It has been an absolute whirlwind of a year for IanPlug. When we last spoke in early 2025, the electronic producer was just dipping his toes into the EDM world with the release of ‘Closing Nights’. Fast forward to 2026, and he has transformed from a Detroit-area outlier into an international force, racking up global chart positions, massive commercial ad placements, and a rapidly expanding overseas fanbase.
We recently stumbled across his latest track, ‘Built Different’, purely organically whilst scrolling through our Release Radar on Spotify. Instantly hooked by its moody, late-night grit, we knew we had to reach out and get back in touch. In this exclusive interview, we sit down with IanPlug to discuss his staggering artistic growth, collaborating with L3VI, bouncing back from a devastating tech crash, and what the future holds for his upcoming live shows.
Thank you for joining us again, Ian! It is great to connect with you again, IanPlug! Welcome back to Broken 8! It’s been quite the year since we last spoke; we stumbled across your new track, ‘Built Different’, and felt it was the perfect time to get back in touch with you.
The track feels like a massive evolution and extension of the concepts we discussed during our ‘Closing Nights’ interview last year. Looking back at that conversation, how does it feel to see the sheer scale of your growth, both as an individual and an artist, over this past year?
“It feels incredible when I first released ‘Closing Nights’ around early 2025. I had never released any EDM song prior, so it was definitely out of my comfort zone. Since the start of me making music I always wanted to release a full electronic song. I have been slowly making these kinds of songs behind the scenes, but I finally had to drive to release it.”
“As I age and grow in my own life my music grows and changes with me so all the charting, DJs playing my songs and love from supporters mean the world. Some people ask me to make songs or beats like my older sound, but most have to understand I made those when I was like 17-18 I am constantly growing and changing.”
You’ve beautifully described ‘Closing Nights’ as the sound of having the best time of your life, whereas ‘Built Different’ captures that darker, more hypnotic "afterparty" atmosphere when the high starts to fade.
What drew you toward exploring these more melancholic, subtle keys, and what was the collaborative dynamic like with your friend L3VI when balancing that ominous voice sample with the melodic piano chanting?
“The first demo for ‘Built Different’ was recorded on May 11th. It was a massively different song at the time, no intro, no bassline, and the vocals were way rougher and off tempo. L3VI sent the original demo in a work-in-progress channel, it was around 110 BPM, and I sped it up, pitched it down, and added the drums, some little countermelodies, the ‘Built Different’ vocals, and the Ye Yi Yay vocals in the main drop part as well. I made this while living in Hamtramck, Michigan, for the first time, away from the city life of Downtown Detroit.”
“I made around eight different versions of the song, some with much heavier synths played by me at the drop, more percussion, or even more vocal lines, but I settled on the final version because it fit that late, dark, night moody tone the most. The eerie bassline creeps before the drop into the heavy bassline at the climax of the track, with the drums going crazy, pure ear candy.”
It has been an absolutely wild run since we last spoke. You’ve been charting internationally—specifically with ‘Canta Mas Fuertes’ alongside Saladin—and you've landed massive ad placements with Evisu x Palace and Jägermeister Japan, all while your overseas fanbase steadily climbs.
How have these global milestones and your growing international presence shifted the way you view your trajectory in the electronic music scene?
“It is an incredible feeling. Shoutout to my main homie, Trent, for those placements, back when I was selling and making type beats years ago. I would never in a million years have thought brands such as Evisu, Palace, or even liquor companies would use my beats for advertisements. I am so thankful.”
“With ‘Canta Mas Fuertes’, that one was purely the right place, right time. Me and Saladin made that in a Miami Airbnb before a Jamaican foam party on the 4th of July. We didn't know it would go that crazy, since this was both of our first songs in the Latin genre, and now it's sitting on over 3,000 Shazam’s worldwide.”
“One time last year I checked the iTunes chart in America, and it was actually on there. I could not believe my eyes. It's truly a blessing.”
The year 2026 brought some unexpected twists, including your MacBook screen completely frying, which forced you to scrap your work-in-progress album, ‘Hardwired’. Yet, during that exact downtime, discovering the film ‘Marty Supreme’ completely shifted your sonic direction.
How do you feel that forced digital reset ultimately served your creativity, and how did the film's soundtrack inspire the music you are making today?
“2026 was a rollercoaster from the start. Having my OG MacBook, which I'd used since around 2023, break was lowkey devastating. I did get back some files thankfully from that era, and songs I wanted to drop in advance, such as ‘Go Girl’, were already submitted and cleared before this happened.”
“When my MacBook broke, I had to wait to get a new one delivered since every store around me was closed for the holidays around New Year's. So, with that extra time, I decided to watch ‘Marty Supreme’, and man, did that movie score and the film overall inspire me. Right after my new MacBook arrived around the 5th, I immediately made my first demo in a couple of days, and the sound shifted so much that I knew that era of ‘Hardwired’ was over.”
“When my first gaming laptop broke in 2023 and I got a MacBook M1 my sound evolved and changed, and I started over all my music. In 2026 when my M1 broke down my M4 I once again started over safe to say computers breaking always make me try new things.”
