Oliver Nelson
The phrase ‘up and coming’ is often thrown lazily at any artist releasing their first recording on a major label. But while Oliver Nelson is most definitely doing the latter – his first release on Polydor, Found Your Love, should be out as you read this – he is not exactly new to music production, having amassed a huge social-media following with a stream of remixes and productions, way before the single came out.
Indeed, the 25-year-old Swedish producer is giving us all a lesson in how to carve a career in music making today. Before the single came out, Nelson had notched up millions of plays across various platforms. Found Your Love had scored over 1.5 million plays on SoundCloud, while his reworkings of tracks by Janet Jackson, The Knife, Marina And The Diamonds and Whitney Houston among others have scored nearly 100 million plays on SoundCloud and YouTube: his remix of Justin Timberlake’s Suit & Tie garnered 16 million alone. So how has this young producer already made a name for himself before his first release? Well, let’s start at the beginning…
MusicTech: How did you get into music production?
Oliver Nelson: My brother started playing drums when I was a kid. He was both my role model and inspiration, so I jumped on the drums myself and found my love for creating beats and rhythms. My parents were heavily interested in music, so in turn you could say my whole family were, and are, a huge influence. My first major step I took myself was deciding to attended a music high-school and that led me to start making my own music.
MT: From there, then,
