Swedish Moroccan music producer Nadir Khayat, aka RedOne, wrote hits for the likes of pop-stars Lady Gaga and Enrique Iglesisas. Courtesy: Ibrahim Zoubir
Swedish Moroccan music producer Nadir Khayat, aka RedOne, wrote hits for the likes of pop-stars Lady Gaga and Enrique Iglesisas. Courtesy: Ibrahim Zoubir
Swedish Moroccan music producer Nadir Khayat, aka RedOne, wrote hits for the likes of pop-stars Lady Gaga and Enrique Iglesisas. Courtesy: Ibrahim Zoubir
Swedish Moroccan music producer Nadir Khayat, aka RedOne, wrote hits for the likes of pop-stars Lady Gaga and Enrique Iglesisas. Courtesy: Ibrahim Zoubir

My luxury life: super pop music producer RedOne tells us his favourite memories, dream ocean home and how his fashion style reflects his music


Saeed Saeed
  • English
  • Arabic

If you are looking to create a chart-topping musical anthem then you call Nadir Khayat, aka RedOne. Over the last decade, the Swedish-Moroccan songwriter, who lives in Miami, has produced more than 30 hits for a range of top tier pop-stars. That list includes Lady Gaga's career-defining tracks Poker FaceJust Dance and Bad Romance. He was also instrumental behind Enrique Iglesias's move from balladeer to dance floor king with the hits Like How It Feels and Dirty Dancer. RedOne recently also stepped out as a solo artist, with the successful single We Love Africa.

If you could wake up anywhere else in the world tomorrow, where would it be?

I would like to go back in time. But not to a particular period, but a moment. And that’s back to when I was a kid in our family home in Tetouan, Morocco, and dad would come to my room and wake me up to go school. My father passed away, so for me to experience that feeling of waking up and having a family breakfast, which my dad would make, would be amazing.

You're sitting down to the perfect dinner. What are you eating, where are you dining and who is with you?

I come from a family of nine and I am the youngest. So I grew up understanding that family is love. So a perfect dinner or location is anywhere I am with the family. I have a pretty big house in Tetouan, where we would occasionally gather and have an incredible meal. It is a love fest. We would have La Paella or couscous and many other things, of course.

If you were building your dream home, where would it be and what would it look like?

I think I am blessed to already have that dream home and that’s my place in Cabo Negro. I had it for nearly 5 years. It is on a hill overlooking the beach and you can also see Spain from there. My brother is an architect and he helped me do exactly what I wanted. It has a Moroccan hamam, a gym and three music studios - Daddy Yankee and Enrique Iglesias recorded there with me. But the real reason it is dream home is because when I was young I dreamt that I would win Grammys and take over the world and will have a big place where everyone can gather together. This summer, for example, I spent the three months there and my mum and all her sisters stayed with me.

Are you a collector? If so, what do you collect?

I am collector of football shirts. I have the shirts of many great players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos and Zinedine Zidane. I don’t view these shirts as an investment because there are so much more to them: they have emotions, victories and fights. These players are the gladiators of today and they do it with billions of people watching them around the world.

Are your fashion choices linked to the style of music you create?

One hundred per cent. I would describe my fashion style as casual chic. I like to wear jeans with a nice jacket as opposed to being suited up. My clothes do reflect whom I am as an artist, which comes out in my songs. And my songs try to makes you feel good, it is rather sporty but at the same time it has knowledge behind it and is tailored for people to love.

What was your first luxury purchase?

It was a Porsche Panamera Turbo about 11 years ago when I was founding big success with my work with Lady Gaga and others. I bought is as soon as it came out. What I remember about it is that in America, when you lease something, you need to have credit and you need time to build that. Now I didn’t have enough credit, so I just brought the car in cash. This was the first time I felt: ‘wow, I really bought something.’ I felt grateful. Alhamdulillah, I thanked God for blessing me with the talent and giving me the patience and hard work to make thing happen.

What is your most treasured possession?

My family and friends. Really, that’s it. I am not attached to material things. I love to enjoy them, but I lost so many of them over the years; I was even robbed big time. My wife buys me a lot of expensive watches, and I lost a lot of them in restaurants because I like to take them off while I am eating. Now, as you can see, I wear no watch.

