Genova on the Virtual Sessions presented by The DJ Sessions 7/8/25

🎧 Interview Summary: Genova on The DJ Sessions

Host: Darren
Guest: Genova (23-year-old producer/DJ)
Location: Seattle, Washington (virtual session)
Running time: ~45 minutes
Theme: From NASA intern to rising music producer — a deep dive into purpose, passion, and the modern dance music journey.

🚀 1. Background: From Closet to NASA

• Genova originally pursued a career in the space industry, studying at the University of Washington before transferring to Arizona State University.

• Dropped out during the pandemic, lived in a closet at his sister’s place for 6 months while rethinking life.

• Vowed to work at NASA, achieved that dream in 2024, working on spacesuit development at Johnson Space Center.

• Ironically, while at NASA, he found himself making music on Ableton and throwing intern parties — sparking a deeper passion for DJing and production.

🎶 2. The Music Awakening

• The turning point: Opium Nightclub in Barcelona. Witnessing the energy and impact of live dance music left him obsessed.

• Returned to finish college, but committed all free time to learning music production and DJing.

• Realized that producing original music — not just DJing — is how artists break through.

• First consistent production work began about a year ago, full-time for the last 3–4 months.

📀 3. Music Style, Process & Releases

• Current genre: punchy, groovy, club-driven house/tech house with melodic touches.

• Experiments within the genre, avoids spreading too thin across styles — working to hone his unique sound.

• First Spotify release: “Bring the Bass” — a flagship track that marked his sound discovery.

• New single “Some Love” drops July 25th — a robotic, bassy club banger with the lyric:
  “I don’t wanna leave the club, I just came to find some love.”

🧠 4. Mindset & Discipline

• Known for being extremely hard on himself, often working nonstop and feeling like he could’ve done more — both a blessing and curse.

• Daily habits include:

  • Gym & fitness

  • Meditation

  • Cooking

  • Long walks

  • Deep focus on music production, marketing, and emotional connection

• Strives to create emotional resonance in music — believes it’s what separates humans from machines.

🔄 5. DJ Culture & Authenticity

• Passionate about live mixing and authenticity in sets.

• Criticizes over-orchestrated, pre-recorded festival sets as missing the point of dance music’s imperfect, underground roots.

• Predicts a cultural split between AI-generated events and human-driven, emotionally resonant festivals.

• Believes the real value of DJs lies in emotional presence, spontaneity, and shared energy with the crowd.

🎵 6. Influences & Current Favorites

• First favorite: Tiesto — after seeing him live at his first festival.

• Current biggest influence: Max Tyler

  • First track: “Kiki”

  • Loves Tyler’s blend of tech house, disco, and clever arrangements.

  • Recently remixed Tyler’s track “London’s On Fire.”

• Track he spins regularly: “Dale Ay Mamí” by Kelland

  • Groovy, weird, fun

  • Infectious bass & sing-along elements that evolve over the course of the song — perfect for dancefloors.

🌍 7. Goals & Vision for the Future

In 10 years:

• Wants to build a record label and artist collective, where:

  • Artists support each other.

  • Perform together, grow together.

  • Create a family-like team built around musical and emotional connection.

• Aspires to evolve toward more emotional and melodic music, especially as he plays larger stages.

• Wants to be constantly surrounded by people better than him to grow as a musician.

“I want to get better every day. I want to be challenged. That’s the dream.”

🧩 8. Philosophy & Inspiration

• Music, to Genova, is about connection, transformation, and joy.

• Aims to provide others with the same comfort, inspiration, and energy music gave him growing up.

• Sees music as a universal language that transcends backgrounds, cultures, and struggles.

“Music gave me something to fall back on. I want to pass that on to others.”

• Encourages others to:

  • Believe in themselves, even if no one else does.

  • Go for their dreams, no matter how wild they seem (he went from “closet to NASA” in 18 months).

  • Be willing to be cringe and go against the grain.

📱 Where to Follow Genova

• Instagram: @genova.music
  → All music, mixes, content, and updates linked in his bio.

• YouTube: Full-length DJ sets and exclusive content.

• Spotify & SoundCloud: Tracks and upcoming releases.

💬 Notable Quotes

“The universe told me that music is where I’m meant to be.”

“We might lose the imperfections that make dance music magical.”

“Be willing to be cringe. Be your biggest cheerleader. That’s how I got to NASA. That’s how I’ll go beyond.”

[Darran]
Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of the DJ Sessions presents the virtual sessions. I’m your host Darren and right now I’m sitting in the virtual studio Washington and coming with me from not too far away in Seattle, Washington. We have Genova coming in.

How’s it going today?

[Genova]
Good. How are you Darren? It’s good to see you.

