‘I’m one of the biggest DJs in the world — and I owe it to Brixton’-Danni Scott-Entertainment – Metro

Not many artists could hold the attention of over 250,000 people for three hours, but that’s why Alok is one of the biggest DJs in the world.

During his free-to-enter show in Belem, Brazil, in celebration of Cop30, Alok’s star power was on full display with a huge pyramid-shaped stage and drone show.

While he’s best known in his home country, the Looking For Love hitmaker, 33, actually started his journey in the UK.

‘I worked in Brixton when I lived in London, I started Alok there,’ he told Metro as we met in the Amazon Rainforest ahead of his highly-anticipated concert.

Alok shared: ‘I had my partnership with my brother [his twin Bhaskar], and then we broke up there. I was very influenced by the UK’s music, it was definitely the first step of my career, and that’s how it all started.’

That move to go solo certainly paid off for Alok, who now has over 23.5million monthly Spotify listeners and 29million Instagram followers.

Alok is one of the biggest DJs in the world (Picture: Mario Camilleri)

He recently put on a show to 250,000 people in Belem, Para (Picture: Mario Camilleri)

Alok continued. ‘I think that the UK markets, it’s very challenging. You know, it’s super challenging, but it’s super sophisticated.’

He said it was ‘very interesting’ to see the influence music here can have around the world, calling it ‘really’ impactful.

Electronic music is ‘very fragile’ in Brazil as it’s not native to the country but the UK offers a far more ‘consistent’ home for the genre.

Alok has worked extensively with British artists, including big names like Jess Glynne, Ella Henderson, James Arthur, Sigala, and Ellie Goulding.

It’s his time working with the legendary Sir Mick Jagger that the Jungle hitmaker remembers best calling it a ‘totally different experience.’

‘I thought he was fresher than myself in a way,’ Alok laughed. ‘I had to like eight different versions [of the first song] so that he really liked them but he was really diving into it.

Alok is using his music to bring attention to the climate crisis (Picture: Mario Camilleri)

‘The second song was started during the pandemic — that one took 10 different versions. I remember he called me and I said, “Listen, this is the 10th version, and now I understand why you created a song [called] I Can’t Get No (Satisfaction) because you are never satisfied”.’

This is not a criticism of the Rolling Stones icon, instead, Alok says Sir Mick is staying at the top of his game by ‘looking to the new generation’ for inspiration.

‘That’s one of the most important things I learned in my life. You think you know everything, but we can always learn more looking to the new generation to see what’s up, what’s happening and that’s what he does. That’s why he’s more fresh than myself.’

Alok’s dad, DJ Swarup who created the Universo Paralello festival, wasn’t so confident with the collaboration — his immediate response was ‘Oh my God, you’re f****d. You can’t f**k up.’

Sir Mick and Alok’s meeting was a little unusual though, with the DJ insisting on showing us the video so we actually believe him.

Alok performed with Indigenous artists at the Latin Grammys (Picture: Jason Koerner/Getty Images)

He has worked with the likes of Mick Jagger (Picture: Mario Camilleri)

The Paint It Black hitmaker was in Brazil visiting his son for his birthday and one of Alok’s friends asked him to play at the ‘secret party’ — at the request of Mick himself.

‘So as soon as I arrived there, I opened up the door and I saw a super big dog coming my direction,’ he recalled. ‘Then I saw it wasn’t a dog, it was actually like goat and then I saw the other side. I saw — I swear — I saw, a llama being led by a monkey.’

He added with a chuckle that there was a huge sign which read: ‘Do not play any Rolling Stones’.

Currently, Alok’s focus is on his UN-supported The Future is Ancestral project which gives a platform for indigenous Amazonian tribes.

‘I was in a very depressing moment in my life,’ the musician shared. ‘When you achieve that success, I just felt a huge emptiness and was looking for inspiration because I didn’t have anymore.’

A video of an Indigenous musician singing ‘beautiful songs’ prompted him to the tribes of the Amazon, although Alok joked he ‘didn’t know then’ the extensive travel required to get there.

‘When I got there, it was a real life-changing experience, because it changed my whole mindset about how we deal, first of all, with Indigenous culture. We have prejudices and the mindset that we are more developed culture but as soon as I got there, I realised that it’s just really different goals.’

Working with Alok on the album were numerous Indigenous artists, including Chief Mapu of the Huni Kuin people who performed on stage at the Belem concert.

Alok shared: ‘Mapu was saying, “We scream so loud, but no one can hear us”. So maybe through the music they can.

Alok wants to give a microphone to Indigenous voices (Picture: Mario Camilleri)

He ‘wants to be part of this movement’ (Picture: Mario Camilleri)

‘I just want to be part of this movement. Maybe I’m not optimistic, maybe I just cannot deal with the consequences of my consciousness. Before I didn’t have that, it was easier to deal with but now, that’s the choice that I can’t avoid.’

Even the Aurea Tour he is about to embark on will be climate conscious, putting in place ‘best practices’ for future artists to utilise on their own tours.

While many artists buy carbon credits and aim to make their tours net zero, Alok believes this isn’t enough — his team has planted 240,000 trees in Belem as well as re-forestation efforts elsewhere in the Amazon.

‘Once you have a conscience, it’s not a mistake anymore. It’s a choice,’ said Alok. ‘What’s your choice?’

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