Slushii Breaks Down Meaning Behind Name & Friendship With Marshmello In iEDM Interview

Earlier this year, Marshmello played a sold-show at the Los Angeles Convention Center, which hails as one of the biggest venues in the city. As the magical evening came to a close and everyone started filing out one by one, I couldn’t help but notice the fans screaming for someone behind me. It was as if the President was walking through.

Okay, maybe not the President, but you catch my drift. It was Slushii. The fans LOVED him. They wanted to say hi. They wanted a selfie. They wanted a handshake. They wanted any type of interaction they could get. This was special. It was clear he had an impact on the youth and EDM in general, similar to Marshmello and his Mello Gang. It’s no wonder these two are friends. Can you even imagine that studio session?

Hailing from New Jersey, real name Julian Scanlan is your average 21-year-old music-loving machine, with a killer ear for what’s hot. Beyond his capabilities of turning a show upside down, Slushii puts himself in the shoes of his fans. What do they want to hear? What is it that they personally want to experience in attending a concert? What would make the most memorable evening for them to cherish for the rest of their lives?

Now, after a successful headlining Out Of Light Tour, Slushii is back at it again. This time, the There X2 Tour — in light of his most recent single with Mello — hits major cities across the US and Canada. On Saturday, April 28th, iEDM caught up with Slushii at The Hollywood Palladium before the beautiful chaos that ensued later on.

iEDM: For those who don’t know, who is Slushii?

Slushii: I am the world's favorite frozen drink. I am 50% glucose, 12% sugar, 13% raspberry flavoring, and 1% dubstep.

iEDM: When did you take on the name, or how did you come up with it?

Slushii: So I'm a big fan of the card game Yu-Gi-Oh! And there is a card called Slushy that's pink and blue, but it's spelled like the word ‘slushy.’ I love Japanese culture and anime and stuff like that, so the word ‘Kawaii’ with two i’s at the end — I loved how it looked. So I added the two i’s to the end of the word slushy and there you go.

iEDM: How would you describe your sound?

Slushii: I think one of the cool parts about it is that I don't really think you can. I try to do everything. Some of it’s dubstep, some of its future bass, some of it's pop, some of it's hip-hop, but I don’t know. I think of myself as like a musical chameleon.

iEDM: I actually saw you at the Marshmello show, fans were going crazy for you! Can you talk about your friendship with him?

Slushii: The Mello Man is a very mysterious individual. He’s my favorite marshmallow person. There's actually a whole race of them on different planets somewhere. So we met at the grocery store one day…

iEDM: Really?

Slushii: So here's the thing. I was in the freezer, right? The frozen whatever aisle, and I broke out. And I was trying to make s'mores and I saw a Marshmello. But in all seriousness, he’s such a cool dude. We're really good friends. There's a lot of new music with us coming out in the future.

iEDM: You recently dropped your Find Your Wings EP. What do you want fans to get from your story?

Slushii: My last project, Out of Light, was all like super low-key R&B, EDM stuff. This time I was like, “Alright. I'm gonna give the fans what they want — hit them with the hardest stuff I can possibly make.” The cover is very 80’s inspired and very heavy metal inspired. I just wanted to sort of divert from what we did before to kind of create something new.

iEDM: Talk about what fans can expect from one of your shows.

Slushii: A lot of nostalgia. A lot of it. It's basically just me playing the songs that I would want to hear if I were going to a show. I feel like a lot of DJs kind of just play to the crowd, but I kind of just play to myself. I play what I want to hear. So it's just like Julian's party playlist basically.

iEDM: Speaking of, you perform at festivals all around the world. What’s been the greatest memory thus far?

Slushii: I think one of my favorites was EDC Mexico. Because that crowd is the hardest crowd I've ever seen at a festival ever.

iEDM: More than EDC Las Vegas?

Slushii: Yeah, times like 12. Because the thing is, the Mexican fans are so about it. You feed off of their energy. So they're going in, and it makes me want to go even harder.

iEDM: Three things you need on tour?

Slushii: My iPod...

iEDM: You still use an iPod? I love it. I miss mine.

Slushii: iPod nano, noise-canceling headphones, and my laptop.

What do you want your legacy to be?

Slushii: I want to inspire people like me to believe in themselves. And I want to reassure them that it doesn't matter where you come from, what you look like, you can take the entire world by storm just if you have the passion to do it.

iEDM: What’s a normal day in the life? Walk us through.

Slushii: I wake up. I eat a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. I play Naruto Ninja Storm for like three hours with this guy. [points to friend] Produce music for a bit. And just watch TV. When I'm off tour, it's usually just pretty simple. I like to just relax. When I'm on tour, it's like, “Oh, go to the airport. Sleep one hour every week.” You know?

iEDM: What would you be doing if you weren’t doing music?

Slushii: I'd be at Best Buy still. I'd be working at Best Buy customer service, in college. Working for my music teaching degree.

iEDM: Favorite song to drop in a set?

Slushii: “Where I'm At.” It's one of the newer ones on Find Your Wings. But when it drops, that's like the hardest drop in my set I think. Like when it drops, people just start punching each other in the face. It’s great.

iEDM: What’s the best encounter you had with a fan?

Slushii: I met this girl once and she just started crying. It was cool. It's crazy.

iEDM: Who’s the most played artist on your phone?

Slushii: Other than Skrillex, probably Daft Punk.

iEDM: Dream collab?

Slushii: Probably Tyler, The Creator.

iEDM: What was your initial reaction to Avicii’s death?

Slushii: I didn't even know what to think. He’s such an iconic figure and he meant so much to so many people. I didn't know him personally, but I know that one of the first EDM songs I ever bought on iTunes was the Skrillex “Levels” remix. I was legit like… I didn't even listen to it. I just downloaded it and it was amazing. It was just a huge loss for the scene, especially because a lot of us go through depression and whatever. So it really hit home.