[Darran]
I’m good. Good to see you again We’ve met a few months ago Maybe about a month month and a half ago something like that and you know Good friend of yours you came highly recommended and wanted to get you on the show as quick as it could before you blow up You know, so, uh, you know, you have a you Unusual background, you know how you got kind of into You know the music industry the music business because you really you know, you didn’t start out really that way you You’re kind of like one of those rocket scientist guys, aren’t you?

[Genova]
yeah, that’s a good way to put it like A couple years ago what? Flashback 2020 I just started going to the University of Washington and I was super interested in the space industry But it was like coronavirus is just kind of weird and so I ended up Actually dropping out of school and I moved in with my sister and I lived in her closet for about six months trying to figure out like what I was gonna do with my life and She kind of told me like hey man at some point like you got to get out of here and like kind of you know Figure it out. And so I decided I was gonna go back to school and I was like, you know what?

I am going to I’m gonna work at NASA by the time I graduated told my family that I told Everyone around me that and they just kind of looked at me crazy Like I was a college dropout living in a closet like I hadn’t done anything but I Put my nose down worked really hard and I ended up working on the spacesuit team down in Houston Johnson Space Center and that really felt like Like that is what I wanted to do.

That is what I felt like was Like the thing to do For my life like I felt like I found my dream job and then I showed up and it was like wow This is actually not what I want to do. But the whole time Like even going back to like when I was a kid like music has always been in my life and I found myself like looking back like there were days where I was opening Ableton like at NASA because I didn’t have enough to do and I was making music and I was throwing parties for the interns every weekend. I would throw two or three events I would DJ Adam and that was when I was kind of starting to figure out like hey I kind of like doing this But I didn’t really know how to like make a career out of it and then I realized like oh like producing and like making my own music is how you actually like level up the next stage, so That and I really only started producing like consistently like about a year ago and Only like full-time for probably like three four months now But in progress being made and it’s a new adventure for sure definitely different than the college and engineering path that I was on but this is you know, I thought it was engineering but The universe told me that music is where where I’m meant to be so

[Darran]
You know and and and how was that?

[Genova]
transition going from NASA engineer to artists Going back to school for that or did you end up just so so I went to NASA last spring of 2024 I was there and I was kind of having trouble. I was like, oh my god, like in my head I was like ever, you know, this is what I should be doing like this, you know But it doesn’t feel right and I didn’t really know and then I went to Europe After I finished that internship with my best friend and I remember I went to a specific Club in Barcelona It’s the name is escaping me at the moment. Opium.

Yeah, it was opium Okay, I’m in Barcelona and that was when I was like, oh my god like I didn’t even realize like a you could make music like that and be that people are going to move to it and Like the whole rest of the trip I was like Couldn’t stop thinking about I couldn’t stop thinking about like how do they make that music? Like how do they how do they do that? How do I like end up?

How do I end up? Playing at this spot that I just went to So I kind of got hooked, but I didn’t really you know know how to get there And I went back for my senior year of college. I finished up my degree and the whole time You know, I was applying to jobs, but when I wasn’t applying to jobs or doing schoolwork I was just making music like and then it was just like I couldn’t find a job in Engineering or business or anything and I was just like, you know what like I’m just gonna figure I’m gonna figure this out.

Like I spent all my time doing this. I might as well just give this all of my effort and energy and Now here we are and how old are you? 23 23 graduated from UW I Actually was very from University of Arizona State Mention that yeah, I transferred to Arizona State.

I didn’t even go back to Washington.

[Darran]
So Well, that’s not a bad city town fun party place to Know that it’s not 118 degrees.

[Genova]
It was great, man I mean, I like I DJed up in Scottsdale for a couple months Yeah, and I you know, I was in a fraternity to all the parties and stuff at house parties That’s where I kind of like fell in love with the DJing thing But it was like if that’s where I quickly learned like when I was in high school I was in Scottsdale was like there’s a super hard cap to just being a DJ like ever like there I knew so many people that had a board I knew so many people that knew how to use one effectively and like find good music but it was just natural like my Characteristic of myself is like I’m always trying to be a little bit different than the people around me Like even though I was a kid like my family. I would refuse to eat chocolate just because My family really liked chocolate.

