Only Fire Tells Us Which Lana Del Rey Song He Wishes He’d Written

Photo courtesy of Only Fire.

This is SOUND ADVICE, a weekly destination for playlists curated by Interview’s friends, enemies, and lovers. Over the past few weeks, we’ve gathered playlists from Molly Lewis, Tayla Parx, and Peter Sagar. This week’s guest is Only Fire, the 24-year-old Croatian electronic artist whose pulsating rhythms and hypersexual lyrics catapulted him from mixing beats in his bedroom to a gig opening for Shygirl and DJing for luxury fashion houses. After teasing us with his single “Blowjob Queen,” his new EP Moana Lisa drops on Friday. But Only Fire has got another treat in store for us: a curated playlist, made especially for Interview, that captures his cyber aesthetic and range of influences. The club king also completed our Sound Advice questionnaire, in which he reveals his personal national anthem and his favorite Rihanna era.

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Where do you dance? Lately nowhere, taking a break from going out to recharge for the summer.

Bluetooth or wired headphones? Bluetooth, can’t leave the house without my AirPods. I’m so glad wired headphones are a thing of the past, I don’t miss the constant tangling at all.

What’s your go-to post-show meal? I don’t have it, I usually just stay out after my sets and then eat the next morning.

What’s on your bedroom playlist? I let the other person take care of that, I do enough DJing on the weekends.

Where do you like to write music? In my bed.

What’s your DJ-ing pet peeve? When the venue provides only 2 CDJs.

Who do you trust most with the aux? I don’t even trust myself with it.

What was your first concert? Red Hot Chili Peppers in Zagreb when I was like 12.

What song do you have on repeat right now? “Von Dutch” by Charli XCX.

What’s your favorite techno venue in Croatia? I actually never really went out when I used to live there. It’s usually the most generic house music or Balkan hits playing in Zagreb clubs which is not really my thing, there’s not anything similar to the techno scene in cities like Berlin or New York.

Name your favorite artist no one knows about: There’s this really cool Brazilian producer cybiko2000 who makes sick beats and edits on SoundCloud and deserves way more recognition, I always play some of their stuff in my sets.

If you could work with any artist, dead or alive, who would it be? Rihanna, I want her to make something like “Birthday Cake” again.

The world is ending, what are you wearing? A really cozy hoodie and shorts.

What’s your national anthem? “Ponyboy” by Sophie, a timeless classic.

What song on this playlist makes you want to cry? “Zorras” by Chromazz.

What song on this playlist makes you want to dance? All of them, but “I Want You” by DJ Blush the most probably, such a hot track.

What’s a song you wish you wrote? “Cola” by Lana Del Rey, I don’t know a better opening line in a song.