The Best Thing I Watched This Week: Skrillex: The Making of a Superstar

The best thing I consumed this week was a short video by Yahoo! from eight years ago about Skrillex' rapid ascent to fame. It was interesting to see a video from such a long time ago with a modern perspective where Skrillex is one of the titans of the EDM scene, and not just a new kid on the block who had some mainstream hits.

Immediately I loved the intro. First, because it shows you Skrillex' passions for music right off the bat, and his fearless ability to create on the fly. It also introduces you to the fun chemistry that the interviewer and him have.

The chemistry was very important to the interview, because she asked about some topics which could have gone poorly, namely the death of his mother and his parents involvement in scientology. They shared many jokes which also highlighted Skrillex' loving and accepting nature, and also helped give genuine insight into a figure that can often be cryptic.

I do think it was important that she asked those harder questions, and she seemed to cover a broad ground with her questions. It was also super clear that the interview was heavily researched beforehand. She also allowed him room to talk and tried to pull him out of his shell.

From a production standpoint I also think it was important that his music was showcased a bit throughout the video. Both to add entertainment value to the video itself but also to add necessary context to his career and sound.

They also had a variety of clips from his shows which is necessary for the story, and even went so far as to find a clip of him as a baby which just shows the lengths they went to to tell a full story.

The ending was also good, as it tied it back into the intro in the studio and further captured Skrillex' character.

Perhaps most importantly though was that they did not omit the parts of the interview which highlighted the better parts of EDM culture, and allowed Skrillex' to defend his sound and his scene to those that don't understand it.

I think this was a well done interview which gave me a lot of insight into the beginnings of Skrillex' rise to fame, and I hope to one day be able to interview artists with the same quality of conversation.