Contributing WriterFrom late-night studio sessions in Germany to the main stages of the world’s most renowned festivals, PAJANE has become synonymous with high-energy, emotion-driven electronic music. At just 25, the German producer and DJ Philip Pape has already amassed over 23 million Spotify streams, delivered official remixes for Tiësto and Joel Corry, and collaborated with artists like BIJOU, Joel Corry, and Sidney Samson — with tracks like “Riverside MF” cementing his reputation as a dancefloor powerhouse.
PAJANE first captured the scene’s attention with his breakout hit “Back Once More”, a record that stormed charts, won the support of global heavyweights like Tiësto, Diplo, and ACRAZE, and held a spot in 1001Tracklists’ Top 5 for weeks. Since then, he has consistently pushed his sound, moving seamlessly between festival anthems and underground grooves, and earning recognition from Tomorrowland as one of their “20 Artists to Watch”. His performances at iconic venues such as Bootshaus Cologne, Illuzion Phuket, Papaya Croatia, and World Club Dome showcase his ability to translate studio innovation into unforgettable moments on stage.
Now, with his debut single “Crush” on WCD Music, PAJANE channels instinct, energy, and raw emotion into a track that is both immediate and hypnotic — a song that captures the exact state of mind in which it was created. In this interview, he takes us inside his creative process, showing how he turns fleeting feelings into grooves that move crowds and resonate with listeners around the world.
How do you translate your emotions into the sounds you create in a track like ‘Crush’?
When I made Crush it was literally just me chasing a feeling. I didn’t sit there thinking about emotion or story, it was more like “okay, what’s in my system right now, and how do I get that into a groove.” I had this rush of energy from the night before, opened my DAW, played around with the bass for a few minutes and suddenly the whole vibe was there. Once that loop hit, I knew exactly where the track needed to go. So the emotion isn’t something I plan, it’s more like capturing a moment before it fades. Crush basically sounds like the state I was in that day – fast, simple, straight to the point.
Is there a personal story or moment that inspired the energy behind the track?
I had a lot of built up energy, opened the project and just started messing with the bass until it matched that feeling in my chest. Once that main idea was there, the rest of the track was basically just shaping that rush into something you can dance to. It actually reminded me a lot of how Back Once More happened. That track also came together super quickly, in this kind of tunnel vision where you don’t analyse anything, you just follow what feels right. Crush is the same in that sense. The emotion is not planned, it’s captured. You hear exactly where my head was at in that moment, and I think that’s why both tracks connect the way they do.
When you’re making music, do you think more about rhythm and movement, or emotion and atmosphere first, and why?
For me it really depends on what I am trying to tap into that day. Some days I wake up wanting to make something that hits hard for the club, other days I am in the mood to write something more emotional. I do not sit down and tell myself what the track should be. I let my mind run and follow whatever feels honest in that moment. If emotional ideas make sense to me, I lean into them. If I want to release energy and build something heavy, I go there instead. But because I have played drums since I was six, rhythm is naturally a big part of how I create. Groove and the feel of the drums usually come first and everything else grows from there.
How does performing live influence the way you approach creating new tracks?
Performing live definitely shapes how I build tracks. In the studio it is quiet, so you need imagination to picture how a moment will hit in a packed room. When I am creating something mainly for my sets, I chase epic moments. I want weight in the low end, heavy sub drops, and sections that completely slam. Tracks like my Drunk Text Me remix or my Paradise remix for DJ Snake are examples. They are made to explode on a system. It needs energy, bounce, and groove, and it has to make the subwoofers work hard. If it does not move the room, it is not finished.
Which track of yours do you feel most connected to on a personal level, and why?
People might expect me to say one of my bigger records like Back Once More, but the tracks I feel most connected to are often older SoundCloud tools I used to open my sets with, like my remix of Rezz and Grabbitz Someone Else or my Machine Gun Kelly remix. They carry a lot of memories because they were key moments in my sets for a long time. From my more recent originals I would pick The Drama. From my edits and remixes it would be my Drunk Text Me remix. It starts heavy and turns emotional, which makes it the perfect closer. If I had to choose one track I feel the deepest connection to, it would be that remix.
Do you have rituals or habits in the studio that help you get into a creative mindset?
When I work alone I do not have real rituals. I sit down, experiment, and follow whatever idea feels right. At home I like to feel settled before starting. I take the dog out, eat something, make a tea, and then I am ready. It is not required for creativity, it just helps me feel balanced. When I work with friends the atmosphere becomes important. With Eltiv who is a very talented producer and one of my closest friends the creative flow has always been natural. We also have a techno project together called Good N’ Bad. Back in my old apartment we would hang out, smoke a shisha, have a Corona beer, and then start working. None of that is necessary, and smoking or drinking is unhealthy, but it created a certain vibe during that time. I have also had sessions where I was so locked in I forgot to drink water. The only real habit that matters is creating an environment where you can enter that zone when it comes.
How do you approach collaborating with other artists while keeping your own voice intact?
For me the most important part of collaborating is connecting on a personal level first. I talk to people, get to know what they like, listen to their ideas, and show them mine. You cannot force creativity on command. A good collaboration always happens in the middle. Even if one person does the final production on their own computer, the goal is to blend both identities naturally. It will always lean a little to one side, but that is normal. What matters is respect. Sometimes you allow ideas you would not normally choose because they matter to the other person. Collaboration is about meeting halfway and creating something neither of you would have made alone.
Is there a sound, instrument, or effect you’ve been experimenting with recently that excites you?
Because I work on sound packs and help develop them with different producers for one of the top selling brands on Splice, I constantly explore new ideas. When you create samples you have to stay curious. Recent sessions, like one with Eltiv while he was building a mainstage pack, opened new perspectives for both of us. I also enjoy using my old Korg M1 hardware synth which still runs on floppy discs and contains some very abstract sounds. On the software side the new Ableton updates have been inspiring. I like doing strange processing moves like printing parts to audio, resampling them, reversing them, pitching them and rebuilding something completely new. Crush is a good example. The drops come from the same bassline pitched in different ranges, distorted, printed, chopped and sidechained. It is never about one effect. It is about pushing sounds into unexpected places and staying experimental. You never stop learning in sound design. You do not need to spend much money. Use trial plugins, borrow synths, and create your own material.
When fans reach out saying your music moved them, how does that impact your approach to making new songs?
It has a big impact. After shows people often message me asking about certain tracks or IDs. When that happens I try to understand exactly which moment they connected with. Sometimes I even write back and ask which part they meant. I keep these reactions in mind when I work on new music. I do not try to recreate the same moment, but I let it influence me. If something clearly moved people, there is a reason. I take that feeling and explore it in a new way so the music stays connected to the listeners while I continue to grow creatively.
Looking ahead, what’s a feeling or atmosphere you’d love to explore more in your future releases?
People often labeled me as a tech house act, but that is not where I come from. I started in dubstep and always loved techno long before it became a major wave. My release on December nineteen, Paralyzed, leans more melodic and has a tech house pop feeling which I always wanted to try. But in the coming years I want to move toward a darker and heavier direction again. I realised I had been playing a bit too soft for my own taste. Hard hitting techno energy around one hundred thirty four beats per minute has always been my guilty pleasure. It is the sound that brings me the most joy. I want to give people rolling bass lines that really hit and bring that intensity back into my sets and my productions.