A couple years back, we sat down with San Holo, the man behind ‘Light‘ and ‘We Rise‘. We are filled to the top with pure elation, as we were able to sit down with the Dutch producer once again and get the 4-1-1 on life, music, and the blessed trend. Writer to reader… I have interviewed a plenitude of artists and finding that connection can be as hard as finding a needle in a haystack. With San, it was easy… whimsical… absurd, but only in the sense that it feels like I’ve known him forever. That isn’t merely a front either; while observing him and how he interacts with crew and fans, it’s genuine. Besides composing and executing beautifully laced melodics, he offers a cornucopia of wisdom and a perspective on life that everyone should adopt.
This isn’t an introduction; this is a “It’s nice to see you, again” with a gentle, whole-hearted friend.
You have started the blessed trend. How blessed are you today?
I know, it’s crazy… I am 78% blessed today, but it will go up soon!
So, how do you measure how blessed you’re feeling?
You feel it out. You start this trend and you get better with it over time.
What would a 100% blessed day look like then so people can get an idea?
100% blessed is very rare. When someone is 100% blessed, that means their day couldn’t get better. I feel like people overuse 100%. Like 80% is really high and people forget that, so 100% is crazy.
I feel like the blessed concept is somewhat similar to a measurement tool that I use for mindfulness. I try and stay content… that’s my word. Being content is perfect because there’s room for negative and positive changes. If I was at a 100% happiness level, I acknowledge that it’s easy to get disappointed.
Exactly. I believe I am a very positive person in general, but I’m also not denying that life is rough sometimes. That’s the mentality with the vibrant trend. It’s not about positive vibes only because I don’t believe in that. It’s not possible. Life can be really fucked up sometimes. Staying vibrant is keeping up with the positive mindset while balancing the ups and downs of life.
Going off of that, do you work heavily with any organizations or charities that anchor their roots in mental health?
Yes, but I think it all starts with small gestures. Anyone can boost someones mood by kind gestures. A simple smile to someone whose obviously having a bad day can go a long way. I don’t think it’s about gifting a lot of money, but I also do that. I have a show at the end of the month in San Francisco and all proceeds are going towards the fires in Australia. Now there’s everything with coronavirus, too.
Listen to ‘Lift Me From the Ground’:
Yea! That is crazy. They just cancelled Ultra. Do you think it’s going to be a domino effect of cancellations? Do you think they would cancel Coachella?
If Coachella cancels, it’s going to be really bad for festival season. Everyone’s going to cancel. It’s a very controversial thing. People say it’s supposed to be similar to the flu, but there’s no vaccine for it. It’s scary. I don’t know enough about it. It doesn’t scare me too much. I can’t let it scare me too much. I will take all of these precautions, but I can’t worry about what if I get it. When I was younger, I would worry about that stuff all the time. You can’t control most things.
I agree. I’m a firm believer in whatever happens, happens for a reason and whatever happens, it’s nice to try and take the positive from the situation.
I’ve thought about that for so long. I’m not sure what my stands are on that. It would be beautiful if things happen for a reason, but I’m not sure because a lot of bad things happen to good people.
Back to the coronavirus, it’s hard to picture the good that comes with that.
Yea, exactly. There are so many people getting sick and dying.
Maybe unification?
Maybe. I don’t really have an opinion on everything happens for a reason. I haven’t figured it out yet. A lot of bad things happen to really good people.
Going off of that, you’re a very positive person, but do you think maybe we portray the world more pure than it is?
I am fortunate. I am lucky to do music and art. There’s a lot of people who don’t even have the opportunity to do this. I think the world, especially with social media, we try to smile and laugh. We try to show the world as happy. I think sometimes we’re afraid to talk about how the world is not always like that. Again, that links back to the blessed trend. We have to balance the good and bad.
Watch a recap of San’s M3F Festival performance!
I feel like it’s really hard for artists since you travel often and are away from home majority of the time.
I’ve thought about that, too. It’s not just artists though. There are doctors who work crazy hours and are also away from their home and family often. There’s a word for this. It’s a new word; it was recently verified in the dictionary. It’s called “sonder”. Sonder means everyone is living their own life and has their own struggles. Everyone goes through their own shit. That realization though, that someone might be going through some hard stuff, that is what sonder means. It’s a real thing. People should realize that the next time they’re talking to someone. That person might be going through some really hard shit.
Let’s go off of this. Let’s talk about social media. Are you familiar with Tik Tok?
Yea, I suck at it. I have a Tik Tok account. I feel like it’s a different generation. I’m trying to get into it.
Do you think you would try and incorporate the blessed trend with Tik Tok?
That would be cool, I just need to find a way.
You could find a way. You could have it so it complements one of your songs. Add double promo. For example, this is just an initial thought, but ‘Future’… You could have that being the song since everyone thinks too much about the future and encourage people to add how blessed they’re feeling about the present.
Maybe you could manage my Tik Tok. We could work on it.
Maybe! I suck at it, but we could talk about it. If you could have a song of yours trend on Tik Tok, what song would you want?
I just released a song called ‘Honest’. I should probably do something with that. You should think of something for me that makes it work.
Listen to ‘Honest’ now!
I will, absolutely. Speaking of trending songs… your song ‘Lift Me From the Ground’ was used in the new RomCom To All The Boys… P.S. I Still Love You. Have you seen it? If you have do you think the movie complements the novelty of the song well?
I haven’t seen it yet, but streams on it went way up! A lot of people have been streaming it since the movie came out.
The song is about two years old now. Since it recently received a significant amount of streams, can fans expect an official music video?
I don’t think so just because it’s so old and I like to focus on the future and my upcoming projects. I was actually thinking about doing some Tik Toks with that song, too. I thought maybe I could be lifted from the ground and have that trend.
Add in blessed! I know sometimes you gift away guitars at your show. How did that get started?
Yea, sometimes! I know there’s a lot of artists who are sponsored by guitar companies and they allow one guitar to be smashed per show. I could do that, but I would rather give them away to people who might not be able to afford one on their own and these are nice guitars, too.
I know we have to wrap up, but if you could be forever known by something… a song, quality, whatever… what would you like to be forever known by?
People ask me all the time what I do in my free time and what else makes me who I am. It’s just music and I wouldn’t want it any other way. I love creating new music.
Can we have one message to your fans?
Stay vibrant!
