- 4 minutes ago
Cirkut discusses his plethora of Grammy nominations this year, including “APT.” by Rosé & Bruno Mars, ‘Mayhem’ by Lady Gaga and Producer of the Year. We dive back into the catalog as we get the story of his major hits over the course of his career including “Roar,” “Dark Horse,” “Wrecking Ball,” “Unholy” and more!
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00:00What did you eat today?
00:02Whoa, that's picking up too much.
00:23It is Grammy season and you're hanging out with Billboard, Tetris, and Circuit.
00:28I feel like we got a strong name game on here, bro.
00:31Tetris and Circuit kicking it.
00:34Should be a duo.
00:35You know what, I'm going to get into music producing. How about that?
00:38Let's do it.
00:39So tell me, where did Circuit?
00:40Before we even talk about the music, the nominations, I want to know about the name.
00:43As a young teenager, I started off DJing.
00:47I was DJ Circuit.
00:49I kind of gave myself the name.
00:51I was really into hip hop and scratching and vinyl and kind of making beats.
00:55So I kind of just gave myself the name really.
00:58I don't have any cool story where like someone bestowed the name upon me.
01:01I kind of just gave myself.
01:02This works.
01:03Yeah, all the DJs had cool names and I was like, I need my name.
01:05So, DJ Circuit.
01:06And then, you know, once I kind of moved out of DJing and more into producing,
01:10I just dropped the DJ and kept the Circuit and here we are.
01:13Hey, listen, it's working for you.
01:14Yeah.
01:15You're having an incredible year.
01:16I mean, let's talk about these Grammy nominations.
01:17Producer of the Year, which mind-blowing, non-classical.
01:20Album of the Year for Mayhem with Lady Gaga.
01:23Record of the Year, Abracadabra and Apatet with Rose.
01:26Song of the Year, Abracadabra, Apatet.
01:28And of course, Best Dance Pop Recording for Abracadabra.
01:31When they read those, when that all came to you, how do you accept being nominated for
01:35five Grammys with those massive songs?
01:38It's been, you know, a while since the nominations, since the announcement happened.
01:42And still to this day, as I'm sitting here, I'm still like, I don't even, it's just,
01:46I'm so overwhelmed by it.
01:47I'm so, a lot of different emotions come to mind.
01:49I'm just very, you know, proud, but I'm just, I'm thankful.
01:53I'm grateful.
01:54I'm like, you know, I think it's incredible.
01:56I get to make music for a living.
01:57I get to be in these rooms with these incredible artists and songwriters and that I'm, you know,
02:02that people even want to work with me, you know?
02:04So, like, I just feel so grateful and to have my work recognized and, you know,
02:09it's a celebration of music and of the work we put into these things.
02:12So, it feels amazing.
02:13I mean, they definitely love working with you.
02:15And it's so interesting you talk about, like, how you take the information in.
02:18I was chatting with Rose and, you know, she was talking about what this means for her as,
02:22you know, a Korean pop artist and the bigness of this nomination.
02:26So, do you take any of that into consideration when you look at these nominations?
02:29Absolutely.
02:30I mean, yeah, I guess it's, I would consider APT, I mean, it's kind of a hybrid.
02:34American and K-pop song, I guess you could say.
02:36But, yeah, I mean, it certainly, it raises the profile of K-pop music
02:40and I think it's had an impact in that sense for sure.
02:43Yeah, and you definitely are a part of that because you think, you know,
02:46BTS has had Grammy nominations, but there hasn't really been a big four nomination for a K-pop song.
02:52So, I really think it's looking at the future there.
02:54Yeah, absolutely.
02:55No, it's a big deal.
02:56I'm proud to have been part of that for sure.
02:58And when you think about those two songs,
03:00Abba Ted, Abba Cadabra, Working On Man,
03:02what's a, like, story time you can tell me?
03:04What's an interesting tidbit from creating these masterpieces?
03:08APT, I guess, I don't know, maybe it's been said before,
03:12but, I mean, just the way in which we came up with the song,
03:16it was very spontaneous, you know?
03:18Sometimes there's a lot of thought put into things and,
03:20oh, this is going to be a hit, this is going to be,
03:22we were just having fun in the studio and Rosie was just showing,
03:25she was showing someone, hey, this is a drinking game we play in Korea,
03:28and some of us perked up, like, what is that?
