Ocean Drive

The Story Behind the Song

Ocean Drive was my way of paying tribute to the music and atmosphere that first made me fall in love with electronic soundtracks.

Growing up in Sweden during the 1980s, American culture carried an almost mythical quality. Miami, in particular, seemed larger than life. Whether the image presented in movies and television reflected reality hardly mattered. Palm trees, neon lights, fast cars, endless coastlines, and the unmistakable style of Miami Vice created a world that felt impossibly cool from the other side of the Atlantic.

When I started writing Ocean Drive, I wanted to capture a little of that feeling.

Rather than sampling the music that had inspired me, I became fascinated by how it had been created. I researched the drum machines used by Jan Hammer and studied drummer tutorials to recreate the iconic fills from many of the '80s songs I loved. Recreating those classic sounds in my own way became part of the creative process, and they would continue to appear throughout many of my early productions.

By this point, I was also beginning to discover a sonic palette that felt much closer to the kind of trance I had originally set out to make. The melodies and arrangement drew inspiration from artists like Gouryella and Chicane, while seagulls, whale sounds, and choir-like vocal textures completed the picture. I knew those choices leaned into cliché, but I embraced them anyway because they were part of the sound I had been chasing from the very beginning.

Looking back, the song wears its influences proudly. Rather than trying to hide where the inspiration came from, I leaned into it completely. Ocean Drive was never intended to reinvent anything. It was simply a celebration of the music, places, and memories that had shaped me as both a listener and a producer.

The reaction surprised me. While a few listeners jokingly commented that the song sounded "dated," one conversation stuck with me. After replying, expecting criticism, the listener explained that they actually loved the sound and were excited that someone was making music like this again. That exchange perfectly captured what I had hoped the song would achieve. It wasn't trying to chase contemporary trends — it was embracing a timeless sound that still resonated with people who shared the same influences.

Around the same time, I also connected with a producer based in Miami. We even discussed the possibility of exchanging remixes, although the collaboration never materialized. Even so, it reinforced the feeling that Ocean Drive had reached exactly the audience I had hoped it would.

Today, I still think the song holds up remarkably well. If I were to revisit it, I'd approach the production differently, using everything I've learned since then to create a richer sound and a more DJ-friendly arrangement. But the heart of the song would remain exactly the same.

At its heart, Ocean Drive is about nostalgia — not for a specific place, but for an idealized version of it. It's about the places we dream about long before we ever visit them, and the way music can make those dreams feel real, if only for a few minutes.

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