Kygo Documentary & Interview: The Creative Shift That Changed His Life

If you're looking for ways to just start, create something you're proud of, and not limit yourself, then this video is for you.

Well, in the beginning I was just making music for fun. It was just a hobby, and I actually started studying business and finance in Scotland. I want to make something that I'm proud of. I don't really classify my own tracks, because I kind of like just look at it as music. I don't want to like put myself into one genre.

Need motivation? Watch a Top 10 with Believe Nation. What's up, it's Evan. My one word is believe, and I believe in you. I want to see that amazing thing that's inside here come out and explode into the world. So let's get your motivation to a 10 and get you believing in you. Today we're gonna learn from a man who went from being a non-native foreigner in Singapore and being the son of a maritime worker and dentist to becoming the first house music producer to perform at the Olympics and closing in on 100 billion views on his music videos. He's Kygo, and here's my take on his top 10 rules to success. Enjoy! So kicking us off, rule number 1 is do your own thing.

I try not to care what other people think. If you're always trying to listen to everyone else, you'll never make something unique. It'll blend in too much. It'll be too generic. I try to find things that resonate with my kind of style or resonate with my kind of music. Sometimes I redo my work 20 times before I'm satisfied. And I love it. Other people might say, "Yeah, it's done now. That's it," after the 4th or 5th time. But I keep going. I guess that's my thing, grinding away at the details, seeing if there's something that can be added or stripped away, just to make it more edgy or to make something no one's experienced before. Being an artist, you're too often expected to expose yourself, to show who you are, not what you do. I don't care much for that. I admire people who focus on doing their own thing, expressing themselves in their own way. If people love what I do, If they love the actual finished product, whether it's design or music, then that's what matters. That's my job, my expression, my thing. What's yours?

This is a solid opening. I love how he's telling his story and there's actually a theme to it, a music, and people don't usually tell their story so well, so this is a fantastic start. And I also agree with doing your own thing. It's understanding, having the self-awareness to know what you stand for, what your one word is, who you wanna be, and then going out and living it. When you are living somebody else's life, you will never be successful. You've gotta figure out what that thing is for you and go all in on it. So it's a great start to the video. Let's move on to rule number 2. Just start. Was this always like the end goal, to be like a billion streams on Spotify?

Like, when you first started out, was it more of a hobby? Was it— did you see this going in as a career for you? Well, in the beginning I was just making music for fun. It was just a hobby. And I actually started studying business and finance in Scotland, so I was studying and I was just like having like music as a hobby, even though it was my dream. I thought it was like— it was impossible to break through. So many people do exactly what I was doing. Yeah. So I was— yeah, I started studying, and then suddenly, like, yeah, my music started getting attention online, and that was like when I really started thinking, okay, this is, this is something. I have an opportunity right now.

This is something that you see over and over and over and over and over again. You start doing something because you love it, because you have the passion, and you don't know how that's ever gonna work out. And you may think it may never work out. Your brain is telling you that it'll never work out, but your heart is telling you, gotta keep doing it. Big decisions with the heart, little ones with the head. You don't need to have a fully fleshed-out plan because your plan is gonna change anyway. You just need to start. Let's move on to rule number 3: create something you're proud of.

Every time I release something, there's a lot of people that has expectations too, like, I hope— like, they want the track to be good. And so it's definitely a little bit of pressure, but I don't think it really affects me that much when I make music. And then I make music because I love making music, and I don't really think about, like, I hope people are gonna like it, obviously, but I mostly think that I want to make something that I'm proud of and then something that's— yeah, that's something I can, yeah, be proud of. And it's the best song that I could possibly make. Yeah.

