Quiz questions. Where was it composed? Night in Paristhe song that has topped the English radio charts in Quebec for the past six weeks?
In a big studio in Los Angeles? NO.
In one of those pop catchy tune factories in Sweden? Neither.
The answer: in the basement of a house in Saint-Colomban, in the Laurentians, an hour from Montreal.
Its creator is Mike Demero, he turns 24 on December 31st and he had no experience or contacts in the music industry when he composed this song that changed his life.
“You have to dream big and I always hoped for an international music career. It gives me another reason to believe in it, but I'm happy to see that it can work in the local scene where I come from,” enthuses this young producer, undeniably energetic and imaginative.
Hello! It's aloe
As extraordinary as he is, his journey is similar to that of most artists of his time. Mike Demero began gaining attention by posting videos on TikTok at the beginning of the pandemic.
Using his piano in his studio at his parents' house, he uploaded remixes of popular songs and imagined what they would sound like if they were produced by famous DJs such as David Guetta, Martin Garrix or Avicii, for example.
It hit the mark. His TikTik account has 1.4 million subscribers and stars like Guetta and Kygo follow him.
One day a certain Aloe Blacc wrote to him, congratulated him and asked him to listen to his own compositions.
Aloe Blacc, FYI, is the guy who sings “Wake Me Up” by Avicii, a song that has been played 2.1 billion times on Spotify.
“I sent him 'Night in Paris' and he replied: 'I really like it, I want to express my voice in it.' “It's special because Wake Me Up is one of the main reasons why I'm in my youth made electronic music,” says Demero, who never misses an opportunity to keep Aloe Blacc up to date on the success of Night in Paris.
On stage in Quebec
Clearly the Colombanois has no intention of resting on his laurels. A new song will be released on January 26th and people in Quebec will be able to see him at work on New Year's Eve when he performs for Meduza at the Grande Allée.
It will be his first real gig ever as a DJ, he says.
“This will be an opportunity to showcase full versions of my 15-second remixes on TikTok. It’s also an opportunity to adapt Night in Paris for the stage.”
Family agreement
The success of Night in Paris came at the right time for Mike Demero, who agreed with his parents. These enabled him to drop out of school to pursue music, but if he didn't succeed after three years, he had to go back to study.
“TikTok came after two and a half years. I still had six months, otherwise the music would be over,” says the producer.
Today, “my parents are happy that they believed in it, and I realize that it wasn’t an easy decision for them.”
An amazing success
Night in Paris
- Composer: Mike Demero
- Voice: Aloe Blacc (original version), Alexe (French-language version)
statistics
- 6 weeks number 1 in the Mediabase ADISQ Top 100
- 2.5 million streams online
- Song number 1 Shazam Quebec
Source: Artifice