03:30That's not a song?
03:31That should be a song, right?
03:32You know, we're going to make that song now, you know?
03:34So, that doesn't happen all the time in the studio, you know?
03:39Did you guys play?
03:40Like, because I don't even think I know, like, how the game is.
03:43Like, did you play APT?
03:44I've never actually played APT, yeah.
03:46Because I was like, I don't even know what the game is like.
03:48Yeah, I've never, I've never played it myself, no.
03:51We need to learn, we need to call Rosie and get the rules so we can play APT.
03:55Abracadabra Mayhem, I mean, that was also kind of a spontaneous moment,
03:59you know, we were in the middle of creating the album
04:01and I played this beat I had started, you know, just sort of a really rough snippet
04:05and I thought, let me see what the room thinks kind of thing
04:08and I played it and they were like, what is this?
04:10This is crazy, we've got to work on this.
04:12And just goes to show, like, you know, these things happen so spontaneously sometimes
04:16and it might not be a thought out or planned.
04:18And, of course, we worked on it more painstakingly after that, you know?
04:21Like, it was not just that, but sometimes these little moments of inspiration
04:24can create something that, you know, goes all the way.
04:30You're talking about, like, the painstaking process of, like, recording
04:33and I can't imagine being with someone as creative as Lady Gaga
04:36and how intense she can be about her art.
04:39How did she come to you with the concept?
04:40Like, where did Abracadabra come from and, like, how do you go,
04:43you know what, yeah, let's make a song?
04:44I guess every song in the album is a bit different.
04:46I think with Abracadabra it started with, you know, some type of sonic instrumental inspiration,
04:51like the beat that I'd started and then me and Watt worked on it.
04:54He put some, he added chords to it and added, fleshed out the different sections of the song.
04:58Really Gaga, she just went in on the mic and started freestyling melodies over the instrumental basically.
05:03That's insane.
05:04And she started kind of mumbling.
05:06You know, a lot of the times it's melodies with mumble lyrics.
05:09It's not really, like, fully, you know, there's no concept yet or lyrics,
05:12but she started doing something like...
05:17As it kept going she started saying Abracadabra and, like, we're like, wait, that's really cool.
05:21Or is this really weird? Is it good? Or, I think it's good.
05:24Yeah, when it first comes out you're not, like, sure, like, this is cool, right?
05:28Yeah, this is, like, so she really just, I don't know where it came from, but it came from somewhere deep within her soul.
05:34I mean, she's a genius.
05:35I mean, she's incredible, yeah.
05:36Do you take a different approach in the studio when you're working with someone like Lady Gaga,
05:41who's obviously been doing this for decades, is such a legend in the game,
05:44and then Rosie, who's also been in the industry a while but is newer.
05:47Yeah.
05:48So is that a different approach that you take to working with artists that way?
05:50I guess with Rosie, she was pretty, she wanted to do something.
05:57I wanted to do something new for her, you know, that maybe hadn't been done before,
06:01and I think APT, she doesn't have any other song like APT for sure.
06:04So there was sort of a blank slate kind of thing where we got to just experiment,
06:08and she got to tell us what she wanted to do, and we got to do that.
06:12With Gaga, yeah, you know, she has, like, so much, such a discography, such a body of work
06:19that you kind of don't want to reference because, like, you don't want to do the same thing over again,
06:23but you can't help but ignore it because, like, she's had all these incredible career
06:27and these incredible songs that, you know, you want to somewhat touch on those touchstones of, like,
06:33this sounds like Gaga, but also we want to make it new too.
06:37So it's different, you know, it's different with every artist you work with for sure.
06:40These are your big nominations, but I'm sure you've worked on some other stuff this year
06:44that you're like, oh, that was sick, I wish this had got a Grammy nom.
06:48So, like, what are some of those songs that you feel like you were really proud of from your, like, recent work?
06:53I loved working with Ed Sheeran. We had worked over the past few years a little bit here and there.
06:59Did a few songs that made it on his album, and I really loved working with him.
07:04I look forward to digging deeper, hopefully, you know, in the future with him.
