How Sam WOLFE’s “Control Delete” Led to Love – and a Beatport #1 [Q&A]

When DANNY AVILA, Sam WOLFE, HNTR, and Rome Fortune's “YES B!TCH” hit #1 on Beatport, WOLFE had a problem most producers would welcome: people were paying attention. The problem? He didn’t have enough new music ready to show them.

This time, "I've been working harder than ever on creating a catalog I am proud of and am ready to show the world," he says.

WOLFE's latest single and Drumcode debut, “Control Delete,” topped Beatport’s Techno (Peak/Driving) chart, teeing up a new opportunity to show listeners what he's been working on since the 2024 collaboration landed on Experts Only, and what will come next. But the cut didn't just give the producer his next Beatport #1 – the unique circumstances behind its creation, three years in the making, also led him to his wife. The two are now expecting their second child.

So why did it take so long? Put simply, WOLFE held on to the song's vocal for years, trying it in different versions of the song, all the way from a "peak-time demo" to "a more tech housey record," before he found one that worked in his sets. From there, WOLFE continued to refine the ID, fashioning its dark, emphatic DNA into a track that naturally thrives on Adam Beyer's imprint. The rest, well, it can be found atop the Techno (Peak/Driving) chart.

In a Q&A with Beatportal, WOLFE shares how "Control Delete” changed his life, its journey to Drumcode, and why this #1 feels like a starting point.

Congratulations on the #1! Where were you when you heard the news, and what did that moment mean to you?

Thank you very much. I was up early, lying in bed to see if the charts had refreshed. I probably should have been sleeping, but my son woke up shortly after that, so I had to go take care of him anyway. My wife is nine months pregnant and due any day now with our second, so I’ve been trying to let her sleep in.

It meant a lot to me, because the last time I had a #1 on Beatport was when I released "Yes B!tch" on Experts Only, and this was my debut on Drumcode, so I really wanted to show the world this song and the direction I've been [taking my music in].

You’ve mentioned that there’s a personal story at the heart of how this track came together. Can you share what happened?

It’s actually pretty wild; the vocalist on the record is a super talented singer/songwriter/producer named Driftwood. He’s from Australia, and we met on Instagram when I randomly liked one of his stories. He hit me up asking, “Oy, who are you, and why are you liking my stories?”

I told him I make music, and he said dope, send me a beat. So I sent him a beat, he laid me a vocal, and that record eventually became our self-released collaboration "Grey Metal."

His Visa in Mexico was expiring, and he said he needed to enter the US for a little bit before going back to Mexico, so I said, “I only met you three weeks ago on Instagram, but come fly to Atlanta and sleep on my couch.” Next thing you know, I'm picking him up at the airport.

A day later, it was a Saturday, and I realized I wanted to show him ATL since it was his first time in the city. We went to a rooftop party hosted by Alleycat, a local promoter, and I ended up flirting with a girl there who became my wife and now the mother of our two children.

Driftwood laid the vocals for "Control Delete" during that trip, and I sat on them for three years. If he never made that trip, I never would have gone to that party, met my wife, and started our family.

Meant to be! Three years in the making is a long time. How did "Control Delete" evolve during that period, and what ultimately made the creative process such a long one?

The vocal was first in a peak-time demo, but that demo never went anywhere. Instead of the "Control Delete" verse being the main hook, it was just a bridge.

Then, I tried to make it into a more tech-housey record, but that didn’t work.

In 2025, I was catching up with Driftwood, and he said I needed to dig into our old projects from that trip in 2023 because he remembers laying me some gold. That’s when I rediscovered this record and got to work.

After spending so much time with the track, how did you finally know it was finished and ready to be released?

Once I rediscovered the record, I had a demo that was working in my sets all of 2025 but not getting signed, and that's when I had a choice: I could either call it done and move on with a mediocre beat, or I could figure out how to get it to the next level. So I kept working on it. I asked for help and advice from producer friends, I kept making iterations, and I kept workshopping ideas until finally it felt bomb. 

For those discovering you through “Control Delete,” what does the track reveal about your sound and who you are as an artist?

I have been clubbing and going to shows since 2009. I was a high school kid using fake IDs to get into raves in Baltimore; that’s how I fell in love with electronic music, and as the years passed, I went through nearly every phase of being a hardcore fan of each genre.

The thing I love about techno is that it's a blank canvas where you can paint your own story – I love heavy, ripping beats, but I also love a nice groove and a good vocal hook. I like to make music that I think is good.

All of that to say, my sound is changing. The first record I put out in 2020 is going to feel a lot different than "Control Delete," but if you go through my back catalog, I think it’s cool that you can feel a distinct and unique vibe across all of my records to date.

My sound is always evolving, but I love to make music that hits hard and makes people dance.

Following the success of “Control Delete,” what else do you have planned for the remainder of the year?

The last time I had a #1 with "Yes B!tch" I’ll be honest, I wasn’t ready. What I mean was, I didn’t have music ready.

This time, I've been working harder than ever on creating a catalog I am proud of and am ready to show the world. I’ll continue to add to that catalog while taking care of my family and playing shows around the world.