DJ Fresh nearly quit music after getting bored with the drum and bass scene.
The ‘Hot Right Now’ hitmaker went through a period where he became disillusioned with the genre he made his name in, but got through it when genres started crossing over in the UK, and he worked on a more pop direction.
He told Mixmag magazine: "A couple of years ago I was going through a bad patch where I almost knocked the whole music thing on the head. I was so depressed. I felt limited in what I could do.
"I wanted to progress as an artist, write songs and experiment with different genres. But I knew it was frowned upon to do that.
"Thankfully things opened up in the UK, and it became acceptable to play all types of bass music at a night: now you regularly hear people drop everything from moombahton to future garage."
Fresh – real name Daniel Stein – started making different tracks such as ‘Escape from Planet Monday’ which samples British TV presenter Jeremy Beadle during this period, before working with other artists such as Rita Ora and Dizzee Rascal on his new sound.
He added: "I’m pretty open minded. ‘Escape from Planet Monday’ was from the period when I felt frustrated as an artist; I called it that because I wanted to get away from what felt like the mundane repetition that was going on around me. And so a lot of those tracks were statements; ways of sticking two fingers up at what was expected of me.
"Now I’ve got the opportunity to focus on my craft, work on my songwriting and collaborate with talented musicians who really inspire me."
DJ Fresh and Dizzee Rascal’s ‘The Power’ is released on June 3.