You mentioned that a crazy night out at a downtown Detroit rave back in May heavily influenced your future sound, teaching you how to sharper-tailor your drums and arrange tracks to completely hook an audience from start to finish. When you are working in the studio, how do you translate that raw, overpowering, real-world rave energy into a digital production?
“I feel like the raw energy from seeing a great performance or an amazing night out is an undefeated inspiration when creating music, especially if your music is tailored for that night-life experience. When I was first making beats, I thought that isolation and working on it 24/7 would produce the best art, but in reality, it's life experiences that truly curate the best art.”
“My song ‘Miami Vices’ was literally recorded in Miami after going on stage with my friend Korqo for a song I produced, then going to the club afterwards until 4am with Saladin, so you can truly hear the chaos and energy of the time I was having through the song. I made the demo in my hotel room at like 5am. Every time I travel and see new things, I love to make music, because I know it will sound different than something I just made staying in my apartment.”
Looking at your recent catalogue, you've shown incredible versatility—ranging from the fast-paced energy of ‘Alive’ and the sugary tones of ‘Go Girl’, to the moody grit of ‘FM’ and the unique, lo-fi funk of ‘2004’. How do you manage to pivot between such diverse sub-genres while still keeping the distinct, hypnotic IanPlug identity intact?
“I'm glad you mentioned ‘Alive’. I remember teasing that in our last interview. When it comes to showing different sounds and versatility, I honestly just make whatever once I open my DAW. When I create music, I don't have a specific genre lock on my sound, and with the genre of Electronic Dance Music, there are so many different pockets and micro-genres, it feels so much fun trying new things.”
“For the topic of keeping that hypnotic ‘IanPlug sound’, I believe no matter the genre or sound I curate, it will still sound unique to me. No one else is making a song like ‘2004’. No one is making a song like ‘Forever’ with my homie, dustbx. No one is making a song like ‘Ready Set Go’ with SCIFI.”
“‘FM’ was one of those songs that was also super unique to my sound, and honestly a personal favourite of mine. This was not a song I geared to be massive or a ‘hit’, it's just a song I listen to in my own pastime. ‘Go Girl’ was interesting as well because I have never made a song like that. I promoted and pushed the hell out of that song, and eventually even got a partnership deal from the track due to the TikTok push.”
You have an incredibly busy release schedule lined up, with ‘Amourex’ dropping soon, ‘Serotonin’ with SCIFI around the corner, a new electro-house track called ‘False Ego’ in August, and another highly anticipated Spanish track.
With your debut project tentatively titled ‘Audio Ecstasy’, what is your current philosophy on dropping consistent singles versus deciding when the time is officially right to lock in a full-length album track list?
“’Amourex’ will be dropping July 10th. That song is crazy; I love it a lot. Me and Pierce Prada did our big one. ‘Serotonin’ is another banger, I sent SCIFI the rough idea for this months ago and he went crazy, but that's nothing new, we haven't missed on a collab! ‘False Ego’ is one of my personal favourite songs, once the sample gets cleared I will get it out, probably by August.”
“I always had a bad habit of teasing or promising an album knowing damn well I was never finished with it. Last year when we talked, I was teasing ‘Bad Trips & Bad Habits’, which later evolved into ‘Hardwired’ throughout 2025. By December 2025, I had a full track list and was gearing up for a release, and like I said, the MacBook incident happened, and honestly, I was not enjoying the album material, it just didn't feel like me. So, for my next project, I'd just rather let it evolve over time, and once I've got a concrete track list, I will 100% confirm and announce.”
“With singles and EPs, it lets me be consistent without oversaturating and letting me try new sounds and directions without constraint and anyway even with scrapped albums or songs they can always be repurposed. The outro of ‘What's Going On’ melody comes from the unreleased ‘Hardwired’ track ‘Riding Out The Light’. The intro for ‘Waste My Time’ comes from the bridge of the ‘Hardwired’ track ‘Hellraiser’ etc.”
With international booking requests already rolling in for late 2026 and early 2027, you’re preparing to bring your new intros, mixes, and unreleased tracks to live stages overseas. For the fans who follow you heavily on Instagram and TikTok—and have grown right alongside you through this journey—what can they expect from the definitive IanPlug live experience?
“’Ready Set Go’ is the perfect example of the kind of unreleased songs I have ready for the live experience. These songs will sound the best played super loud with the kick drums making your ears melt off honestly. I have songs I already released with extended intros and more layers and FX added so every time its heard in real life, it’s a whole different experience from the Spotify and Apple Music files. TikTok has really held me down this year; the amount of support from TikTok alone this year was amazing. Thank you for all the love and support, and let’s keep it going. ‘Built Different’ out now.”
With an unwavering dedication to artistic evolution and a knack for turning tech catastrophes into creative triumphs, IanPlug is proving that he truly is built different. As his international fanbase grows and new music continues to drop, the future looks exceptionally bright for this electronic visionary.
Make sure to listen to his new track on Spotify and follow IanPlug on Instagram and TikTok to stay updated on his journey.