07:08An incredible artist, great person. Kept me on my toes. He works so fast.
07:12He's like, 20 minutes a song, okay, next song, next song.
07:15Like, he just, like, cranks out, like, you know, some people have writer's block.
07:18He has the opposite. He's, like, just ideas flowing out of him, you know?
07:21And do you have, like, a favorite genre or do you just kind of, like, meet with an artist and you're like,
07:25I'm gonna vibe with them and see if we can create some magic?
07:27Maybe there's areas in which I excel more, like, maybe with dance pop music, like, mayhem.
07:32I felt like the way it turned out, like, as it became more obvious, like, okay, this is gonna,
07:37this is something I can really sink my teeth into and really do what I do best on this.
07:42Whereas some other stuff I might not do as much, you know, I might not do as much R&B music, for example.
07:48I like to be a versatile producer and not just do the same thing over and over again.
07:51So sometimes I like to challenge myself and be like, all right, I'm gonna go in here and make a country record today.
07:55I'm gonna make this, you know, just try it out.
07:57Because also doing the same thing again and again can get boring, too.
08:00So maybe it's selfishly, I just wanna mix it up, you know?
08:03Yeah, I feel like genres are mixing together so much now in general.
08:06That's right.
08:07Like, everybody's kind of crossing those boundaries, especially people like Gaga.
08:10Yeah.
08:11With this being Grammy season, I just wanna talk to you, like, do you have any Grammy experiences or things that stick out to you?
08:16Like you say, a favorite Grammy speech or performance that makes you think about this award show?
08:20I've been to the Grammys twice, well, twice now maybe.
08:24My first nomination was, I worked on, co-produced and co-wrote Katy Perry's song, Roar.
08:30And you're gonna hear me roar.
08:34And a funny moment from that was when it was nominated for Song of the Year.
08:37And I remember sitting there and they were reading out, and the award goes to Royals.
08:43It was Lord Royals.
08:45And the Grammy goes to...
08:48Royals!
08:49Royals was a great song.
08:50I was happy that I wasn't like...
08:52Shout out to Lord.
08:53I wasn't not unhappy, but it was just like, oh, oh.
08:56It was like a tease, a funny little moment, you know?
08:59That's crazy.
09:00Yeah, I mean, then I, you know, was, I got to enjoy celebrating.
09:04I won a Grammy for the weekend's album Starboy, which was a great honor.
09:08And I'm just looking forward to being there and celebrating music and just being with some of my, you know, people who I work with and celebrating the work we did and just celebrating music.
09:18And it's a great, it's a great vibe.
09:20Do you ever get to be a part of any of these artists, like, performances or be on stage with them yet?
09:25Because I know you DJed as well, so I'm like, do you ever get to be up there?
09:28Yeah, yeah.
09:29Not really up there, but maybe still behind the scenes.
09:31You know, I did a little bit of work on Gaga's, on the Mayhem tour, on some of the, you know, I did some of them.
09:37You know, I did some sort of remix work and transitions between songs and like for her Coachella performance and for her, you know, main stadium show.
09:45That was really cool to be involved in, but yeah, haven't got me on stage yet.
09:49Maybe we'll see.
09:50That's what I'm saying, you got to get up there, man.
09:52And then, you know, talking about kind of the future of the Grammys, obviously this is a conversation that's very big in our industry right now, talking about AI.
09:58Yeah.
09:59So how do you feel about like producers and AI and where the industry is headed kind of in that lane?
10:03You know, I'm still honestly, I'm kind of on the fence about it.
10:06I think, I've seen it, it's all about the context and the intention from which you're using it.
10:13I think it's, if you go into it saying like, I can use this and now I don't have to pay for this and I can do it.
10:18If you're going, coming into it from like a, give me this, I want this to create me so I can be more, you know, then I think that's maybe not the right intention.
10:24But maybe I've seen it used in some really creative ways.
10:28I would say that's a really cool use of AI.
10:30I mean, I think it's, it depends on the intention behind it, you know, and how creatively it's done.
10:34I mean, I've used it sometimes to experiment and I was like, I decided, nah, I'm not going to use it.
10:40I don't like that.
10:41I couldn't justify it.
