhere between pop and EDM. So when I tell people I make pop music, they often say it’s more like EDM and vice versa. Because of that, I adopted him. It’s so hard to please everyone!
Your reputation as a dance music DJ/producer has grown exponentially, especially as your tracks have frequently rotated on Virgin Radio and SiriusXM Chill. How do you feel about your steady rise as a DJ/producer since your debut after graduating from college?
It’s quite unreal. The music scene is hard to break into, so I’m still very thankful and thankful for my continued growth in this industry. I’ve been making music for a long time. Even in college, I would not have imagined that my music would be on the radio.
Speaking of early days, you trained as a certified sound engineer at Omega Recording Studios after graduating from college. What made you decide to become a sound engineer?
Before audio school, everything I knew about music production and mixing was self-taught. Because of that, I wanted to hone my craft and learn how to polish my songs.
When you started your career in music production, you actually started producing hip-hop beats when you signed a production contract with Bad Boy Entertainment producer “Hitmen” Chucky Thompson. Are there significant differences and similarities when it comes to producing hip-hop and electronic music?
I think one of the biggest differences between producing hip-hop beats and dance beats is the amount of instrumental layers. There’s a beautiful simplicity to hip-hop beats. If the drums are good and the bass slams, sometimes that’s all you need. I feel like dance music tends to need extra layers to help build energy and anticipation, especially for the drop.
As a talented and up-and-coming DJ/producer from the US capital making fantastic strides in the industry, you released one of your latest singles, “Home (Whoop Daddy)” with Jacob Browne in December. What is this exciting track about and what separates it from your other notable tracks?
This song is super special to me for two reasons. The first being that it was released on Sony Music, which has been my dream for a long time. The second reason being that a popular dance music group offered to buy me the song for their upcoming album, which was a huge compliment. Writing and producing songs for bigger artists is definitely a goal for me this year.
Just a few weeks ago you released your remix of Oliver Tree’s “Life Goes On”. What are some unique sounds from this remix that you should recommend readers notice?
Those horns! I started with a live horn. Then I layered a bunch of other virtual horns on top of it to reinforce it. I think it adds a great energy to the song.
You’ve already appeared on SiriusXM Chill’s flagship show, “House of Chill”. What other programs have you been featured on and what programs will you be on in the near future?
I did a guest mix on Seattle radio station C89.5 (shout out Harmony!) which was a lot of fun. I’ve also been on a few college radio stations recently, doing interviews and promoting my current tour.
You’ve played popular festivals like Firefly and Moonrise. In which festivals and/or events do you plan to perform very soon? That is, if things don’t get postponed again like almost all of 2020 and a quarter of 2021 because of the still ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
There are a lot of great festivals I would love to play this year. However, the one that immediately comes to mind is Electric Forest. I was supposed to play there in 2020 and 2021 but the festival was canceled due to COVID issues both times.
Bonus title:
Teddy Beats also released a new remix of “You Need Love”. This track is sung by an amazing singer named Eklo. According to Teddy, Eklo’s vocals and lyrics brought tears to his eyes as he listened to the track. Because of this, Teddy asked Eklo if he could remix “You Need Love” and the singer agreed. Check out the remix of Eklo’s “You Need Love” by Teddy Beats below.
