In a now extensively quoted interview with Music Week, the Prince of pop-infused dance music claims that he’s no longer interested in cranking out hit after hit. Scottish producer Calvin Harris has reached incredible fame since his debut artist album was released back in 2007. Harris transcended Michael Jackson’s record for the UK’s most chart-topping hits on a single release with his third studio album, 18 Months, boasting eight to MJ’s seven top ten hits. He also recently won the prestigious Ivor Novello Song Writer of the Year award, commenting, “This is easily the greatest achievement of my life.”

But now that Harris has reached the pinnacle of his career in terms of fame and accolades, he’s ready for something different. In an interview with Music Week he shared his urge to forge a new path: “‘I’m doing more dance music that probably won’t get into the charts…I just want to make good music; this award is like drawing a line under the past two years where I’ve just been intensely fucking working to try and make singles and hit records.”

While this is exciting news to hear for many, it’s hard to imagine how some of his fans will react to a style of music that isn’t created to please a mass audience. Either way, it’s nice to know that Calvin is taking the time to do what HE wants, rather than what might be expected of him, and it will be interesting to see what grows from his desire for new challenges. After all, as he admitted to NME last year, he’s mastered pop music: “It’s incredibly easy to do, but hard to do perfectly. I’d struggle to make a perfect ham sandwich because I never make them, whereas pop music comes naturally to me – it’s what I do every day.” 

Reinvention is the key to survival for any artist, ultra-famous or not, and it seems as though Calvin Harris is ready to develop that fresh facet of his musical identity.

Interview with SiriusXM at Ultra Music Festival: