EDC 2025 this year presented us with the amazing opportunity to sit down with main stage opener Lavern! We last caught up with him at Miami Music Week, and loved getting to chat again about all things Miami, Vegas, and being an international superstar!
Kate: Today we are at the one and only EDC Las Vegas, sitting down with Lavern, who just absolutely ripped it on the main stage. Tell me, what was that feeling when you first walked up there and you’re playing the main stage of EDC?
Lavern: Yeah, it was actually incredible. It was so cool. Like, last year I started touring, not even one year ago. I didn’t have shows, and then I did a lot of shows here in the US, and now opening the main stage at EDC is insane. That just… Felt so good.
Kate: Absolutely crazy. It’s so crazy that you’ve only been touring a year, because we actually just caught up with you at Miami Music Week, and so Miami Music Week into EDC and you’re just getting started. How was Miami Music Week? What was that experience like?
Lavern: Yeah, it was a lot of fun. I did, like, six shows there. It was also my first Miami Music Week, actually, so it’s all quite new for me, but I actually love it, and I love to see the fans, I love to play there. It’s always a vibe.
Kate: Do you feel like you really feed off the fans’ energy when you’re playing?
Lavern: Yeah, of course. I also saw a lot of fans here, and they’re putting up their phones with “play this song, play ‘Electric High’.” It’s always good to see them, and it’s insane.
Kate: So “Electric High” is one of the songs they’re requesting. What is another song that you play that you feel like just makes people go absolutely crazy?
Lavern: It’s actually “Hold Me,” because that’s the song that actually blew up, especially here in the US. It got almost, like, 150 million streams, and a lot of people know that song, and that actually kicked off my career, so it’s super cool.
Kate: Tell me about the process of making “Hold Me,” and everything that went into it.
Lavern: Well, that was actually super funny, because I was studying in the Netherlands, I studied law, and I actually made this song in my student room, just a small room, and I built this song just in one night, and put it on TikTok. It went viral, crazy, and then that’s how it all started, actually.
Kate: Wow! So, with that track, did you put it out with expectations, or was it just kind of, I’m going to throw it at the universe?
Lavern: No, I was just like, okay, I have this song, I love it, let’s put it on TikTok, and people love this song, and it went viral really quick, in like a few days. That’s how it all started.
Kate: So, what do you think your first moment was, where you were like, oh my gosh, I’ve made it, I’m doing this?
Lavern: Well, actually, it’s crazy to start touring, and play your own music live, and see people go crazy on your own songs. It’s an incredible feeling.
Kate: Yeah, absolutely. What’s your favorite place you’ve played?
Lavern: It’s really hard to say. I love EDC, because now it’s the first time I actually played at the main stage, and opened main stage, but every city is really different. I love New York, I did LA Academy, did my first headline show there, sold out, it was really cool. So yeah, it’s hard to say, to be honest.
Kate: Well, clearly, you’re no stranger to Vegas, because you do have an incredible Vegas residency here. How did that come about?
Lavern: Well, it’s one of my biggest dreams, playing in Vegas, and I got a residency there now, playing Tao Beach, Marquee, Hakkasan, and it’s always a vibe, people love the energy, and it’s great to be there. It’s a good place.
Kate: How much back and forth are you doing between Vegas and everywhere else?
Lavern: I’m playing a lot of shows in Vegas, and I’m also flying back and forth to the Netherlands, because I still live there. But yeah, it’s cool.
Kate: How do you prepare for those long-haul flights? Do you have any flight rituals, anything you do on the flight? Do you sleep the whole time? Do you watch movies?
Lavern: Well, I have earplugs, and I put, I have the earplugs, and then I put, like, the noise cancellation headphones on it, and then it’s, like, super quiet, and then, like, when I fly back to the Netherlands, I can sleep the whole flight, I wake up in the Netherlands, spend the whole day, and it’s all good.
Kate: So we’ve talked about the flight rituals a little bit. What about your pre-show rituals?
Lavern: I don’t really have a lot of rituals, actually. Before the show, but, like, sometimes I want to check the mic by myself and check all the, if all the technical stuff is ready, and I love to do that as well.
Kate: Back on how exciting the Vegas residency is, but something else super exciting is the Tate McRae remix [“Revolving Door”]! How that happen? Did her team reach out to you? Did you initiate that?
Lavern: They actually asked me to make a remix, and I really love the song. Mm-hmm. I said, like, okay, let’s do it, and I finished the remix really quick, like, a few days. It was super cool.
Kate: Do you have any other, like, artists that you think you’d really like to work with?
Lavern: Lana Del Rey. I love her voice. I would love to do a collab one day with her.
Kate: Who do you think are some of your biggest inspirations in EDM? Who made you want to start making music?
Lavern: It was actually Avicii, because when I was, like, 13, 12 years old, I used to listen a lot to those EDM music, because of, like, the EDM golden era. I loved those music and the melodies, and that’s how I started. I downloaded Apple Studio on my computer and started producing music. After that, I actually organized my own parties with one of my best friends together, and I live in a really small village, so we organized some parties there for children that are, like, 13, 14 years old, and I came there and I played there. So it was a lot of fun to do that as well.
Kate: For sure. So you’re really, really homegrown. Did you have any mentors or anything, or did you just kind of figure it out on your own?
Lavern: I actually watched a lot of YouTube tutorials, and that’s how I actually learned to produce music. So…not really any specific mentors.
Kate: If you could pick, and probably it would be Avicii, but one EDM artist to collab with, who do you think it would be?
Lavern: Now? Calvin Harris.
Kate: Why Calvin Harris?
Lavern: He’s always super, he comes up with super fresh songs. I love his music. It’s always new, and it’s always a vibe, so, yeah, I think Calvin Harris.
Kate: So, when you get in the studio, what is your process for making a song? What goes through your mind?
Lavern: Most of the time, I go through a lot of different samples, and then from one sample, small vocal sample, which is, like, catchy, I build a whole track. It’s also what I did with Hold Me. I found a small sample, and from there, I built the whole song. Built everything around it. Yeah, I built everything about, like, a small sentence.
Kate: Awesome. Thank you so much, Lavern, for sitting down with us at EDC, and absolutely, congrats on your Vegas residency, congrats on EDC Las Vegas, and we will see you next time!
Lavern: See you next time!
Keep up with all things Lavern using the links below!
