For the Swedish Pop/EDM duo NOTD, this year has been a whirlwind.
Comprised of 19-year old Tobias Danielsson and 17-year old Samuel Brandt, the duo initially met on Soundcloud and have only been on the rise since. Their single ‘So Close’ hit number 1 on the US Dance charts, and they’re fresh off a tour with electronic music superstar Zedd. A few hours before their debut headlining NYC show at the Mercury Lounge last Thursday, the two sat down with the Knockturnal to discuss their influences, being in New York, and how it feels being on the ascent.
The Knockturnal: If you could have told yourself five years ago that this would be the life you’re living now, was that something that you guys saw for yourselves, or did you see yourselves going in a different career path?
Samuel Brandt: Mm. I never saw myself doing this, but I knew that I wanted to work with music, it was either this or something else. I don’t really know, but I didn’t really expect to do this.
Tobias Danielsson: Yeah. Same for me. I started making music in my parents’ kitchen, and I was like I could never imagine doing this. I thought I was going to be a really hardcore DJ, but now I feel more like an artist and performer.
Samuel Brandt: Yeah.
Tobias Danielsson: And music creator, which is really nice.
The Knockturnal: You guys are fairly young. How did your parents react to all this happening?
Samuel Brandt: Hmm. I mean, they’re super supportive, and that’s good, but sometimes I don’t really think they understand what’s going on.
Tobias Danielsson: Yeah.
Samuel Brandt: But they try to understand, and they’re super supportive.
Tobias Danielsson: Yeah. My mom is also so caring, so she calls like 10 times a day, like, “Oh, what are you doing now? Where are you now?”
Samuel Brandt: They come and hang all day. Take our pictures.
The Knockturnal: If you had any advice for people who want to follow in your footsteps, and follow this career path, what do you think?
Samuel Brandt: I guesswork hard, and put up stuff on YouTube and SoundCloud, and as I said before, if you have the talent you will get recognized. It’s so much easier to do those kinds of stuff now and to actually get recognized. So you work hard.
Tobias Danielsson: Yeah. Work hard because if you don’t put in the hours someone else will. And then just always do what you want to do. It’s so easy to follow the path. You want to make something that’s like, “Oh, I need to make a hit more than you want to make something that’s your own.” And that kind of will lead you on the wrong path.
by Henrik Nilsson
The Knockturnal: Do you see that happening a lot now?
Tobias Danielsson: Sometimes, yeah, I would say so. You can really feel when something isn’t really organic and real. So, yeah.
The Knockturnal: You guys are based in Sweden?
Samuel Brandt: Yeah, we’re living in Stockholm right now. I’m actually from middle of Sweden, close to Gothenburg, the second biggest city.
The Knockturnal: Would you ever consider coming to the States full time
Samuel Brandt: I think so, yeah.
Tobias Danielsson: Yeah. We have been talking about, especially me and our photographer are living together right now, and we have been talking about for a while. We’re trying to move here as soon as possible. All of us. Because here is where everything is happening. Would be a nice move.
The Knockturnal: How often are you guys coming to New York specifically?
Samuel Brandt: To New York? Pretty often. Our manager lives here, so-We’re coming here visiting him.
The Knockturnal: What’s your favorite thing about New York?
Samuel Brandt: It has to be the buildings, like the vibe.
Tobias Danielsson: Yeah. There’s nothing like the buildings and everything here. There’s nothing like that in Sweden. The tallest building here is like, you can’t imagine that in Stockholm. Everything is so, I don’t know, man.
The Knockturnal: Before doing music professionally, were you guys traveling a lot before?
Samuel Brandt: Not really.
Tobias Danielsson: Not really, actually.
The Knockturnal: So, what’s it like going from that to just touring?
Samuel Brandt: I like it, I like traveling, so it’s good. It’s a bit exhausting to travel a lot, but…
Tobias Danielsson: It’s not always fun to get up at 5:00 AM taking a flight, but then when you get to a new city, and get to explore new stuff, it’s always fun.
The Knockturnal: You guys met on SoundCloud?
Tobias Danielsson: Yeah.
The Knockturnal: And that’s a pretty unique way of coming up now, but I feel like it’s becoming more and more the route.
Samuel Brandt: Yeah, it is.
The Knockturnal: What do you think about the transition in the industry from the typical scouting talent to pretty much talent making themselves known on the internet?
Samuel Brandt: Man, I really like how it is now. That you are able to put up stuff on SoundCloud, or YouTube, or whatever, and if you have the talent you will get recognized. And I really liked that, because that’s how it happened for us. So, I’m really thankful for that.
Tobias Danielsson: I just, I can more than agree.
The Knockturnal: You’ve had a crazy year with some hits, and you’ve have become more popular. What’s the most surreal experience you’ve had so far?
Tobias Danielsson: We just played our first headline show in LA, and we’re playing our headline show in New York tonight. And that has been something that really recently been a big thing, and being on tour with Zedd, as well.
Samuel Brandt: Yeah.
Tobias Danielsson: This whole month, it’s been crazy. It’s just seeing people singing along to songs, and seeing fans wanting to take pictures, which is just crazy to experience.
Samuel Brandt: Yeah.
The Knockturnal: What was that tour like, with Zed?
Samuel Brandt: It was crazy. It was our first ever shows, as well. So, to do it at this tour with Zedd was crazy.
The Knockturnal: What was he like? Was he someone that you guys looked up to before?
Samuel Brandt: We looked to him for a long time, and he was really cool. So we hung out a lot. It was good times.
The Knockturnal: Who is someone that you really want to collaborate with in the future?
Tobias Danielsson: Hmm. I always say this, you know what I’m going to say.
Samuel Brandt: Yeah, yeah.
Tobias Danielsson: But I really do like Shawn Mendes. He always blows my mind live. I seen him like three times, I think, and he’s just so good.
The Knockturnal: I saw you guys met him. What was that like?
Samuel Brandt: Yeah, we did.
Tobias Danielsson: It was when we were in Stockholm last year. I think, or two years ago, something like that.
The Knockturnal: Was he familiar with you guys?
Samuel Brandt: Yeah, we did a remix for him awhile ago, and he really liked that one, so he knew.
The Knockturnal: Who are people in other genres that you guys kind of look up to?
Tobias Danielsson: I would say the 1975
Samuel Brandt: Yeah 1975
Tobias Danielsson: I would say Lauv.
Samuel Brandt: Yeah, Lauv is really-
Tobias Danielsson: He’s still really popular in Sweeden
Samuel Brandt: Yeah.
Tobias Danielsson: He’s also like-
Samuel Brandt: Jesse Cutler.
Tobias Danielsson: Yeah, Halsey too
Samuel Brandt: We listen to everything!
The Knockturnal: How did you guys know you guys would work well together? Meeting over the internet?
Samuel Brandt: I don’t really know. I kind of just like felt it. We did a few songs together, and it really felt good.
The Knockturnal: All from different places?
Samuel Brandt: Yeah.
Tobias Danielsson: Yeah.
Samuel Brandt: I asked you should we make a duo, because I feel like we’re going to do a lot of songs together. And then we just did it.
The Knockturnal: So what are some of the career goals that you guys have for the next year, or so? What’s something that you’d really want to get accomplished?
Samuel Brandt: Something that would be really fun would be our own headline tour. Maybe work, tour in the US, in Asia, in Europe and everything to just play a bunch of our own shows, where we are like the main act. And then of course, maybe releasing an album. That’s a lot of work put behind.