As a producer, who are your biggest influences?

It would be the producers Quincy Jones, Bob Rock and Mutt Lange. With Quincy, it is because of his sheer musicality. I worked with him on a couple of occasions and this man is real professor. His knowledge, from the choice of sounds, instruments and songs, is just incredible. With Rock, he was a producer that understood how to make rock and roll sound accessible. He would take such a powerful band like Metallica and make them sound commercial without losing their soul. Which brings me to Mutt Lang; he also made so many powerful records. When I was researching him I would realise he would record every guitar string separately. He made everything sound perfect. He is an architect of sound.

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ESSENTIALS

The flights

Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.

The hotels

Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.

The tours

A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages. 

Dunki
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The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting

2. Prayer

3. Hajj

4. Shahada

5. Zakat 

US households add $601bn of debt in 2019

American households borrowed another $601 billion (Dh2.2bn) in 2019, the largest yearly gain since 2007, just before the global financial crisis, according to February data from the New York Federal Reserve Bank.

Fuelled by rising mortgage debt as homebuyers continued to take advantage of low interest rates, the increase last year brought total household debt to a record high, surpassing the previous peak reached in 2008 just before the market crash, according to the report.

Following the 22nd straight quarter of growth, American household debt swelled to $14.15 trillion by the end of 2019, the New York Fed said in its quarterly report.

In the final three months of the year, new home loans jumped to their highest volume since the fourth quarter of 2005, while credit cards and auto loans also added to the increase.

The bad debt load is taking its toll on some households, and the New York Fed warned that more and more credit card borrowers — particularly young people — were falling behind on their payments.

"Younger borrowers, who are disproportionately likely to have credit cards and student loans as their primary form of debt, struggle more than others with on-time repayment," New York Fed researchers said.

The Limehouse Golem
Director: Juan Carlos Medina
Cast: Olivia Cooke, Bill Nighy, Douglas Booth
Three stars

Coal Black Mornings

Brett Anderson

Little Brown Book Group 

If you go

 

  • The nearest international airport to the start of the Chuysky Trakt is in Novosibirsk. Emirates (www.emirates.com) offer codeshare flights with S7 Airlines (www.s7.ru) via Moscow for US$5,300 (Dh19,467) return including taxes. Cheaper flights are available on Flydubai and Air Astana or Aeroflot combination, flying via Astana in Kazakhstan or Moscow. Economy class tickets are available for US$650 (Dh2,400).
  • The Double Tree by Hilton in Novosibirsk ( 7 383 2230100,) has double rooms from US$60 (Dh220). You can rent cabins at camp grounds or rooms in guesthouses in the towns for around US$25 (Dh90).
  • The transport Minibuses run along the Chuysky Trakt but if you want to stop for sightseeing, hire a taxi from Gorno-Altaisk for about US$100 (Dh360) a day. Take a Russian phrasebook or download a translation app. Tour companies such as  Altair-Tour ( 7 383 2125115 ) offer hiking and adventure packages.
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MATCH INFO

Barcelona 2
Suarez (10'), Messi (52')

Real Madrid 2
Ronaldo (14'), Bale (72')

Western Region Asia Cup T20 Qualifier

Sun Feb 23 – Thu Feb 27, Al Amerat, Oman

The two finalists advance to the Asia qualifier in Malaysia in August

 

Group A

Bahrain, Maldives, Oman, Qatar

Group B

UAE, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia

 

UAE group fixtures

Sunday Feb 23, 9.30am, v Iran

Monday Feb 25, 1pm, v Kuwait

Tuesday Feb 26, 9.30am, v Saudi

 

UAE squad

Ahmed Raza, Rohan Mustafa, Alishan Sharafu, Ansh Tandon, Vriitya Aravind, Junaid Siddique, Waheed Ahmed, Karthik Meiyappan, Basil Hameed, Mohammed Usman, Mohammed Ayaz, Zahoor Khan, Chirag Suri, Sultan Ahmed

ENGLAND TEAM

Alastair Cook, Mark Stoneman, James Vince, Joe Root (captain), Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Craig Overton, Stuart Broad, James Anderson

The Perfect Couple

Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor

Creator: Jenna Lamia

Rating: 3/5

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