Latest / Chaos and Creativity / Annicka Ekvall: Music, Connection & Becoming a Mom

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Annicka Ekvall: Music, Connection & Becoming a Mom · Chaos and Creativity

• 0:14
  SPEAKER_01: Hi, Kimmy.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_03: Hi, Lou.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_01: How are you?
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_03: I'm doing great.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_03: How are you?
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: I'm great because it was another DJ guest that I got to interview for this week.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: And that whole culture is so fascinating to me, I can't get enough of it.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I love that we're like chaos and creativity, a podcast about interviewing DJs.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_03: For the moment.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_03: For the last two.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_03: But it is pretty interesting.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_03: Also, I think it's uh, you know, like we talked about uh when we when we had Kieran on um was it last week or two weeks ago.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_03: Um it is like so interesting for me because it's also like such a completely different game.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_03: But I I love that we're also kind of now drifting between like um what it's like for male DJs versus female DJs and kind of like the the different experiences that they have.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely right.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_03: Especially when you're in we we also just talked about this before we started the episode, but also the different echelons of DJing, right?
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_03: You totally have like the pop stars of DJs, which is like all these very good looking people, very shiny people, and then you ha still have like the underground, which is like you know anyone who can do it.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_03: But it is for me so interesting to watch because I think when I was younger, DJs, especially in America, DJing was just not like a it wasn't, you know, especially DJing electronic music, you weren't gonna become like a megastar, and now you have all these different megastars that are huge celebrities, right?
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, completely right.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: And Annika definitely falls into that celebrity level, but the conversation that I had with her, as we'll hear, was it is she is so heartfelt about what she does that I felt really sort of enveloped in this spirit, which really made me happy because the music really drives her, and she really has this passion for connecting to the audience.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: I just that is so her thing, and it's like literally her own thing.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: And it's almost like from the discussion that I had with her, is that she goes out and she she has she it's not that she has to, but she she senses something in the vibe in the air, and then she just rides that wave.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: And I think I honestly you have to hear it from her own mouth.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: Let's just drop right in.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_03: All right, so we're interviewing today forever Annika, for those of you who didn't get that.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and Anika is a huge Swedish American DJ.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_03: And yes, yeah, amazing.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_03: So very excited.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_03: Let's go.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: So I saw this behind the scenes of you two, right?
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: And they have this journalist with them, and they bring this wonderful journalist.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: She's she's great, she's just all bubbles and fun and smart and whatever.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: And and um Edge brings her to the area underneath the stage, and you go when you wanna go upstairs and see what's up there, and what's up there?
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: Let's let's go look.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: And they go up and there's a hundred thousand people.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: It's before the show starts.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: And then so you you played ETC, right?
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, EDC and Coachella.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Or sorry, EDC and Coachella, right?
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: And you played to an audience of 60,000 people.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, 60,000 people.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: So because that will never be me, unless Bono gets sick and they need a replacement singer.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: Possible.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I just I need to know, I've been trying to grasp or understand what that feels like.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's definitely a surreal feeling.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like once you're up there, you're so you have one choice, and that's presence.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like you have to stand confident and grounded for all those 60,000 people.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: And how do you how do you stay grounded?
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's a big energetic responsibility.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: And that's just daily practice.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like really sticking to who your core values are, like what you think every day, how you act, how you treat people, like that all comes down to those moments, like when you're performing and the energy and the intention that you want to like emulate out to the crowd, they can feel it.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like a from for my intention, it's like all unity and escapism and no judgment and love.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: So if that's a room of like 10 people or 60,000 people, you're gonna get the same consistency.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: So just being really present and grounding in those moments is when the magic happens and the art speaks for itself.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, there's also like times when you look out and you have to take a second, you're like, oh my god, there's there's 60,000 people enjoying themselves like right in front of me, and it starts like looking like a sea of people.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: And it's really for me, it's like me with the music.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like the audience always comes last.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: I don't play to impress these people, I play to connect these people.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: So that's like kind of the direction that I uh aim from and and I that's actually that's a spectacular statement because you're you're feeling the art first.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: And to me, it feels like you're putting yourself in a vulnerable state to present what it is that you have created.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely with the intent that you hope it connects with everybody, but without judgment for the people that don't connect with it.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel like that's almost monastic, you know what I mean?