10:42I was like, I don't, I wouldn't feel comfortable putting my name on something like that, that I didn't really create.
10:46Whereas other times, if I did something really cool and manipulated it and trying to made it my own, then I might feel, ah, this is warranted.
10:53So, I'm still kind of on the fence about it.
10:55I don't have a really cut and dry answer.
10:57I mean, I think it's going to evolve and it's here to stay and it's all about the user to, the human to turn something, turn into something cool, I guess.
11:06I mean, you're talking about it from a producer standpoint that is more of like, I would say, using it as a tool, right?
11:11Yeah.
11:12But then you can think about it as well from the artist's point of view because there's artists like, you know, Zenaya Monet.
11:17And like, people are talking about like, where are these artists going to end up on the charts?
11:20And I mean, it could, but they end up at the Grammys.
11:23Like, that's the kind of conversation we have to start like looking forward to having.
11:27And how do you feel about AI artists and could they be Grammy nominated?
11:30I'm not sure about that yet.
11:31I'm not sure.
11:32I'd have to wrap my head around that one.
11:33I don't know.
11:34Because the artist.
11:35Moving fast.
11:36Moving fast.
11:37The artist is, what is the artist really?
11:39There's a team of people behind it, of course.
11:40And like, you know, you could say that their work, you know, they might be doing good work.
11:44Whereas the real person is not a real person.
11:46So who are we really celebrating?
11:48I don't know.
11:49I don't know.
11:50I might have to get back to you on that one.
11:51It's a new frontier, my friend.
11:52I don't know.
11:53Yeah.
11:54AI artists being nominated.
11:55I'm not sure about that yet.
11:56We're going to play a game called This or That.
11:58Yeah.
11:59And just as we do it, I'll name two songs.
12:00You kind of tell me which one you might prefer.
12:02Okay.
12:03I got to pick favorites.
12:04And then we'll talk about them a little bit.
12:06Okay.
12:07When I tell you, there are some songs on this list I'm so obsessed with.
12:09I'm so excited to talk to you about this.
12:11Okay.
12:12I'm so excited to be by Britney Spears or High For This by The Weeknd.
12:18Those two songs happened in the same kind of time period.
12:21Really?
12:22Oh yeah, you're right.
12:23But they're two very different songs.
12:24I'd have to go with High For This by The Weeknd on that one.
12:25We're all pretty.
12:26We're all pretty.
12:27We're all pretty.
12:28We're all pretty.
12:29We're all pretty.
12:30We're all pretty.
12:31We're all pretty.
12:32We're all pretty.
12:33We're all pretty.
12:34We're all pretty.
12:35We're all pretty.
12:36And Poppy holds a special place in my heart because it was one of the first-
12:37Circus novel.
12:38It was one of my first place, you know, placements with a major artist ever.
12:39High For This, I just feel like that was just, you know, kind of the genesis of like
12:45The Weeknd.
12:46And Abel at that time, he was unknown.
12:47He didn't do any interviews.
12:48No one really knew who he was.
12:49The mystery behind that was really cool.
12:51The rest of the music being created at the time, it just sort of created the foundation
12:55of what he is now.
12:56And, you know, I'm just happy to have been a small part of that doing that song.
13:00Okay, solid choice there.
13:01I won't, I won't.
13:02We'll talk more about Britney later.
13:03Yeah, yeah, yeah.
13:04I'll say that.
13:05I'll say that.
13:06Okay, High For This or Where Have You Been by Rihanna?
13:08Ooh.
13:09Okay.
13:10A banger.
13:11You've got me picking favorites here.
13:12This is tough.
13:13I mean, where have you been that, seeing her perform at the Super Bowl, that kind of reignited
13:19it for me.
13:20I was like, wait, I forgot I did that song.
13:22Like, this is crazy.
13:23Where have you been?
13:28Rihanna, maybe I'm going to have to go with that then.
13:31Yeah.
13:32Okay, okay, okay.
13:33Again, nothing but hits here.
13:34Where Have You Been by Rihanna or Part of Me by Katy Perry?
13:37This is the part of me.
13:40Part of Me was, it was a special moment because I think that was the first time I'd ever worked
13:44with Katy Perry.
13:45Really?
13:46Yeah.
