By Kat Bein By Kat Bein | March 24, 2022 | People, Music,
NALA PREPARES TO RETURN TO MIAMI WITH AN ULTRA-COOL SET ON THE COVETED RESISTANCE STAGE.
Known as a regular at some of Miami’s most coveted music venues, DJ, songwriter and producer Nala prepares to make her return on Ultra’s 2022 Resistance Stage. PHOTO BY: KAITLIN PARRY
This year, when the gates to Ultra Music Festival open in Bayfront Park after a four-year hiatus, one DJ will serve a little more Resistance than the rest.
Known as a regular at some of Miami’s most coveted music venues, DJ, songwriter and producer Nala prepares to make her return on Ultra’s 2022 Resistance Stage. PHOTO BY: KAITLIN PARRY
“We had this moment in the music industry where everything needed to be hyper-perfect,” says Stefania Aronin, also known by her stage name Nala (@this.is.nala). “I revolted against that, because I don’t even know how to be perfect. I like raw vocals, imperfection and flaws. That’s the human experience.”
The L.A.-based DJ, songwriter and producer went to college in Miami and learned to mix and make music right here in the Magic City. A regular at now-defunct hipster club Bardot, as well as still-raging venues Coyo Taco and 1-800-Lucky, Aronin is poised to make a big return on Ultra’s coveted Resistance Stage.
VISUALLY YSA
“It is a cool accomplishment to be playing the Resistance Stage in particular, because it is very highly curated,” she says. “You have to be accepted within the community.”
After nearly a decade of hard work, that acceptance is well earned. In quarantine, she launched the successful TV Party stream on Twitch. A collaboration with L.A. DJ and producer Richie Panic, the psychedelic audiovisual experiment caught the eyes and ears of tastemaker label Dirtybird, who soon signed the fresh-faced talent to its lofty roster.
Known as a regular at some of Miami’s most coveted music venues, DJ, songwriter and producer Nala prepares to make her return on Ultra’s 2022 Resistance Stage. PHOTO BY: KAITLIN PARRY
“One of the things I was talking about with the label right when I first started is like, ‘We’re giving you this platform. Some people don’t do anything with it. You’ve got to put in the work,’” Aronin remembers. “I had that rolling in my mind.”
That conversation lingered in her brain, as did a chance tarot card reading that encouraged her to “get deep into the roots” of her own creative mind. What was her message? It set off a yearslong journey to find her artistic voice.
Onstage at Ultra Music Festival PHOTO: COURTESY OF ULTRA MUSIC FESTIVAL
“I’m a f****** feminist,” she laughs. “One of the ways I define how I pick my songs is like, ‘Are women yelling?’ and ‘Are men being sensitive?’”
Hit single “Psychic Attack” features Aronin talk-singing over a funky tech-house beat, counting the ways mainstream media incites fear and division. Its B-side “Sun is Hot” is a steamy little groove, laced with lazy vocals that note the world’s rising temps—figurative and literal. Aronin teases future releases that chide man-children for their woe-is-me excuses, anti-love anthems and more.
Photo of L.A.-based artist Nala. BY KAITLIN PARRY
“I love being reckless and crazy, but I also love being feminine,” she says. “I really love that juxtaposition, because it plays into the power of beauty, but also it kind of says, ‘I have power with my words… I’m not here to prove that I’m Ariana Grande. That’s not gonna happen, but I’m pretty sure Kathleen Hanna wasn’t like, ‘Oops, I was off key.’
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