“Reviews of the album referred to it as her woke record, but I’m guessing she didn’t call it ‘woke pop’?”
WRONG. So close! ‘Purposeful pop’.
“Working with Katy Perry was enjoyable. She was really welcoming of our collaborative ideas, funny and put us at ease working with her in the studio. She was very quick at coming up with amazing vocal melodies with her co-writing partner. We’d play her demos and ideas and talk to her about a melody I had in mind, and within minutes, she’d go into a different room and return with a fully formed set of lyrics on the theme we’d been discussing together, with the right kind of hooks that meant it was an amazing pop song.
“We’d happily do more with her – or people like her. It would be nice to work with Adele. She’s got a great voice and authenticity, and I feel like we could something interesting together.
“It’s only been small news, but Oasis have reformed, and I’ve always thought Liam [Gallagher] has a good voice. When we made the [2010] song ‘Hand Me Down Your Love’, although it wasn’t written for him and it was a personal song, once it was finished, I had the crazy notion that he could do a good cover of it and that I wanted to hear his voice with house music production. His sneer and vocal delivery would have sounded really good over that rhythm track. That was an idea [to work with him on that track] some years ago. He’s got an iconic and unique voice.”
Ever encounter Oasis?
“I met them on the day that ‘Definitely Maybe’ came out [in 1994]. I went to the Virgin Megastore and got the album signed by Liam. Then I met Noel Gallagher the year that Prince died in 2016. While I was DJing a tribute set at Glastonbury, Noel was in the booth. Afterwards, he told me he was disappointed that I didn’t play ‘more hits’, whereas I’d played quite a lot of hits [Laughs]. We had a little chat about that.”