13:47Because that was coming off of Teenage Dream, that album, and that was the deluxe and the
13:51five number ones.
13:52Yes.
13:53So that was a big moment to jump in on.
13:54Exactly.
13:55Yeah.
13:56That was a special moment.
13:57That was kind of a milestone for me and then that led to more work.
13:59We did, you know, Roar and Dark Horse and Wide Awake and all those other songs.
14:03I can't say which song is better.
14:04I don't know.
14:05It could depend on the day.
14:06Like one day I might like one song more than the other.
14:09Because now I want to ask you this, which is actually pretty good.
14:12Part of Me by Katy Perry or Wide Awake by Katy Perry?
14:15Okay.
14:16Song-wise, Wide Awake.
14:17I love Wide Awake.
14:22I love that song.
14:23And I remember us making it.
14:24We were up all night making it.
14:25We had to finish it in time for her.
14:27I think she put out a documentary at the time.
14:29And it wasn't like a, oh, we kind of need this finish.
14:31It was like, we actually need this finish by like noon tomorrow kind of thing.
14:35And we definitely pulled an all-nighter.
14:36Haven't done one of those in a while.
14:37And we were literally wide awake, you know.
14:39That's such a beautiful song.
14:42I love that song.
14:43I really do.
14:44I Don't Mind by Usher.
14:49Tell me about that song, because what a bop, bro.
14:51Yeah, yeah.
14:52Like Juicy J's verse on that is insane as well.
14:54Yeah.
14:55It's so good.
14:56So talk to me about creating that song.
14:57That was just, it was fun.
14:58It was fun.
14:59I mean, I worked on it with one of my close collaborators and friends to Ron Thomas.
15:05T. Ron Thomas, he's an incredible writer.
15:07And his energy that he brought to that room, and Jay Cash too.
15:10I gotta shout him out too.
15:12They really brought the lyrics with that one.
15:14And that was just, it was fun.
15:16I mean, we cut the demo.
15:17T. Ron was on it.
15:18And then once I heard Usher cut it, I was like, okay, here we go.
15:22Yeah.
15:23Yeah, insane, man.
15:24Yeah.
15:25And I love Juicy J.
15:26I'm a big fan of just like 3-6 Mafia from way in the, you know.
15:28Like did you bring him into these projects?
15:30Because now I'm thinking about like Dark Horse with Juicy J as well.
15:33So like he seems to be around when you're in the studio.
15:35Yeah.
15:36I didn't personally hit him up, but he found his way in there somehow.
15:39I love that, man.
15:40Yeah.
15:41And then if you had to do I Don't Mind Usher or Wrecking Ball Miley Cyrus.
15:44Ooh.
15:45Like, come on, man.
15:46I might have to go with Wrecking Ball on that one.
15:48Yeah, yeah.
15:49I came in like a wrecking ball.
15:52And I mean, what a big song for her and her career at the time.
15:56Like, how was it to be in the studio with her when she was kind of at that point doing
16:00like a lot of rap, hip hop.
16:01She was in that whole bag.
16:02Yeah.
16:03But then Wrecking Ball is like a complete left turn from that.
16:05Yeah.
16:06That was really cool.
16:07When I was working with Miley, she was just, I just remember how like professional she
16:10was in the studio.
16:11She was like, yep, I love this song.
16:13We're doing it.
16:14We're gonna, like, she cut all the vocals in like a few hours.
16:17Like, she really just sang her heart out and like really nailed it.
16:20And I remember recording her and being like, whoa.
16:22She has such an amazing tone and the way she sold that song is just like, I heard it actually
16:26come on the other day and I was like, damn, it still hits.
16:29Yeah.
16:30That's gotta be so cool to just like hear your own songs out in the wild and be like,
16:33oh yeah, I did.
16:34I worked on that.
16:35Exactly.
16:36That's crazy.
16:37And then like Wrecking Ball, Miley Cyrus, Hold Me Closer, Elton John and Britney Spears.
16:41Ooh.
16:47I gotta keep going with the, because I want to tell the story about the next one.
16:50So I don't want to just.
16:51Yeah.
16:52I mean, well, please tell me all the stories.
16:53Hold Me Closer is so good, man.
