When I speak to Jyoty Singh, it’s 5:30pm London time and I’m in need of either a kip or a caffeine kick. Luckily for me, her spirit is playful when she calls me from the sunny city of São Paulo. For the past two weeks she has “gone from house to studio and studio to house.” Flying out artists, getting vocals and making beats, Singh admits she hasn’t seen much of the outside world, all of which makes her boundless energy even more surprising.
Maybe it’s the 30 degree weather, or the promise of her favourite tequila pineapple. Most probably it’s the promise of seeing two of her favourite artists play that evening, Rosalía and Kali Uchis - who she is “gonna sneak out and watch.”
The 32-year-old DJ is currently working on her first ever A&R executive production role on a major artist’s album. Said artist is yet to be announced, that’s “strictly off-the record!” but coming soon, she teases.
As a regular Boiler Room host and presenter on Rinse FM, her sets are peppered with euphoric club beats and house gems. Born in Amsterdam, her formative nightlife experiences sparked her curiosity in music. Most memorably, school dances when she was 11 at Escape and Parody, both of which she headlined last year. “I knew I belonged there from the start, hearing all the music, dancing all night, the strobes and just releasing all this energy and singing along with our friends. It just felt like where I was meant to be”.
Moving to London over a decade ago, Singh went from working in the cloakroom and being a door girl at The Nest in east London, to finding her way into some of the biggest clubs around the world. Her rise to fame may seem overnight, but she has been plugging away and nailing her craft for years. “The main priority was getting good and immersing myself. Years of practice and more importantly, attending shows made me a good DJ,” she says.
To say Singh is in high demand would be an understatement. As well as working on her big exec production project, the DJ is gearing up for festival season later this year and is headlining at all the main events including Parklife, El Dorado, Lost Village, Otherworlds and CircoLoco. “Yeah it’s busy, busy but exciting, I’ve booked up this year and am now looking at next year.”
She thrives off a challenge, and when presented with the task of curating a playlist for ES Magazine, she is by no means wary. “It’s easy”, she assures me. “I play hundreds of songs every week so I get to spot different artists all the time.” Effortlessly whittling down her favourite tracks in just under 10 minutes. She encourages readers to crank up the volume, these are ones you’ve “gotta search up and listen!”
Below, DJ Jyoty Singh picks her top five tracks to get the party started.
Listen to ES Magazine’s Friday Night Playlist here.
Choli Ke Peeche Kya Hai by Alka Yagnik and Ila Arun
“I think one of the first songs I vividly remember would be a Bollywood song. I was three when the movie came out and it was a massive hit, always on the telly. I remember my mom had it on a cassette tape and I used to put it in my Hello Kitty boombox and play the song over and over again and locked myself in her room and did the dance routine from the music video. I think that would be the very first memory I have and it’s a little bit enticing, the lyrics are a little bit naughty, and obviously I was only three, but I knew that the music video was for adults. She had a crop top on and I just thought it was so cool.”
Love Don’t Cost a Thing by Jennifer Lopez
“I always love bringing out at least one kind of R&B pop diva song that everyone knows during a set. So recently it’s J Lo with Love Don’t Cost a Thing, it’s a good one that always gets everyone going. It’s a classic, everyone knows it whenever I pull it out. It just has so many different points that get people excited by. This one is a real high.”
Neva Soft (Mike Delinquent remix) by Ms Dynamite
“It’s a UK club classic and it makes me feel really empowered whenever I play it on stage. There’s a really good remix of it by a producer called Mike Delinquent. I love this song. It’s especially popular in the UK obviously because immediately everyone recognises Ms Dynamite’s voice cause she’s so iconic - she was the sound of our adolescence. But I’ve noticed it doesn’t matter where I am if I play this song, it absolutely goes off, it just translates wherever you go. I think it’s an element of her voice and especially the lyrics that she says as well. And then it has such a good drop.”
Just Wanna Rock by Lil Uzi Vert
“It’s a bubbling remix, a genre that originally comes from Suriname and was a huge moment in the 90s. In the Netherlands, Suriname is the old Dutch colony, so we were exposed to a lot of Surinamese culture growing up. Right now bubbling is having a huge revival online amongst people who are into very eclectic music, especially club music from different diasporas. I’ve played it on my Australia and Asia run quite a bit and it’s probably the song that has the biggest ecstatic reaction. It’s super fast-paced and if you were to take out the swing its like techno. And the rhythm, it’s very melodic, with the vocals of the original Jersey club hit from Lil Uzi Vert, it’s foolproof.”
Saturday Love by Alexander O’Neal and Cherrelle
“I don’t think there’s a situation anywhere in the world where this song will not put a smile on people’s face. And even if you don’t know it, it’s such a beautiful, happy, easily accessible, feel good song. It’s not daunting. It’s a love song. Everyone loves a love song and a good old school duet. It could be the song you play at the start of the night, like when you’re actually getting in the mood to go out, or when you’re just about to leave, as it’s also a perfect wind down song. A classic. You can’t beat it.”
