Introducing…Spinning Out, a recurring series where NYLON highlights the most exciting DJs working the circuit right now. Meet the up-and-coming rookies and superstars of the subgenre, before they hit the big leagues.
Jyoty Singh calls herself a “human algorithm”. It's an apt descriptor for the Amsterdam natives' energetic but unpredictable DJ sets, which at any moment could include a remix of Sister Nancy's “Bam Bam,” a Destiny's Child deep cut, a Punjabi radio hit, or full of trumpets garage. His shows, which have taken him from dirty clubs in London to sold-out festival stages in Mumbai and São Paulo, are based on his mood and one criterion: “I want people to discover,” he says in NYLON.
This desire is perhaps a holdover from her early days as a radio presenter on Rinse FM, where she played demos that would be delivered to her inbox, and even before that, her teenage years were delirious at clandestine parties in Amsterdam. Now, his heavily curated library has turned him into a hot commodity, allowing him to launch his own international headlining tour, which is set to arrive in late summer. Later, we chat with Jyoty about her rise, how she discovers new music and why her idea of a perfect night always involves a little drama.
If you had an “about me” section on your website, what would it say?
It's really funny because there's a bio in my press kit, [and] every time I see it I get really creeped out. “She's amassed a worldwide following because of her…” I get that, but no. I would say my “about me” is just, I'm a huge music fan and a huge music consumer. And through the trajectory of what the universe wanted, I have now become a somewhat chaotic human algorithm of connecting listeners with artists. That's the best way to say it.
You grew up in the Netherlands. What were the club, music and nightlife scenes like there?
It was incredible. I started clubbing when I was 15, I think. [I was] in a city that is a main stop for many touring artists. We have a lot of smaller venues, and that's how I got into the club. I started going to more hip-hop, rap, dancehall, R&B parties. Around 18, I fell into electronic music through UK garage, then into two-step and dubstep, and the next thing you know, I was doing techno raves.
I read that you started DJing doing a gig on Rinse FM.
No, I was already in Rinse for two years before I played CDJ because I believe in old school radio. me actually [learned how to DJ] via my friend Jamz Supernova. He threw a party and said, “I want to book you.” I replied, “Jamilla, you know I don't know how to DJ.” She says, “You have two weeks to learn. Goodbye.” And that was my first gig. I opened and obviously I bombed.
What motivated you to improve?
Basically ego. I said, “I can't be bad at something. Everyone I know knows how to mix, and you're telling me I can't mix? I think the reason my DJ career took off so quickly was because I had established a certain sound with my radio show Once word got out that I started mixing, the bookings came in very quickly because people wanted what I was doing on the radio in the club.
I saw you in Morocco and you played Ice Spice, Destiny's Child, loads of Punjabi hits. How do you discover new music?
Just like I did six years ago. Because of radio, I get maybe 100+ songs in my inbox every day from people who want their songs on the radio. And then, being from Amsterdam, a lot of my favorite producers come from here, and I've known them since I was a teenager, so I have access to demos every day. And I'm on SoundCloud every day, Bandcamp. I listen to a lot of amazing music on TikTok. I see little bits of people mingling in their rooms, and I'll just be in the comments, “Oh my God, what's that? Put me on.” I still do, just in motion.
Do you still find it fun to find new things?
Every day when I find a new real banger, [I] hurry up My friends call me “Little Miss I Play It First”. It's a rush to see a crowd react to a song they've never heard before, and you know they've never heard it because they sent it to you or sent it to you. [you] found it on SoundCloud and it only had 200 or 300 plays.
I'm glad you mentioned TikTok. What do you think about DJing and living on the platform?
Honestly, I will say that you can explode on TikTok, and we're seeing that with DJs. I went viral on TikTok before I even had a TikTok account; someone posted a clip of my boiler room [set], and it went viral. And it's great until it's not. Now everyone films their sets. Everyone plays drop after drop. Groove is slowly disappearing among TikTok DJs. But I think before it goes viral, it's a great way for DJs to experiment, play and get their sound out there.
What is your DJ signature?
My signature is, you literally don't know what you're going to get. My sets depend on what the rest of the lineup says. What city am I in? Who else plays next to me? Because I love playing a role in one night. If someone before me hits all these big hits, then trust and believe that I won't do that.
What does a perfect night look like to you?
A perfect night is an intimate place, I don't like anything more than a thousand. When I'm at night, I'll disappear at some point and most likely you'll run into me with a bunch of random people and then I'll be like, “Hey, look at the new friends I made.” Or I'm completely, “Don't talk to me all night.” No visual distractions, so there are too many lights on, [and] good music, in the sense that I want to go crazy thinking “Oh my God, what is this? I have to find out what it is.” I like it when people dance so wildly and uncontrollably that no one knows what's in the front or the back of the venue. And then, I don't know if you should really put that on [because] I hate any kind of testosterone energy, but back in the day, an ideal night out consisted of witnessing some kind of climbing that you weren't involved in.
A fight?
That's why I said I don't know if you should put that in there, because my parties are a very safe space and no one should get into any kind of altercation! But if you ask me what a perfect night is, someone making out with someone, it doesn't have to be me, or someone finding someone and leaving, or witnessing an altercation. Just for the little dazzle.
