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On The Couch With... Armin van Buuren

After the worldwide success of "Imagine," Dutch superstar DJ Armin van Buuren returns on September 14 with his much-anticipated follow up effort, "Mirage." The album features Armin's signature sweeping instrumental trance plus chart-savvy collaborations with dance music icons Ferry Corsten, BT, and Josh Gabriel, along with the talents of Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Nadia Ali, Guy Chambers, Christian Burns and Adam Young of Owl City.

I recently sat down with Armin to chat about his continuing reign at dancefloors around the world as the undisputed king of trance. We also chatted about what inspired this new LP and his collaboration with Sophie Ellis-Bextor and the Nervo sisters. 

Lastly, Armin talks about DJs United, his teaming with Paul Oakenfold and Paul van Dyk to produce "Remember Love," a charity single that is a tribute to the victims who lost their lives at this year's Love Parade Festival disaster in Germany. All proceeds will be donated to the Association of Non-statutory Welfare in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany to help those who were injured and the families of those who passed. "Remember Love" will be available exclusively on Beatport.com starting on Tuesday. 

Congrats with te release of your new album. "Mirage" features both instrumental dance pieces and vocal collaborations. What was the sound you were going for on this record?
People always tend to highlight the collaborations, but half of the album is instrumental trance. The collaborations are nice, they're cool, but for me the core of the album are the instrumental songs. I'm saying this because I don't want to focus purely on the collaborations, because the instrumental tracks represent me the best. I really didn't have a specific sound I was going for. Things just fell into place organically.

On The Couch With... Mike Posner

One of the hottest new pop artist to enter the mainstream spotlight this summer is Detroit's Mike Posner. Earlier this month, the producer turned singer released his much-anticipated big label debut "31 Minutes to Takeoff" on Jive/RCA that follows the release of 2 hugely successful mixtapes. The album debuted this week at #8 on the Billboard Album Chart and #3 on the Digital Album Chart. Mike is stirring up a storm on pop radio as well with his single smash, "Cooler Than Me."

I met up with Mike to have a bite to eat, play a few rounds of Connect 4 (yes, he won) and to chat about his success, his inspirations, his unique brand of hip pop and the importance of social media in his rise to mainstream fame.

In person, Mike is very much like his music - savvy, articulate and presenting himself with a style and swagger that make him one of the coolest new kids in the business. What you hear is what you get.

And he is ambitious too. In our little get together, he explains that there is a lack of male pop stars on the charts right now. He smiled, "Lady Gaga needs a prince. I plan on wearing that crown!" 

On the Couch With... Bruno Mars

Bruno Mars is one pop's brightest new stars. Most of you will know him from his chart-topping collaborations with B.o.B ("Nothin' On You") and Travie McCoy ("Billionaire"), but this Hawaii-born wonder boy has a lot more on his sleeves. After focusing primarily on writing and producing for other artists (including Flo Rida’s "Right Round," and K’Naan’s "Waving Flags") together with his pals of the Smeezingtons, he recently stepped into the spotlight as the lead singer of his own material. 

You must check out his debut EP "It's Better If You Don't Understand" that showcases his genuine talent for delivering a soulful, contemporary pop sound with irresistible hooks. But don't expect him to "ride unicorns" any time soon to get attention. Currently in the studio with Cee-Lo and Mike Posner, his full-length effort will focus on quality songwriting, mashing high-energy tracks with sweet balladry. He is ready to "blow some faces off" with his forthcoming debut outing that he considers a "I told ya so" after nay-sayers discouraged him from trying for years.

Bruno and I recently met up to talk about his rise to fame and his songwriting chops. His ultimate goal is to write and perform songs that are timeless and still sound good twenty years from now. "I don't want the audience to feel embarrassed that they liked the song back in the day," he explains. Check out our entire chat after the jump.