KUNGS: ASCENDANT STAR

Valentin Brunel’s rise to dance-music prominence has been a case of every bedroom producer’s wildest dream being realized.

In 2014, at the age of 17, the French talent began posting his first remixes on SoundCloud under the name Kungs. Two of his earliest offerings – mixes of Bob Marley’s “Jammin’” and Lana Del Rey’s “West Coast” – quickly garnered the attention of electronic-music fans around the world, and he was off and running.

One year later, Brunel completed his first official remix – a high-profile opportunity tackling Axwell & Ingrosso’s “On My Way.” Then, Brunel was offered the opportunity to open for countryman David Guetta on the European leg of his Listen tour in 2015.

His big break came with the 2016 release of “This Girl,” an infectiously sunny collab with Aussie funk trio Cookin’ on 3 Burners that topped charts all over the world. He quickly followed up with Layers, a well-received debut album. Since then he’s been releasing singles, like recent pumper “Disco Night” (with Throttle), and playing major festival stages on all continents.

As he prepared for his sophomore full-length just shy of his 22 nd birthday, we caught up with Valentin Brunel (aka Kungs).

DJ Times: Growing up, you were influenced by your dad’s taste in rock and blues. How has that informed your productions?

Kungs: The rock elements come across most heavily in the way I structure the vocal elements of my tracks. My productions are often rooted in dance music, but tend to have some parts that are more soul-oriented. Also, a lot of my toplines are rock-inspired. Allowing personal influences to creep in to your productions keep things original. A real high for me was when I was lucky enough to work with Luke [Pritchard] from The Kooks. He was a real hero of mine growing up. I loved that band so much. Making a collaboration together was unreal. Rock and blues influences allow me to make dance music with an edge.

DJ Times: How did you get into production?

Kungs: By experimenting. I loved it, but I viewed it as a hobby at first. I honestly never expected it to take off the way it did. My first memory of making music – if you could call it that – was playing with a djembe that my parents had given me. As long as I can remember, I have always been creative. It just so happened that my desire to create led me to production software and, from there, digital methods of making electronic music.

DJ Times: What it was like to teach yourself to produce?

Kungs: Starting out, my biggest stumbling block was always the technical aspects of production – EQs, vocal treatments, and compressors. A friend of mine helped me a lot at the very beginning. From there, I spent a lot of time on YouTube tutorials. Improving myself just took time. I remember it being frustrating because I would have good ideas that I couldn’t manage to bring to life. It is all about nailing down the basics – otherwise, you will never be able to bring your visions to life. Unfortunately, that just takes time and sheer persistence. It’s worth it, though.

DJ Times: What’s your production set-up?

Kungs: In the studio, I primarily use Ableton Live. I really enjoy the freedom it gives me to cut samples and manipulate sounds. On the road, my Mac is my go-to, even at shows. This is the best thing about creating dance music… everything is portable. Technology has made it so easy to produce sounds like they are coming from a full band. You can create depth with multiple instruments and different orchestral sections all from a Mac on the road. That is definitely the most fun and interesting part of producing for me.

DJ Times: Almost immediately after the success of “This Girl,” you began touring the world. What was that learning curve like?

Kungs: Steep. Really quickly, I started playing huge shows that I never thought I would be booked for. Learning how to navigate crowds was difficult. What tracks work in what environments and how to handle the pressure of big shows is something that I still try and work on. It’s all an evolution, and I think every DJ, really, continually works on bettering their live artistry.

DJ Times: How do you prepare for big shows and extensive tours?

Kungs: Taking my Ultra Miami set as a specific example, I planned the instrumental intro and chose some key remixes that I wanted to play. I try to go in to a big set with a sort of framework, but not an exact plan. When you are playing a main stage, you have to have a loose structure to go along with the lighting, pyrotechnics and visuals. Currently, I am really loving the visuals for my new show, which is also a big part of tour preparation. But not having more than a loose framework is really important because you need to leave room to read a crowd and change tempos. Every crowd is different.

DJ Times: How do crowds differ between Europe and North America?

Kungs: American audiences seem to like genres that lean more towards future bass, trap, and big-room EDM. Europe, on the other hand, prefers a specific section of EDM that isn’t as heavy. Everything has more of a house sound.

DJ Times: What have been your favorite festivals, clubs and cities to play?

Kungs: Ultra Miami was amazing. I really enjoyed playing in the sunshine for such a huge purely dance-music event. My favorite venue, I think, was the AccorHotel Arena for the Fun Radio party in my home of Paris. I got to play alongside DJ Snake and Martin Solveig, and I just had a lot of fun. It was definitely a very different experience than Ultra, but I really enjoy the variety of playing to both large festival crowds and more intimate venues. I also loved playing in Dubai because I had never experienced a place like that, ever. It was so hot, and such a big city. The skyscrapers were crazy, and I got to take a ride on a camel. The whole thing was a very surreal experience.

DJ Times: Who inspires you?

Kungs: I’m always inspired by guys like Daft Punk – and that’s not just because I’m French… also, acts like Lost Frequencies, Martin Garrix, Throttle, and Galantis. In their own way, they all represent how an artist can and should continue to remain fresh by pushing their sounds forward. You don’t have to permanently change the landscape of dance music, but as an artist you should always continue forward.

– Ryan Hayes