1. Irina, Goldcher—thank you both for joining us today! Congratulations, your song “Dudadu Flip” has been a massive success! Can you start by telling us the story behind it?
Irina: For me the greatest moment was when we made “Dudadu”. We had this mountain session for my upcoming album “Origini”. We had a very bad day and we argued a lot, we decided to take a break from the session and I went into the mountains for a walk. When I came back, everyone was in a better mood and I said: let’s try to do a song. If it’s something special, we continue and if it’s not, we just leave it and we call off the day. It’s okay not to be okay, it’s okay not to succeed sometimes when you’re working with creativity. So I started to hum something on a production that Comaroni Andrei worked on all day and that’s how Dudadu appeared. From frustration. It was done in 20 minutes. Sometimes you have to work for months to do a successful song. Sometimes it takes you 20 minutes. That was the case of Dudadu.
Goldcher: for me, the success started when I released my version of Dudadu, it’s called Dudadu Flip, it’s an Afro house remix which was played by &Me, then Keinemusic, Moblack, Pete Tong on BBC Radio One, and Tiesto who released his remix this month. It was a crazy summer, but I feel and we know it’s only the beginning of a great journey.
2. The song quickly gained traction and soon echoed through the biggest music festivals. What was your initial reaction when you discovered that &Me played “Dudadu Flip” at his shows, and later at major festivals like Tomorrowland and Sónar? Did you have any sense that this was just the start?
Irina: It was like playing at the lottery for the jackpot. It was improbable, as David says it in French:))
Goldcher: the moment he played it in Bucharest I knew it was the beginning of something great. Keinemusik is a project with a lot of attention, DJs from all over the world watch and note what they’re playing, and from the moment he played it I knew it would get a lot of attention. I felt like a door to the world opened.
3. Following this, the excitement continued to build. Can you walk us through how Steve Aoki and Tiësto approached you with the idea of remixing “Dudadu Flip”?
Irina: Steve Aoki found out about the song from a Romanian driver. He asked him to put on some Romanian music and the guy put on Dudadu. We owe everything to that driver😂 he liked the song, he wrote to me on Instagram and that’s how it happened.
‘…Tiesto sharing our song on his socials, also he put Dudadu as the first song in his monthly playlist on Spotify’
Goldcher: For me, it was different because everything happened gradually. First, it was &Me, then Keinemusik, Moblack played it at a party in LA, then it got everywhere and one day we started to receive DMs from fans with Tiesto sharing our song on his socials, also he put Dudadu as the first song in his monthly playlist on Spotify. 3 days in a row he posted it, then he wrote to me on Instagram and that’s how we started to chat. Then he played it on the Mainstage at Tomorrowland and seeing the reaction he decided to release his remix. We couldn’t sleep from excitement, Dudadu was played three times at Tomorrowland that week, two of them were on the Mainstage by Tiesto and Steve Aoki, and the third play by Keinemusik.
4. We were in the crowd at Tomorrowland when Steve Aoki and Tiësto dropped the remix of “Dudadu Flip”. The crowd’s response was electrifying when they heard your stunning vocals, Irina.
Can you share where you drew inspiration for the lyrics, and Goldcher, what fuels your creativity when producing music?
Irina: I don’t know it just came to me like that, I didn’t even make an effort to write it. You don’t know when the magic of creativity hits you, you don’t even know if it’s good or bad, for me it’s Art like any other song I did for “Origini”, my latest album, but people decided it’s a hit. I am only grateful.
Goldcher: The original production was made by Comaroni Andrei, the way he mixed the vocals, Inspired me to do the afro house version. It felt like a mantra, like a song that always existed. It felt like magic.. the moment I made the Dudadu flip, I knew it was a hit.
5. What message or feeling do you hope listeners take away from “Dudadu Flip” when they hear it?
Irina: It’s more about the feeling, what this song makes you feel. I always saw it as an incantation, I thought the line and the lyrics would transpose people who listen in another dimension. I wanted it to sound agreeable, familiar, and a little bit mystical. I think I nailed that.
Goldcher: She knows better, she did it😂 For my version, I wanted to keep the mystical part and make people dance on it. It was important for me to keep the vibe of the original song, although I felt from the beginning that it was perfect for an afro house remix.
6. Irina, you recently performed on stage with Steve Aoki at the UNTOLD Festival. How did it feel to sing “Dudadu Flip” in your home country? And for you, Goldcher, how was it to play in front of the UNTOLD crowd?
Irina: It will sound cheesy, but I felt that I’m doing something for my country and finally I can repay all the love that I received all these years. For me, the most important thing was not that I, Irina Rimes, made the song with Steve Aoki. The most beautiful thing is that an international DJ did a remix of a Romanian song inspired by Romanian folklore, and I was just lucky to be the person who wrote the original song.
Goldcher: I had a lot of French people in front of my DJ booth and I felt like home😂 In fact, Romania has become my home and I love this country. I started to have a lot of gigs these past 3 months and I discovered Romania going from city to city. The more I see it, the more I like it. But I have to say that the UNTOLD crowd is special and I cannot wait to play next year.
7. In a different vein, what challenges have you faced in managing your relationships alongside your professional work? And how do you balance your creative differences when working on music together?
Irina: I think I will answer for both of us: we argue a lot but at the end of the day we decide that doing music together is more important than arguing over details. Sometimes we feel differently, and I get upset and leave the session. But I always return. And I prefer to be with someone who shares my passion for music and David is the perfect person for that. We are very much the same.
Goldcher: yes!
8. Looking back, what advice would you give to your younger selves at the start of your music career?
Irina: I always say that it’s very important to know what you want. When you are certain about the path you want to follow, you have to move constantly. You’re not allowed to stop, imagine that success is a material point on your map, you don’t know where it is exactly, but you know it’s in the perimeter. And if you keep moving forward at some point, you will cross the x point.
Or imagine that the success is a jackpot at the lottery. You don’t know which ticket is the winner, but one thing is certain: you’ll never win if you don’t buy a ticket.
‘I think if you wanna succeed, at least, you do not have to quit’
Goldcher: I had at least 10 moments in these four years when I wanted to give up music. It seemed too hard for me to work in the dark, not knowing if I’d ever succeed. I spent 4 years in the studio 4 years working on my production skills. I didn’t go out, I didn’t make friends. I didn’t make money. It was focused on music. It was Irina who kept me there when I wanted to quit. So yeah, I think if you wanna succeed, at least, you do not have to quit.
9. Additionally, are there any upcoming projects or collaborations that you’re particularly excited about and can share with us?
Irina: The highlight of the beginning of this fall was the 4th of October when Tiesto released the remix with Goldcher and Meee!
Goldcher: We are excited about it because Tiësto is a legend, we grew up on his music, he’s the godfather of EDM music and we know the whole world keeps an eye on what he is doing. We are grateful for this happening.
That’s all for now! Thank you both so much for sharing your story with us! “Dudadu Flip” has been an incredible ride, and we can’t wait to see where it takes you next.
