Text: Juule Kay
The world is changing, and with it, a new generation of trailblazers is taking over. In our monthly series E-MERGING, we introduce the people adding to the cultural moment with their creative minds, new ideas and unique approaches. It’s a glimpse behind the scenes, a way to dig deeper and look beyond the picture-perfect outcome we’re swamped with every day.
JADA knows how to make people dance. In fact, she has successfully proven it with her Boiler Room debut last year, serving the hyped-up crowd a mix of House, Jersey Club, Baile Edits and some twerking sessions in between. “For me, dancing is in symbiosis with music, you can’t have one without the other,” says the up-and-coming DJ, who grew up in the North of Germany watching her Afro-Brazilian mother, a professional samba dancer, perform. It didn’t take long until she started to twirl in the living room with her sisters to Axé and Baile Funk. “I remember how we were already imitating all the dances from YouTube as kids,” she says, laughing.
When she wasn’t busy going to jam sessions and dance training, you most likely found the self-declared music nerd bonding over favourite tunes, burning CDs, watching MTV and never leaving the house without her iPod. “If I couldn’t have a friendship over sharing music, it would be difficult,” she confesses, with artists like SBTRKT, M.I.A. and Roots Manuva in mind. Her diverse musical upbringing might explain her love for experimental mash-up surprises, mixed with her club kid persona. “I started going out when I was 16, collecting my first experiences with Jungle, Drum ’n’ Bass, Dancehall, Soca and House Music, whereas listening to a lot of alternative Hip-hop, R’n’B, Neo-Jazz and Indie in my daily life,” she tries to explain the contrary influences in her DJ sets. “I’m not too hard, I’m also not too soft, but somewhere in between.”