WHAT’S THE KEY TO CREATING THE PERFECT VIBE AT NIKKI BEACH? Make the girls dance!
HOW DOES THE DAY EVOLVE AT NIKKI BEACH, FROM THE MUSIC? In Saint Tropez, we start the day with chill out music, which is good to welcome our guests. Then we build it up during lunch, testing how our guests react to the music. If they want to party, we make them party. If we feel that they are more in a relaxed mood, we play deep house music. At 5 pm, the energy is high and everyone is ready to party with the main house music anthems of the summer. I never program music in advance; I always follow my feelings.
3 4
WHAT WILL BE THE BIG HITS THIS WINTER? Fade (GotSome Edit) by Kanye West, Crank It (Woah!) by Kideko & George Kwali (feat. Nadia Rose & Sweetie Irie) and Grey by Kölsch.
HOW DO YOU STAY CURRENT WITH THE MUSIC SCENE? For a DJ, it’s part of the job to find new music. Thousands of songs are released every week. Back in the day, I used to go to the record store on a weekly basis. Now, you find the tracks on websites like Traxsource, Juno or DJ City, for example.
THERE SEEMS TO BE A BACKLASH AGAINST EDM MUSIC. WHAT ARE THE BIG TRENDS IN MUSIC NOW? For the past two years at Nikki Beach, we have returned to the real, proper house music, which fits much better than EDM for our beach clubs.
HOW DID YOU BECOME A DJ? When I was 12, I told my parents that I wanted to be a DJ. They were in the club business at that time. I started DJing seriously at 15, learning from the great DJs from my town, and I signed my first contract at 18. This year will be 26 years that I do it professionally.
DID YOU EVER IMAGINE HOW BIG NIKKI BEACH WOULD GROW? After the openings of Saint Tropez and Saint Barth, I knew that the brand was on the way to being a big success.
5
1 Superhero Party, Saint Barth 2016 2 Fabien Cerato, Philippe Paris, Patris Gero and Jimmy Sax Saint Tropez 2015 3 Alain Junior, Jimmy Sax, Philippe Paris, Patris Gero and Stephane Estrellas, Saint Tropez 2014 4 Philippe Paris and friends Saint Tropez 2004 5 Philippe with Lucia Penrod, Saint Tropez 2013 NIKKI Style
115