You may recall our interview with Turkish singer/songwriter Emine Sari from last year. Well, she’s once again popped up on our radar, this time with a set of highly addictive remixes of her hit song “Who Are You,” the original version of which spawned a viral video. Written by Emine and produced by Dreambox, “Who Are You” not only scored big with critics but won several awards and nominations. Naturally, we were curious about the origin of the “Who Are You” remixes and set about asking Emine herself about them in the following interview… (Our favorite remix is the relatively mellow take by ABNS.)
You’ve just released a set of remixes of “Who Are You.” I understand there was a remix contest. How many entries did you receive?
Yes, it was really enjoyable, there were about 30 entries…
How did you select the winners for the contest?
The most difficult thing was picking a winner. Once you narrow it down to about ten tracks it’s almost impossible to pick a favourite. We wanted people to take the idea and make it their own… really stretch the track and do something different to it. We wanted to hear some character and invention, not just a version of the track that sounds kind of similar but not quite as good.
We picked whatever we think is best, regardless of genre.
I noticed that the winners are all from different countries — is this just coincidence or did you deliberately select winners from different countries?
Just coincidence, really!
Is there somewhere we can hear some of the entries that did not win?
İnclude COVER version of “Who Are You”!!
I noticed that the remixes didn’t really have the jazz/swing vibe of the original version of your song at all. Were there some entires that did keep it a jazzy song or did all of the entrants give it an electro or dance vibe?
We didn’t care what genre it is, all I was looking for was just make it good and make everyone sit up and pay attention. There weren’t any jazzy version submissions.
Last year you released your single, “Who Are You,” and the video did very well. When will you be releasing new songs? Are you recording a full-length album? Tell us about your upcoming music.
I’ll be releasing a new single in a few weeks and keep working on finishing up the album to be released in the fall!
Have you been performing live at all?
Sure, I already went on tour in Japan!
Have you released any songs in Turkish? If not, do you have any plans to do so?
Yes, I have some songs I released before and I will include one Turkish song to my up coming album!
How popular are you in your country, Turkey?
Of course people know me from TV programs and interviews but I feel that in Japan they know me better !
Do people recognize you on the street and ask for your autograph?
Sometimes.
Aside from music, which we hope you’re making more of, what else do you have planned for the rest of 2014? Will you be taking a vacation?
Probably doing what I have been doing for many years now. Making music and spending time with family and friends.
Thank you for taking the time to do this. I look forward to hearing more music from you!
Thank YOU! And I want to thank the readers of Love Is Pop for reading my interview, and showing interest in me. That means so much.
———————————————————————————————
Emine’s Remixes EP ‘Who Are You’ features collaborations with many of the talented names from across the world, including David Alienoisez a.k.a. AlienGoblin (Spain), ABNS (Taiwan), Beat-Manufaktur Potsdam (Potsdam), Exit 39 Productions (NewYork), Mark Dolbec (Montreal).
Stream Emine’s “Who Are You” remixes below :
Leave a Reply