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's definitely interesting because like house music like originated in like the 1980s in Detroit and Chicago.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: And it was like a place for like all the freaks to go and feel comfortable and safe.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: And to say, hey, like we're a community, we're one.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like house music is like about soul and funk and high vibrations.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: So like keeping that intention is like so pure of like respect to the art of house, of course, and like all the legends that brought house to this day and age that um we still have to honor because it's such an important cultural background and like really honoring that space of like why we're all here, like why we all come together, and that's like unity and like that's connection.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, you can dance how you want, you can feel how you want, like the music speaks for itself.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: Actually, they they don't let me dance because it's really awful.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's bad.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's just like you'd be the one person on stage thinking everyone can dance except for him.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: No, I'm sure you're a great dancer.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: Well, the house community would love you then.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: You can dance.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my god, girl.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: I am I am a I am a train wreck of a dancer.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: But you you gotta you gotta let let loose somehow.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: So I oh I let loose.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_01: I mean it's just this, you know, like do people get concerned?
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_02: They get concerned.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: So um, but the the other thing that I'm I'm interested in and we before we started, we were talking about when you get on stage, you detach.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: Totally.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um I never I know I do it, and I've never done it to 60,000, but I know and I never understood what that was until you said that you're just giving yourself, you're just you're just ultimately letting go and giving yourself.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: And we both were talking about you either have it in you or you don't, and because you can't fake it at this point.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: No, do you know what I mean?
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: So as you're going through a set, like your decisions are fast.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, is that right?
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: All on the fly.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: Can you bring me a can you bring me there behind the gear and tell me what that feels like?
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, it's it's so interesting, like that process, like that creative process, because you are the instrument essentially for that whole set, that that's like a two-hour set or a five-hour set or an hour set.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: So those decisions you make, you have to like almost like visualize the feeling and vision that you want to create and what that's gonna feel like and look like.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: So that is the most important thing is like song selection.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: So I think with like any DJing is really about the song selection.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like this song that you choose, is it gonna make people dance?
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: Is it gonna make them happy?
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: Is it gonna bring them together?
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: Or is it like a little darker, or or is it a little more like a dark disco vibe, or is it a little more of a minimal vibe to give people a bit of a break so you can storytell and elongate that story?
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what is it tell me more about yes?
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: Tell me more about the storytelling.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: So, in and actually I'll I'll say my next question too.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: So, give me to the storytelling a little bit.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: Storytelling is is everything like in in music.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: So for that's how that's I personally think.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because a set without a storytelling is just you're it doesn't have that depth, and right that's what I crave in my sets, like definitely depth and like vulnerability and making my fans or the people or peers like connect with me on like a deeper level.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: So they left feeling like safe and like inspired or connected or in love, like after they have that set.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: Is there um catharsis for you?
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_01: Do you feel totally yeah?
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: I definitely feel like connected to the higher power and like with God when I'm playing, and like I it's it's a pretty emotional experience for me at times.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because people really see you and you see them, and it's like this beautiful, simultaneous, like connection of love, and that's through like storytelling.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: So, but the storytelling is very fragile because it's like what story are you trying to tell?
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: Are you telling the story of heartbreak?
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: Are you telling the story of achieving something that you really believed in or standing up for something that you really believed in?
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: Or like, are you storytelling this spiritual experience?
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what feeling or energy do you want your crowd to feel?
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not about you, right?
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's not about it's about the music, you know, it's about us.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I think this day and age, like I a lot of personally, but I think some DJs miss that piece of storytelling, and that's what makes you know an artist or a true artist, and like that storytelling part is like the most important aspect of it.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, would you call it faith in the art?
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely like like faith in like just taking certain aspects of songs, like if it's like um like a a lyric or uh a drum sound or a percussion and you're looping these sounds together to bring like the bass in to mix with the mids or the highs or the lows and and make this like sounds of artwork come together as one.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's your story because you're barring essentially like these sounds from different artists that you're uh curating together to tell your story through.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: Got it.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, it's it's definitely interesting, and all so you know, music has so much depth and feeling in it.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: So whatever song you choose is really tells a direction, and it surprises you because sometimes when I'm playing, I am like, wow, this is how I feel inside my heart right now, and everyone's feeling it.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_01: Have you ever had a time where you this is how I'm feeling inside my heart and it's fallen flat?
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: There's time definitely, yeah.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: There's times where I 100% have been like felt so vulnerable or so like heartbroken that I was like, this is a really sensitive time for me, and I'm gonna tap into it.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: And then that's where like the beautiful switch happens, where it turns into like this really healing process of like, this is what I went through, here's my story, and everyone like you know comes together in like a community field of like saying, like, we're here, we're all here together as one, this present moment.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: And then there's times where I'm like super stoked and happy and excited, and I can play for hours and hours and hours.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: I never want to stop, and the story keeps going, and everyone keeps dancing, everyone's vibing, and you look around and you just smile, and you're like, everyone has their hands up and everyone's smiling, and you're like, Wow, I'm in a the most iconic club in Italy, and I can dance with everyone around me, and we're we're in the vehicle, like we're driving now.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like we're all together, so yeah, it's a beautiful form of connection.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: How do you do you are you um how much input from the audience is helping you with your journey, so to speak?