16:54Yeah.
16:55And like her vocals on that song, the way you guys use the Elton's like,
16:58original song and like created something so new and different, but still like iconic.
17:03Like, talk to me about it.
17:04Yeah.
17:05I've been a fan of Elton for a long time and his music.
17:08And it kind of came through my mom, actually.
17:11My mom was like a big fan of Elton.
17:12So I was, when I worked with him, I was proud to say, hey, my mom, guess what?
17:15I worked with Elton John.
17:16She was like, oh my God.
17:17That's so cool.
17:18Yeah.
17:19I was always a big fan of his.
17:20And you know, I met with him, with Andrew Watt.
17:23He brought me into it.
17:24They had worked a lot before.
17:25And Elton kind of just gave us free carte blanche to like, which song do you want to do?
17:31Like, it was his idea to do this.
17:32It was his idea to do like, you know, this kind of collaboration.
17:35But he was very collaborative in terms of like, which parts, you know, just take any parts from any song and put it together.
17:41And, you know, it was his idea to do, to flip Tiny Dancer.
17:43And then we sort of like put a few different parts and instrumentals in there and kind of mashed it up and made a remix.
17:49And then Britney got on it.
17:50And I wasn't there when Britney did her vocals.
17:52But it was awesome.
17:53I love it.
17:54I want to actually ask you this one.
17:55So Hold Me Closer or Unholy by Sam Smith and Kim Petras?
17:59You know, I can't pick favorite.
18:00I mean.
18:01You're like, well, now I got to talk about Kim Petras and Sam.
18:04That's my goal here.
18:05I'm not just going to say hold me closer and then like not talk about.
18:08No, I mean.
18:09And honestly, I look at Kim as like Britney's daughter.
18:11Like I think about the way that they approach songs and their voices and how they use their voices in dance pop music.
18:17And I'm like, they're very similar in a lot of ways.
18:19So talk to me about Kim and her approach with like being in the studio and being with a monster like Sam Smith.
18:25Yeah.
18:28It was incredible working with Sam.
18:30I'd been such a huge fan for a long time.
18:32And if you would have asked me like what kind of song do you think you're going to make with Sam Smith?
18:35I didn't think it was going to sound like Unholy.
18:37That was my last.
18:38It's very different from what Sam has done in the past.
18:41At first it was very, no one really knew what to think.
18:43We knew it was sick.
18:44Like this is really cool.
18:45It's very different.
18:46But we couldn't have expected it to be the hit that it was.
18:49I mean, sometimes you just don't know.
18:50Yeah, it was Sam's idea actually to get Kim on it.
18:52And I was so happy that Sam suggested that because I had worked with Kim from way back on some of her earlier stuff.
18:59Always been a just big supporter and fan of hers.
19:02I think that she deserves like the spotlight.
19:06Yeah.
19:07It was such a cool moment.
19:08Yeah.
19:09And that their Grammy moment was incredible too.
19:10I mean.
19:11And then here we are at the Grammys again.
19:12I have to ask you like.
19:13I'll pretend like I said being such a like iconic moment for her and her career in this big Grammys.
19:19It's one of the biggest songs on Billboard's year, the end of the year chart.
19:22Right.
19:23What song do you feel like you have that you want to get that kind of, you know, accolades?
19:28You can't really, you never know what's going to really rise to the top and what's going to connect with people.
19:33So it's hard to really, you know, it's hard to go back and predict that.
19:37But I remember someone asked me the question one time in an interview.
19:40They were like, what's the key to getting a song in the record of the year and a song?
19:44I'm sure everybody's asked you that.
19:45And I said, if I knew the answer, I'd do it every day.
19:48He'd be like, every year I would be nominated for record of the year.
19:51But, you know, when I go in the studio, I'm not thinking like, okay, today we're going to make a record of the year song.
19:55We're going to make a song of the year.
19:56Like, obviously we want to do our best every time.
19:58But sometimes you have to leave it up to the fans and the listeners.
20:01You know, sometimes amazing things happen like this year, so.
20:04Well, listen, congrats on everything you got going on.
20:06I hope to see you up there on that stage, man.
20:07Thank you so much.
20:08Of course.
20:09Thanks for hanging out.
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