This talented and young producer hailing from France already has over 15 million plays globally and continues to push the boundaries of music. We present to you, Le Malls.
Four Over Four had the chance to speak with Le Malls on his growth as a producer and what to expect from him in 2017.
Call Me (feat. Lilianna Wilde) | Stream
First off, who is Le Malls?
For those of you that don’t know me I’m a producer from France trying to break out into the electronic music scene. I started producing around four years ago at the age of 13. I used to create and produce in many styles in the past but now I have a more focused direction. I have never stopped producing and working everyday on my music and production skills. Year after year music took a bigger part in my life and my time and love for it never stopped growing. This is what made me what I am today and I know this will surely continue in the future.
The most important thing to what I’m doing is the fact that I listen all genres of music. It can be future bass, rock, punk, blues, and drum n bass and all of these genres united are my source of inspiration.
Tell us a bit about the music scene in France and how it has shaped your career?
The music scene in France is really interesting. Every artist and every genre of music has its own followings but the French are very into artistic creation. I guess this is just in the culture and you are aware of that from a very young age.
For my music style it’s hard to grow a fanbase in France because there is no platform that can push the producers. My style is much more of an American style sound, which I think people can find hard to take in over here in Europe.
Although the place where I live doesn’t really affect my production, in France, there are not a lot of opportunities for the bass EDM scene. Festivals, concerts and radio stations for electronic music focus mainly on top 40 music, which means it’s hard for underground artists to break out.
In France, a portion of the radio legally needs to be a certain percentage of French artists, but stations tend to fulfill that during the night. This is why you only hear the top 40 international acts on prime day time French radio.
For bass music the support is very low, but with hard work, determination, and patience I believe you can accomplish anything. I mean I’m 17 and doing an interview with you guys in New York City!
What is the most impactful memory you have from your childhood?
I think its the first time I went to a concert. It was with my dad we went to a jazz concert. The performance and the talent of these people was so visible. That was such an amazing experience for me as a child. To see people playing music with such passion and intensity really made this stick in my mind.
That was one of the most inspiring moments for me when I started writing music. It’s the reason why I’ve spent days and days searching to know more about music history and culture. Music is a big part of humanity and really is timeless throughout the ages.
Being 17 years old and still in high school, what’s the biggest struggle and reward about being a producer?
High school is a very important part of teenage life. It’s also I think one of the most difficult times growing up. Being a producer in it can be a struggle because of all the pressures from work, parents’ opinions, people’s judgements, and just life, everything that is going around you.
Being a producer at this age, people don’t really take you seriously sometimes. I think that was the hardest obstacle to overcome. The first tracks that I released, my parents thought that it was a very cool hobby but they couldn’t see any progression or me being able to actually do this as a career.
When I released “R&G” things really changed for me. Millions of people were listening to my music and I found my management company in LA and my agents in New York and London.
All that being said, personally for me high school wasn’t that hard. My friends were really supportive, but my parents at the beginning were scared. Eventually they came around to liking it. They are seeing everything that is happening now and they really want me to do well. I am really lucky to have my parents and how they are backing me to really go out there and achieve my dreams. I owe the world to them.
How did the collaboration with Beckii Power come together for your newest single “Blazed” and what’s the story behind the track?
“Blazed” came about very naturally. I wanted people to really FEEL the drop, you know? It’s one of those songs that just about anyone can vibe to. The goal was to create a track that people could relate to, while keeping true to my sound. Beckii Power, the artist featured in the video, wrote the top line and the lyrics to the track and then I went back and made changes to what I felt related to her vocals and style.
The video is kind of a funny story. It was filmed when I was in London, working on some new tracks. My manager was directing the shoot, making sure things were going smoothly. The model/dancer that was supposed to be in the video mixed up the date and didn’t show up, so Beckii stepped up to the plate and was in the video instead!
We are all about working as a team and doing whatever it takes to get it done. The visual aspect is something that enables people to really identify with the feeling of not just being high on love but also high on life.
Who’s on the list of artists you would like to collaborate with and why?
As a producer, I would love to work with What So Not or Flume. They are truly amazing and original and these collaborations would really be a dream come true for me. For singers, I think Twenty One Pilots would be actually amazing. I really love their stuff and that would be so dope! They are such a huge inspiration for me and to collaborate on some tracks someday would be epic.
I have a ton of respect for talented artists like them who have already made a name for themselves, but I am also down to collab with newcomers who may not be known yet, but are grinding and putting in the time so that they will be someday. I do have a really cool collab that I am currently working on with a larger artist but I’m not going to share this to the world just yet. Stay tuned!
You have “Call Me” coming out on Lowly Palace on May 11th. What was the direction you decided to take with this track?
For “Call Me,” the process behind it was to produce an energetic track and at the same time keeping my style. The mix of dark vibes, hard sounds, and beautiful female vocals from Lilianna [Wilde] really made the track what it is today.
I wanted people to feel the sensation of walking outside on a sunny day and then you see a storm coming. That’s what i thought while working on it. The dark pop was the main idea behind this track. We used some pop ideas and vocals, kept it in my style, and created the vibes I love to listen to and feel. Honestly, this track really came very naturally and we didn’t have many edits of the track at all. It was pretty much done quickly and everything just seemed to flow.
This track features the singer/songwriter Lilianna Wilde. How did you two link up and how did the track take form?
Lilianna is an amazing singer! SoundCloud gives life to wonderful collabs with artists that you would have never found normally. I found her profile on SoundCloud and I heard her songs and fell in love with her voice. I contacted her, she liked the track, and then she putted her magic on it.
After that, “Call Me” came to life very quickly. Thanks to her talent, the track has more soul and beautiful rhythms which flow in it which really helped finish the track. I can’t stress enough how much of an amazing person she is as a human being and a songwriter. Her voice really can bring music to life. If you listen to her other tracks you will see what I mean. She has such a diverse range of styles and I feel incredibly lucky to have had her feature on a track.
You’re releasing the video for “Call Me” on the same day as your track release. How did the video come about?
This is crazy actually. Cameron Ward in the UK, who does all of our videos with Bad Habit Collective, really had the vision of creating a dream-like scenario. We shot the bedroom scenes with Kate inside the same apartment we shot the “Blazed” video. We did both videos in one day.
Kate was originally going to be in another video, but couldn’t get the day off work. So we thought of using her in this video. The vision for the outdoors scenes was one hundred percent Cameron. His ideas are always amazing and I trust him with whatever he shoots. I love his style and his color gradients are perfect in every video I have seen from him.
Whats in store for Le Malls in 2017?
This year is going to be insane. In June, I am releasing a track named “Bullet,” which I recorded in London with a talented vocalist named Sorana. This is coming out on Thrive/Sony.
I have confirmed some show dates and there is some talk of a possible upcoming tour, some exciting collabs, and maybe even a live show. Follow me and I promise to keep you all in the loop!
Any closing statements?
Thanks so much to all of you reading this and to everyone at Jukely. I just want to say thank you for everything…really feelin’ the love. Please share my music with the world!
Stay up to date and follow Le Malls @
Spotify – SoundCloud – Facebook – Twitter – Instagram
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