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_01: Are you reading the room?
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: Are you No, like you're reading the room, of course, but like my creative process, like I well, of course, read the room, like see what what the age range is, like, you know, is it more male, is it more female dominant?
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like, do these kids really want to party, party and get deep down and dirty?
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: Or, you know, is it gonna be more of like a tribal indie dance vibe where people are more on a spiritual level?
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: Because like if you go to Ibiza or Tulum, it's like definitely more of like a spiritual level.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like, and it also depends on like what the atmosphere is in that room.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like, are you playing an after party at 2 p.m.?
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: Are you playing at night?
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: Are you opening?
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: Are you closing?
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: So it definitely all depends on like reading the room for sure.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: But like I recently played a show in New York City at Tech Support, and I was playing the after party and it was closing hours, and I had to play at 2 p.m.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: the next day.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: And this is party's been 24 hours going.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, people with that strong like brain power, like they you need you need to keep the music going.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: So at that point, like you're just you're you're making them dance.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, you don't want to get too, you know, emotionally deep on that spiritual indie dance or afro house or tribal music.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: You want to like play more tech house and more like bangers so people can just you know lose their mind for a little bit.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: Detach from the real world.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: How did you learn all this stuff?
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: How did you do this?
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like, oh my gosh.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: What was the journey to get to to Coachella?
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, it's been su you know, it's so interesting.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: So I um I think the the biggest thing in art is just storytelling.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: So storytelling has many different forms.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I went to Chapman University and I studied film.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: And because I love the story, the storytelling about film and pictures and audio and and footage.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: So I was working on a couple projects outside of college in LA, and I worked on this independent film with Bernard Rose, the original writer of Candyman.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: And Steven Dorf was in that film, my really close friend, and like Danny Hudson and Duke Nicholson, Jack Nicholson's grandson, and we all were in the pandemic and we're like all really good friends.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, let's make this film.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: And um, that was like a really beautiful time of like storytelling.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: And Bernard Rose did the whole composition and score for the film as well, which was really special.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: And then I lived in a surf house in LA, and I was like renting a room, and I was trying to figure out how we're gonna make art and living a thing because you know the starving artist is real.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: So um I lived with uh a really big DJ manager at the time before I even DJ'd.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: They were just really big surfers, and I wanted to rent a room, and I would surf at first put in Malibu.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: And uh they're like, Yeah, you know, we got a room to rent, you could come rent it.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: It was like a thousand dollars a month or something.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_01: And people who aren't from California just don't understand how cheap that is.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_02: That's really, really cheap.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: And um, we were in the pandemic and they had vinyl in their house, and they had decks, and I have uh locked myself in in the in the room and I just would like uh experiment with all this music and all these sounds, and I was obsessed.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like I did not leave.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, so where do they like like what what struck you?
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like what hit you with that?
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it just was a soul, mind, body connection with this music and these decks, and I was the instrument and I could feel how I felt inside and and show my my love for the world through this music.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, and it was really powerful feeling that I felt, and then I was like, I wonder if people can feel as good as I feel if I can share this with the world.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I felt so loved and so connected with myself, yeah.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I and so I was just dancing, mixing, having so much fun in my room for like two months, like every day till like 5 a.m.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: I just play a play play.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: And the the the the guys that I lived with were like, hey, you know, not bad.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: We're having some friends over tonight.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna DJ it.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: Oh no kidding.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I was like, yeah, yeah, we do it.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: And they looked at me like, holy shit, Annika, you're gonna do this.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, really?
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: You think so?
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: They're like, Yeah, yeah, but we're not gonna tell you anything else, just go out in the world and try it.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: So I just said, I I I have this really incredible friend.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: His name is Connor Tingley.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: He is an incredible big-scale painter in Kanoga Park.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: He's amazing, and he's very intuitive and very tapped into the spiritual side when it comes to art and visions.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like he's a true visionary.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: He does incredible, incredible art pieces.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: And he calls me.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, Hey, I have this dream that you're gonna be a pretty big DJ.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: I think you should keep doing it.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I have this dream, you know, it just all these visions and manifestations coming through source, which is like music is so healing for me.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: And um, so I I worked at it.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: I and I got into the underground scene in LA at the warehouses.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I would go and and uh try tracks out and try like Was it intimidating?