So the test I like to use is, do I want to show this to my grandkids? I want to make something that I'm so proud of, I want my grandkids to see it. This video, I want my grandkids to see it. And if you take that importance into everything you do, every speech, every video, every post on social media, every product, every service, every day showing up, that you wanna tell your grandkids a story about what happened today, you go in with that importance every single day, you will make amazing things happen. Let's go to rule number 4, don't limit yourself. I think people were just hearing the same stuff. And you know, there's a point where like, you know, progressive house or whatever you wanna call it, like, you know, 128 BPM, Like, you know, a couple years ago that was the new hot thing, that was what everyone wanted to hear, you know, they wanted to go and dance really fast or whatever it is, they wanted to go to a party, and now it's like, you know, there's been so much of it, Kygo has now come with a new genre.

I guess maybe it was because there's like, there's no tropics, like there's no beaches, and like the summer is very short in Norway, so maybe I was just like, I was sitting in my room dreaming about summer and dreaming about beaches and dreaming, so I— Maybe that was the reason why I started making that music I make today.

Do you like the label tropical house? Is that appropriate, or—

Yeah, I guess it makes sense because it's like, it's music that fits for the summer. But I don't really like— I don't really classify my own tracks tropical house because I kind of like just look at it as music. I don't want to like put myself into one genre.

I love this rule. So far it's my favorite. Rule number 4, stepping up, Kygo. As soon as you accept that label, then you start creating only within that label, and it's hard to break out and do more and more things. And as soon as you box yourself in, then the less and less happy that you get as you continue doing that same thing over and over and over again. So other people may label you, other people may put you in a certain kind of box, but don't limit yourself. Don't accept that label yourself. Continue to be limitless. Let's go to rule number 5: be inspired by everything.

I'm just like inspired by everything. When I listen to— I listen to a lot of music, and I'm just inspired by every style of music. And Ed Sheeran and Passenger and all those guys, I get inspired everything, and a lot of like electronic music. There's this Swedish guy called Oliver Nelson. He's kind of unknown, but he was one of my main inspirations when I started making this style of music. So it's just, it's just music basically in general. I get inspired by other artists and other music.

I love the message of finding inspiration, everything. It reminds me of the guy behind me on the wall, Howard Schultz. Started Starbucks, went to Italy on vacation, saw how Italians all hung around a coffee shop, and and he wanted to bring that idea to North America, and that created Starbucks. And so there's always inspiration out there, whether you're on vacation, whether you're standing in line at the Department of Motor Vehicles, whether you're at a grocery store, there's always something that you can pull from. And if you ever find yourself bored or uninspired, just look around you and say, how can I be creatively inspired by something here in my current environment? And learn from that and apply it to your life or to your business. Moving on, rule number 6: collaborate.

Definitely helps to get new inputs from other people. So every time I go in the studio, you learn something every time you go into the studio with another artist. So it definitely helps, yeah, to work with other people because you get their inputs and their ideas, and maybe they have some new melodies and some kind of variations that I haven't thought of. And so it definitely, definitely helps, yeah, to get input from other people. I feel like just like I'm always kind of growing and evolving as an artist. And yeah, every time I work with someone, I learn something. It's— I can't like put my finger on like what it is, but I learn like new variations and that you can go from that chord up to this chord and oh, that sounds cool. And it's always just something new that I take from every collaboration and every track I make. Or it's a new sound that I found in my and the software I'm using that I really like. So I kind of save that sound and I use it for a later song. So it's, uh, yeah, it's just like you kind of like constantly just like grow and evolve and, and learn new things.

There's a real danger in doing the same thing over and over and over again, being around the same people, the same customers, the same environment. You just stay stagnant. And as entrepreneurs, we hate that. We need growth. And so exposing yourself to new ideas, to people who who bring a different vibe, a different flavor, whether it's a one-off thing or whether it's an ongoing relationship where they become a business partner or a piece of your company, it's really, really, really, really important because you can get by for a year or two just doing the same thing, but eventually you are going to phase out. You're going to fade. You're going to lose your, your will. You're going to lose your happiness because you need to inject that variety in, and collaboration is a fantastic way to do it. Let's move on to rule number 7. Work hard. I think this is a knock against young people a lot, or millennials a lot, that we don't like to work hard. I can say we because I'm the first year, 1980, of millennials. We like to work hard! We just have to find something that we love doing, and this is a message that will come over again and again and again. Like, the most successful people in the world, you've got to work hard. You've got to find the thing that you love so much that you can work until 6 in the morning doing, that you just lose track of time doing because it feels you up. Find that thing, and even if it doesn't make sense on how to continue practically doing it, you have to keep going. Eventually it will work out. Let's move to rule number 8: model success.

