Afrojack

When I was growing up, I said to my ex-girlfriend, 'I will not be successful until everyone in Holland knows my name.' And it worked. ”

I'm a producer for fun. I'm not a professional schooled musician or anything. ”

At a festival, a lot of people came to see other artists, so you have to put on a signature set and performance: 'This is what I do, this is why I'm here.' At solo gigs, I'm a DJ - I'll play two-and-a-half hours, and not just my own music, also my favorite songs by other artists. ”

When I started producing, I was just making music under all different names. 'Black Afro.' 'Super Grandmaster.' 'Mister Bull.' Like, the most stupid, idiotic names. 'Afrojack' was one of those idiotic names. ”

I was in school - I was a good learner; if I wanted to get something done, I could get it done. I was lazy, though. I was always, like, sort of an outcast. And when I got home, I was always doing music, but when I was doing music, no one was there to judge it, you know? It was just me in my bedroom. It gave me freedom and made me happy. ”

For me, it's a great thing to tell people anything is possible. When I was 15, people told me 'You're not going to be a DJ.' ”

The only person you need to be credible to is yourself. When you stand in front of the mirror and nobody is watching, are you happy with yourself? ”

People always say, 'How is it to be so successful?' I'm not successful yet. Richard Branson is successful. That's successful. Michael Jackson was successful. U2 was successful. I'm just a guy, doing okay. But I'm a happy guy doing okay. ”

There's nothing better than making music and hearing 3,000 people chant, 'Afrojack! Afrojack!' ”

People need realness, reality. People can sense when someone is being pretentious or fake. It's because you feel it; you see it in someone's body language. ”