"Don't Touch Me, I Just Want to Dance!" Q&A with Empowered DJ Diva Li Ahead of Lantern EP Release Tonight (Apr 20)

To listen to Diva Li is to immerse yourself in a murky, melodic stream that threatens to swiftly sweep you away. This Beijing based DJ and producer invites us to swim against the tide together, eschewing lazier "go with the flow" current trends like backing tracks in favor of singing her own hooks, both on recordings and live in the booth as fans pack the dance floor and soak up her instrumentals.

Aside from being a talented beatmaker and singer, Diva Li proves to be a compelling interviewee, telling TBJ about the aquatic inspirations for her EP Migration which she will release tonight at Lantern (a collective called Fixture, meanwhile, has made an eye-popping visual installation to accompany Diva Li's set). The liner notes for her Migration EP detail how Diva Li "imagined herself as one among the hordes" of fish for the EP's "five tracks, whether epic and high-spirited, or as dark and dangerous as the deepest ocean, with the intense ups and downs of the emotion, build up the grand imagery for this conceptual EP."

Below, Diva Li tells us more about her upstream struggle.   

I imagined myself as one little fish in the ocean [while working on Migration]. It's just like how we, in this big world, are experiencing the migration of life. We only live once, so we need to enjoy this journey.

One of my other tracks is called "Don’t Touch Me." It was inspired by guys who had touched me or stared at me at parties, which was really annoying. With this song, I wanted to say: "Don't touch me, I just want to dance!"

I like to play music that can take people on a happy journey on the dance floor. My productions are more melodic than what you typically hear at clubs, and I always try to put my own vocals on my tracks, in order to tell a story.

I began studying singing at a music school when I was 13-years-old. Before long, I wanted to produce my own music to sing on. So I studied production on my own, and that’s how my DJing career began.

The biggest challenge for me was having a baby last year just as my career began gaining momentum after I played Boiler Room. I had to stop all my shows for more than a year, and people began to forget me. A lot of people don't even know me now. So I needed to keep working on production when I couldn't go out to DJ.

I think Beijing is a great city for an artist because there are many so venues and shows for musicians and other artists. I often go to a workshop which is being held by Ran Music, my label, at Floso in Gulou. It's a great opportunity to learn some professional knowledge from other artists.

I’ll keep producing and I hope to release my work abroad, to let the world hear the sounds of a Chinese female producer in the underground scene.

Diva Li will release her Migration EP tonight at Lantern. For more information, see the poster below or click here.

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Photos: Courtesy of Diva Li