I started taking piano lessons when I was like 6 years old. It was my mom who wanted me to do it, go there. And I guess like in the beginning I didn't like really enjoy it. I was like, I just did it because my mom wanted me to do it. But after a couple years when I like started learning some songs, I I started really getting into it. I just composed melodies on the piano, and then I did that for a couple years. And then I heard about Avicii in 2009. And before that, I wasn't really into electronic music. I listened to some songs, but I listened more to the bands— Coldplay, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and The Killers, and stuff like that. But then I got really inspired by Avicii and his style of music. So I bought Logic Studio, and I bought a MIDI keyboard, and just learn myself how to produce.

If someone who looks like you has gone on to accomplish something amazing, then you can too. And I think surrounding yourself in an environment where that is always hitting you, where you look up to people and you read their biographies or you watch their interviews and you consume yourself constantly with their success, that can be motivating for you to break out of your current environment to go off and do something amazing yourself. I'm a big believer in models of It's why I started this channel, and hopefully you take that message to heart. Let's move on to rule number 9: find your creative zone.

When you're like in and out of hotels and in and out of planes, it's hard to get in that creative zone, so I usually make music when I'm back home.

And what is it about the surroundings?

Do you need that kind of quiet and Yeah, it definitely helps to, yeah, have some alone time and be able to just be in, yeah, in your, yeah, my hometown and just hang out with some friends and, and it kind of gets me in that, that, yeah, creative zone and I get motivated and inspired to make music.

I think knowing how you tick and be able to create that environment that allows you to succeed is super, super important. One quick example for me: I hate fluorescent lights. Fluorescent lights give me a headache, they flicker, it's really hard for me to focus when they're on, and so I need lots of natural light. I like having a window in front of me when I'm working. It allows me to be the most productive. And so that's an easy hack, right? If you understand the environment that will allow you to come out and be your best self and create the best work, then go and build it. You're an entrepreneur, you get to control the situation. Take charge. Alright, last rule, number 10: Have fun!

Get out of bed early in the morning. No, I'm not a morning person. Waking up when? Today I woke up at like 12:30. I didn't go to bed until like 4 though, so it's like kind of like that's the sleeping pattern I have. I would like to know if Kygo sounds as Kygo without Kygo sounds.

All right, thank you guys so much for watching. I hope you enjoyed. I'd love to know which rule was the most valuable to you that you're going to immediately apply somehow to your life or to your business. Rule number 4 was my personal favorite. Let me know yours in the comments down below. Now, I made this video because The Songsmith asked me to, so if there's someone you'd like me to cover in a future top 10 video, go check out the link in the description and you can go and cast your vote. I also want to give a quick shout out to Christophe Logis. Thank you so much for picking up a copy of my book, "Your One Word," and posting the link to it on Instagram and the picture. I really, really appreciate it, man, and I'm so glad you enjoyed the book. So thank you guys again for watching. I believe in you. I hope you continue to believe in yourself and whatever your one word is. Much love. I'll see you soon. So let me give you the one word secret to happiness. One word. This is all you need to be happy. The most important word ever. If you had to think of one word that's most important to you or that sums you up or that would be kind of like a little beacon. Hey, Believe Nation, if you want to know what the most important one word is for Tony Robbins, Gary Vaynerchuk, Oprah Winfrey, Will.i.am, and Howard Schultz, I have a very special secret video for you. Check the description for details.