The man behind some of the biggest songs in the world – both in the commercial and dance music sphere – Toby Gad, sits down with the Music Crowns team to talk Donna Summer, remixing his own tracks, future plans and much more.
Congratulations on your release ‘Run’ with Donna Summer. What was it like to finally release it?
This release was so many years in the making, almost 20 years. And it’s ironic because the lyrics of the song that we wrote almost 20 years ago starts with, “Imagine standing there 20 years from now, staring at yourself in the mirror”. It feels serendipitous that we wrote that back then, and it took such a long time for this song to finally come out. It was written when we wrote songs for ‘Crayons’, Donna Summer’s last studio album on which I had three songs. This song was in my drawers all this time, and I thought of it many times.
Two years ago, I started my piano diaries project, reimagining 16 of my greatest hits with 17 new singers, and we released that highly acclaimed album earlier this year. As a continuation of that, we released the first original, which is ‘Run’.
Building on ‘Run’, you’ve released a ‘Tomorrowland’ remix of the track. Why did you decide that you wanted to remix the track?
Well, Donna Summer is known for her soulful disco style with classics like ‘Love To Love You’, which, back in the day, set the trend and had her voice in the discotheques all over the world. I am excited to bring Donna’s voice back on the dance floor with a series of remixes, and the Tomorrowland remix is the first of four remixes.
The second remix, which came out on July 29 is called the Lollapalooza remix, and features an EDM arrangement. The third remix, the Ibiza remix, will drop August 11, and has a fast British house rhythm, while the fourth remix, the disco remix, will be very retro leaning disco funk.
You’ve worked in the dance music space plenty of times before, but what was the creative process like turning one of your own productions into a dance track?
Sometimes I collaborate, and sometimes I challenge myself to create dance mixes, like on the remix of ‘Skyscraper’, which surpassed a million streams and is growing. On ‘Run’, I challenge myself in different ways, trying a trance/techno style remix, as well as a pure EDM remix, and I also collaborated with DJs like OddKidOut on the other remixes. I love working on remixes, and sometimes it isn’t too far a stretch from a ballad to a remix.
Why did you want to lean into that sort of sound with the Tomorrowland mix?
I grew up with trance and techno music in the 80s and 90s, when Sven Väth was all over the clubs with his iconic minimalist techno trance album and Goa trance converted whole factory complexes into massive, mega weekend discos with over a dozen different rooms. I really enjoyed dancing to that music, and I’m excited that it has a strong comeback. I couldn’t wait to hear Donna’s iconic disco soul voice on a techno trance track.
What else are you going to be exploring further in the realm of dance music?
On the song ‘Run’, I’m exploring four different genres, but on the Piano Diaries remix of my Fergie song, ‘Big Girls Don’t Cry’ I even did a Bachata remix of which the Tiktok video got 24 million views and resonated in a way none of us expected.
You recently performed an incredible one night only show at The Shard in London. How did it feel to return to London and such an iconic venue?
London has always been a very fertile and inspiring ground for my art and British artists and venues have been very welcoming to me. The venue sold out in two days, and it was a once in a lifetime experience on the 72nd floor, the highest stage in Europe, to celebrate my hits with a variety of amazing artists like Paloma Faith, Megan McKenna, Ruth Ann Cunningham, Scott Quinn, and many others. It was the first time I played my songs on the piano with a string quartet. And moving forward, I want to do a lot more with orchestration. The show was so well received that we are planning many more venues in the future, and I am inspired by David Foster’s legacy of bringing new and established, great voices on stage in such a spectacle around his legacy of hits.
What else can we expect from you in the following months?
I’m working on a Christmas album with many wonderful artists like Jordin Sparks, Gavin James and many more that I can’t talk about yet. We are planning a Christmas show around that, and we’ll give ourselves plenty of time leading up to it to make sure that everything sounds just right. It will be an album full of originals in the style of Norah Jones.