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: It was a home.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: It was home, it was just like so for the good or bad, it was home.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: It was home.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like I was like, this is where I belong.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: With the freaks in the warehouse at 5 a.m.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: Sleeping is cheating.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: Sleeping is cheating.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: And and I would I I remember like uh a couple years ago, like uh about four years ago, I I walked into his warehouse and there was like 4,000 people.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, whoa, it's time to play.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: Oh wow.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like this is pressure and I have to deliver.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I delivered, and it was an amazing feeling.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: It gets addicting.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, totally.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, it was like 5 a.m.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: When you when you get, you know, you creatively, whatever, whatever genre you're in, like, you know, you get the big challenge, yeah, and then you step up to the challenge, and then that's like, ooh, I need to do this again.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: I mean and every time is so different, every experience, every warehouse, every club, bar, festival, it's it's oh it just adds to the overall human experience in it, and I'm so blessed and so grateful that I get to do what I I love every day.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_01: Do you ever find yourself um aligning with the space that you're in?
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_01: Because obviously traveling around the world, different countries, different venues, do you ever find yourself aligning to the spirit of the place that you're going to?
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, and no.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, tell me more.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: I definitely feel spiritually aligned with some places.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I can't wait to go back.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I have dreams of going back to those places, and some of those places are in Europe.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like Abiza, I love playing in Abiza.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's a very magnetic field for me because the uh island of Abiza is like about this woman goddess.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: So the female energy there is really strong.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: And it's beautiful.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: And so every time I play there, I have a pretty spiritual connection to that island, and a lot of DJs do.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's a mecca for of music for electronic artists.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: So Abiza is a very special place where I feel really aligned with.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: Same with Italy, when when the culture, you know, outside of America, it shifts.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: I would say I I I least like playing in America.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: And that's just because um there's such a divide in our in our world at times, and I'm not gonna go down this path too much.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: But um Welcome to Chaos and Creativity, the political podcast.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: But um there's some there's so much to explore in the world, and there's so much different music and cultures, and especially in in places like Ibiza and in Europe, it it really does like a whole Wells so speaking of of female energy, yeah.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um not a lot of female DJs.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_01: No, comparatively speaking.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and so um you're almost groundbreaking in a lot of ways.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_01: The way you're like rocketing up and and playing bigger and bigger audiences and opening the door for other people who may be listening to this who dream of being Annika Ekval.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_01: And it's it's there is a um it it is interesting how a male DJ versus a female DJ, the the the different type of vibe that that that is promulgated from from that experience.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: Do you know what I'm saying?
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_01: Totally.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: And um it sounds to me like when you go to a place that has that feminine energy, you can really, really discover something deeper, deeper, deeper, deeper inside of you.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the divine feminine is is so healing, right?
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so beautiful.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, you can't have divine feminine, that's divine masculine.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: So it does go hand in hand for sure.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I really believe if women stop, the world stops.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like we are the source.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like females create life, females nurture life, comfort life, and I think there's a very different presence when you stop.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Up into a female DJ set versus a male DJ set because the whole intention, the whole room actually shifts because for from personal experience, when it when a female plays it's like a big warm hug.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: And it's really about music versus when a male plays and the men are freaking awesome and so inspiring.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: But the tension shifts because you have these really incredible male DJs as well.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then you have these really hot girls, and it starts becoming about like the scene at times.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_01: Would you say peacocking almost?
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, definitely.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you have like the booth girly and I tried to be booth girly, didn't work out.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you can come to my booth and be booth girly.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_01: Fab.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I would love it.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: So it it it definitely like shifts a little bit, and you know, some of the biggest uh male DJs are the b biggest uh moneymakers as well.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: And there's other females that are climbing that rope as and and right there with the men, like Peggy Goo's incredible, uh Nina Kravitz, she's amazing, Sarah Laundry is like a really incredible uh hard style techno DJ, and they're right there with the boys, like they're hanging with the boys, and and we're taking over.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_01: So speaking of divine creation, yeah.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_01: Scarlet.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_02: Aww.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm blushing because you just showed me pictures, and she is she's something else.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, wow, and she's a Scorpio.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_01: I cry, I know.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my Scorpio, she's a Scorpio, she's in good company.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: She's the biggest blessing out of anything in this world.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_01: Congratulations.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_01: That's so good.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_01: November 4th, right?
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: November 4th is her birthday.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's such an incredible experience.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: There's nothing like being a mom.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: And it and you don't know how incredible it is until you're fully in it.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm fully in it right now.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: In more ways than one.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: In more ways than one.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's like it transitions everything for the better.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: And a true gift from God, like a real angel.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like she is such a protector, such an inspiration for is she your new story?
