Hugel has turned 21 years behind the decks into his most personal project yet. The French DJ’s debut album “Twenty One” was created while he traveled the world on tour and brings together Afro house, Latin house, hip-hop, R&B and dance music. After debuting at No. 1 on Spotify’s Global Top Albums, the record is already expanding with a deluxe edition — and another Snoop Dogg collaboration is coming.

Hugel has spent more than two decades building his career behind the decks, and now the French DJ is finally putting that journey into one full-length statement. His debut album, “Twenty One,” arrived in June after 21 years of DJing and quickly became the biggest project of his career, reaching No. 1 on Spotify’s Global Top Albums chart.

Born Florent Hugel and raised in Marseille, the producer says the idea of making an album had always been somewhere in the background. He simply did not want to rush it. Before committing to a full project, he wanted to build a real audience, develop his sound and reach a point where an album would feel like more than a collection of tracks.

That moment eventually arrived after years of touring, club shows and international releases. When Hugel decided it was finally time, he did not begin with a fixed concept or carefully mapped-out plan. Instead, he told his management that he wanted to make an album and started booking sessions in Los Angeles.

The first few studio days were more like a warm-up. He says things began to make more sense during a session with Netón Vega. From there, the album started to take shape across different countries, cities and stages of his touring schedule.

That traveling process became part of the identity of “Twenty One.” Hugel wrote “Habibi,” “Playboy” and “Make Me Go” in Dubai, continued working on songs in Bali and created “Next to Me” in Australia. Instead of disappearing into one studio for months, he built the record while moving around the world.

That approach also helps explain why the album travels through so many styles. “Twenty One” blends Afro house, Latin house, hip-hop, R&B and dance music, reflecting the places, artists and sounds that surrounded him as he toured internationally.

The guest list is just as broad. Snoop Dogg, Big Sean, French Montana, David Guetta, Ultra Naté, Scott Storch and Tokischa all appear on the project, turning it into a meeting point between electronic music, hip-hop, pop and Latin sounds.

For Hugel, though, the album is not mainly about collecting famous names. He describes it as a record about the journey itself. After 21 years of DJing, the title became a direct reference to the amount of time he had spent working toward his first full-length release.

The number also connects with a major turning point in his life. Between the ages of 17 and 21, he says he worked a wide range of jobs, including at McDonald’s, as a truck driver and selling insurance.

At 21, he decided to focus completely on music and became a resident DJ at a major club in the south of France. For him, that was the real beginning of success: the moment when he could earn a living by doing what he loved.

Everything after that was gradual. Hugel describes his career as years of building step by step rather than one sudden breakthrough. That long climb is part of why “Twenty One” carries more personal meaning than its chart position alone.

Still, the commercial response has been difficult to ignore. The album debuted at No. 1 on Spotify’s Global Top Albums, giving the French producer a major streaming milestone with his first studio album.

The story is already continuing. A deluxe edition is planned with more collaborations, including another song with Snoop Dogg.

That connection is especially meaningful because Snoop was one of the artists who originally inspired Hugel to become a producer. He says Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre were among the biggest reasons he became interested in making music in the first place.

Their collaboration did not begin through a formal label meeting. According to the DJ, Snoop contacted him directly through Instagram, told him he was a fan and suggested that they should make a hit together.

For someone who had grown up admiring his music, the message was almost difficult to believe. What started as an unexpected direct message eventually turned into a real studio session.

The two later met in Los Angeles, where Snoop came to his house and even met his mother. They spent time together in the studio and completed music, transforming an early career influence into a real creative partnership.

And they are not finished. A second collaboration is expected to appear on the deluxe version of “Twenty One,” which Hugel describes as the next part of the album’s story.

The experience says a lot about how far his career has moved. Someone who once listened to Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre as inspirations is now recording alongside one of them and planning another release together.

Another important part of “Twenty One” is the willingness to experiment. One of the tracks he considers the biggest creative risks is “Movin’ to the Sun,” which involved the use of artificial intelligence.

Hugel is well aware that AI remains one of the most controversial subjects in music. Rather than rejecting it completely, he believes artists should understand new technology, explore what it can do and decide how it can be used creatively.

He has also stressed that “Movin’ to the Sun” was still produced by humans. He shared a breakdown of the process on social media, showing how the technology was used instead of presenting the track as something automatically generated.

The gamble appears to have worked. “Movin’ to the Sun” became one of the album’s strongest singles, reinforcing his belief that taking creative risks can be worthwhile when the artist remains in control.

His interest in new technology sits beside much older influences. One of his earliest musical memories is hearing Daft Punk’s “Around the World” in a car as a child and turning the volume up as high as possible.

That early connection with electronic music never disappeared. Years later, French electronic culture remains part of his background even as his own records have expanded into Afro house, Latin rhythms, hip-hop and R&B.

What stands out in the way Hugel talks about success is that he does not describe it as a way of separating himself from the audience. In fact, he says the opposite.

He describes himself as someone who is “for the people” and says he does not want to position himself above listeners. His goal is to make people happy and use music to spread love and positive energy.

That outlook feels particularly important to him in the social media era. He believes people are often encouraged to criticize one another, attack ambitions and focus on negativity. His own work is meant to move in another direction.

For him, music is not only about producing successful dance tracks. It is also about creating moments that can give people energy, happiness or inspiration.

That philosophy fits the way “Twenty One” was made. The album grew out of travel, concerts, studio sessions and new relationships. Different cities contributed different songs, and the final project became almost a musical record of his life on the road.

The upcoming deluxe edition will continue that story with additional material and collaborations, including the second Snoop Dogg track. Rather than treating the June release as a finished chapter, the producer sees it as the beginning of a larger album era.

After 21 years of DJing, the timing feels appropriate. “Twenty One” may be Hugel’s debut album, but it arrives after a career long enough to include several different versions of the same artist: the teenager working ordinary jobs, the young club resident, the international touring DJ and now the producer working alongside some of the artists who first inspired him.

The next chapter is already being prepared. With a deluxe edition on the way and another Snoop Dogg collaboration coming, “Twenty One” is continuing to grow in much the same way his career did — city by city, session by session and connection by connection.