With a reputation for infusing different genres and influences in his productions, Brian Cohen also known as Selva joins the highly esteemed Dutch legend DJ and producer, Sander van Doorn for his first release of 2022, “Raindrops”.
After a year full of stunning releases with the likes of MATTN, Robert Falcon, Moguai, Bright Sparks, and Malarkey, Selva begins 2022 with “Raindrops” a song that most artists can only dream of featuring in. Alongside Sander Van Doorn, Macon, and Chacel the 32-year-old Brazilian ranked “Raindrops” on 1001Tracklists even before the release date. He received support from major international acts such as David Guetta, Afrojack, Blasterjaxx, Timmy Trumpet and went on to climb to 4th place on the 1001 Tracklists Trending Charts.
Check out our exclusive interview with Selva telling us more about the creative process and composition of the song “Raindrops”.
Tell us about how you ended up with a collaboration with Sander van Doorn, how did it happen?
It was a very natural and surprisingly easy process.
Me, Macon, and Chacel finished the first version of the song, it was practically done, and we sent it to Jorn. Jorn is an incredible executive at Spinnin Records, he’s a guy I absolutely adore and admire. After a couple of listenings, he knew who to show the song to. After a couple of days, he sent us an email came to us with the following message: “Look, Sander Van Doorn wants to work on the song together with you, can you send the stems?” And we were like: “Of course (laughs).” Can you imagine the surprise?
After our first few sessions, it was obvious that Sander already knew exactly what he wanted to do, because the drop was completely changed, and I knew right away that this was the right move for the track.
We know that you are a songwriter signed under Warner Chappell and Music All Stars; how was the songwriting process for “Raindrops”?
It was an interesting process. I’m used to starting ideas and then sending them to other artists, but probably for the first time ever, it was the other way around. Macon and Chacel sent me an idea of a song and after listening to it for like, 5 seconds, I just knew I had to work on it!
The song was solid, sometimes we need to fix a lot of things and with “Raindrops” that wasn’t the case, I had a very good structure to work on and to add what I felt could make the song be more like me and more like Selva itself.
The entire process was done remotely, via Zoom. Of course, that’s not better than doing it in a studio and having a physical session, but I can not complain! For this composition, the overall vibe of the track was very dark, and to give it a deeper emotion, we added a 5-second chord progression of a children’s song in the chorus.
How are you feeling about being able to release “Raindrops” alongside Sander Van Doorn, an artist so important to the global EDM scene?
Not many people know this, but the truth is – and this is 100% true – the first electronic song that I really fell in love with is “Gold Skies” by Sander Van Doorn, DVBBS, and Martin Garrix. It’s incredible because, without this song, I would never start Selva!
So it’s been a very interesting experience because even though he’s a guy who clearly likes and respects my ideas a lot, he’s someone who helped shape the EDM scene we see and listen to today.