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: She's definitely in in my story.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_01: In in in terms of for the next time that you're gonna go out and play, is she part of your story now?
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like everything is about her.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's so amazing.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: Since she's been born, my world of friends has come a lot closer.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's really good.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: I have a bunch of uh and incredible females in my life, and um, I also have a bunch of credible males in my life too.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: And the females that I have these friendships I had throughout the years, they all from different walks of life come to my sets, and they were all there celebrating with me in New York.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: And at the end they said, This is because Scarlet.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: Oh Scarlet brings us I'm gonna cry, it makes it so emotional.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: Scarlet, my daughter, brings us together, like we are one.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's what my best friend said, and we were driving back home.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: We're like, we are one because of her.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like babies have our are like have superpowers, and it it really translates once you trust this path of children, and you commit and you devote, the world looks like butterflies and rainbows every day, even on the hardest days.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: I could never picture a life without her.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like this was my path always to be a mom and to also create music and and DJ and produce and and share this love I have for the world, to the world.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: And she's opening this door for me more than I could ever imagine.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: And every day I just I'm gonna cry because it's it's such an emotional thing.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: Being a mom.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_01: That is a beautiful message for the world, especially for the tumult that we're in right now.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Annika Eckwell, thank you so much.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for having me.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_01: What'd you think?
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_03: Super interesting.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_03: Obviously, a completely different experience than what we had with Kieran, also, you know.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_03: I'm I'm also she's obviously in a completely different part of her career as a DJ, but fascinating.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_03: I also always think it's like um I love hearing about I love hearing and seeing all of these like female DJs that I follow now stepping also in the role of motherhood, which is really interesting because you would never put that together, like being a mom and a DJ, you know, because you're like And then put in the balance because I mean it's it's no, you know, doing what Annika does is it's a lot of work.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_03: Totally.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: And being a mother is an amazing amount of work.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_01: I go, my gosh.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_03: Totally.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_01: So to all you mothers out there, we love you.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, incredible.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_03: But I definitely was like, wow, just thinking about children's sleeping schedules and then DJ schedules, you know, that's such a yeah, intense thing.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, I I found I think I'm really fascinated in general with like DJs and DJ lifestyle and like the sustainability behind it, you know, because it is like usually happens in the middle of the night that you're DJing from like two to four.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_03: And um, you know, because I think Annika also has been DJing since she was quite young, right?
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_03: She was like a was she a teenager or how did sheo?
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, and it was it it it it is to me in talking to her, it just feels like it's been a part of her soul forever.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_01: Is this probably the best way to describe it in the way she's so passionate about it.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_03: So and I always wonder what that feels like for them when as you know, as you get older, and because when you're young, it's like you have the strength and the endurance to just kind of go, go, go, go, go like that without really needing to set any sort of boundaries for yourself.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_03: And I think um it's probably even helpful in some ways to have like the structure and stability of some family life to kind of bring you back down to earth, especially as you get older to ground you, you know.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_01: I wonder what that that feels like to with that sort of family life.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because Annika's incredibly, as we heard, very grounded.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I wonder if that shifts her perspective on how she plays and what she plays and and because she's a very emotionally giving person, and I wonder if that emotion shifts.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe next time we get her on the show, we'll have to ask her about that as her as her kid gets older.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, totally.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_03: But she's super interesting.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I'm really liking the this new arc that we're doing, which is just DJs.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_01: Well, next maybe not a DJ, but that's okay.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_01: We'll get there.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_03: It's gonna be Rammstein.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_03: We're gonna go into like industrial German heavy metal uh legends.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_01: So absolutely, I think that's the best way to go.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_01: Just like really, really tear it up.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_03: Gonna write him ASAP.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_03: Do it so amazing.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_03: Cool, Lou.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, also, I think we should just probably plug our new podcast uh Mothers of Creativity.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, Mothers of Creativity.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_03: I'm uh I'm editing it, so I'm very, very deeply involved with part of it.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_01: But just because we had a mother artist just on this episode, I think it's just like it's a good uh I know.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_03: I actually was like, wow, she would have really fit on great on Mothers of Creativity, but yeah, definitely for anyone listening who's kind of interested to hear stories about moms and how they juggle being a mom, which is something that is completely all-consuming with their creative life and their creative identity.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_03: Um, it's super, super interesting.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_03: And Sabrina is a is really picking some amazing guests.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_03: Um she's a good interviewer too.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_01: We love her because she's such a good interviewer.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, so check out mothersofcreativity.com.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_01: We'll put a link in the show notes.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_01: Kimmy, good to see you.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_03: Always good to see you, Lou.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_03: All right.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_03: Till next time.