I would just that that was the reason like And even like in college, it was like everyone’s DJ and well, I want to like make the music that they DJ because I just realized like You know going to a festival. It’s like who’s the people who are playing the big stages, bro They’re not just some what they’re not, you know, some local DJ Usually they’re usually have like their own music and their own style and their taste and they’re confident and how they present that so

[Darran]
You know you mentioned of seeing the big people the festivals there’s something that’s it’s kind of a One out in the industry and I’ve heard this now You so I was surprised I hadn’t heard it before I heard it talked about before In the past, but you see these big shows now and I know why it’s happening people know why it’s happening DJs behind the scene know why it’s I mean everyone knows why it’s happening But maybe the consumer doesn’t really understand what’s happening is you see these DJs DJing these huge large-scale events They’re not wearing any headphones Or I saw a video the other day on meta and the DJ is Doing this to the boards up in front of thousands and thousands and thousands of people and they just making it He’s not he’s not doing anything And these DJs I don’t know if they’re getting called out for this now Or I mean did there was it was a pretty big parody piece on the gentleman that did this is like But everyone knows you can’t do a live set to a big Orchestrated production like that because one mix the lights are all time and everything’s all time it’s our full orchestrated performance, you know, and But the thought is this is that is it disenfranchising the actual audience? Because really somebody’s just they’re not even really probably hitting the play button It’s an audio engineer that has everything queued up.

It goes play Mm-hmm and Paris Hilton used to get torn up for this not that I’m back in Paris Hilton or anything But you know, she had a ghost DJ would be down below doing what was going on You know while she was playing and now these big artists are just doing it and people are paying hundreds of dollars More than that sometimes go see these shows. It’s not like a music artist I mean music artists have been lip-syncing on stage for years people think it’s you can’t dance do all the moves my dad said this to me a long time ago, you can’t dance and do all those moves and have the winded breath and Carry your voice like you do in a studio session. It just isn’t gonna work.

It doesn’t work like that You know and so, you know, what are your thoughts on that? And is it is it disenfranchised in the DJ experience that people are getting this impression that one? DJs don’t mix anymore in a sense of things to Does the DJ even really need to be there?

We’re just gonna hear the music and watch a light show And three is it setting the groundworks up for almost AI for somebody say why am I gonna pay a DJ look that person isn’t even Doing it. There’s hit and play. Why can’t I just hit play over here in a club and make a nice visual experience and Bye.

Bye DJ You know, what are your thoughts on that? I think it’s a now.

[Genova]
I mean you’re coming in here 23 35 years I mean, I think Like for me personally, it is a little bit like When they aren’t like live mixing, it’s like as somebody who like DJs and mix their own music It is a little bit like alright, like why are we doing this? But like for 95% of the people there, they don’t even understand what’s going on and I think that something that I’ve been thinking about recently is that not just in music But in general like there’s gonna be probably this big cultural divide of people who will go to AI Services versus human things so like there might in the future be like these AI basically festivals Where it’s just like in artificial intelligence is like doing everything and they have their artificial artists, right But then there’s also gonna be the human ones where like these human DJs are still around and stuff or that could be like a lawn Business or something like do you go to the AI one or do you go to the human one, you know, and I think Part like the biggest thing about these artists is the emotional connection that they give to people Like their music is being played like in the car or at the gym or while they’re doing their work like their music is like Everywhere for these people. So when they see it live It’s more just about the feeling and the experience and like wow, I’m getting like experience at live I’m not gonna say that I will endorse like the whole pre-recorded stuff I think it’s like pretty hilarious When or it’s just like it feels like pretty human like I was at a club like on the last weekend and like the opener like Mess something up and it’s just like everyone’s like ah, and then it’s just like whatever like it isn’t that big of a deal Like I think that by having these Festivals like so curated and so perfect You might be taking a little bit away from like magic of like You know like dance music culture like kind of grew up like these underground illegal parties where it’s like people are like bootlegging stuff and like with jerry-rigging speakers and You can still find these events, you know But I feel like that that’s like the heart of dance music and a little and like by kind of removing like the imperfections of it It’s kind of like I Think it’s missing the point just a little bit But you know, here’s the thing too Is it like usually like the biggest DJs in the world like they’ll probably get the transitions right like 95 98 percent of the time and I think that like messing up It’s like the whole idea of like messing it up or like having the queue go wrong It’s like oh my god, like it’s gonna the world’s gonna end. Honestly. I don’t think so I think people will probably do the festival is gonna be fine.

It will be fine

[Darran]
You know, you would think that if a DJ said look this is my rider You want me to play but I want to play a real live set I’m sure that’s conversations happened in the background said we can’t do a live set one if you do mess up You have 200,000 people that are gonna boo you be pissed off talk about it social media PR nightmare For our event if it’s a side stage, that’s one thing We’re talking like tomorrowland the EDC, you know these huge shows where you know Is there? Did they even curate the tracks?

You know, you got performance rights you got to pay on those tracks they paid Money to for all those people to come in here Those all those tracks have to be cleared and all that fun stuff the licensing, you know of all that, you know It’s just it’s interesting that you know The I wouldn’t it’s not the gentrification of a culture the assimilation of a culture and people say rave culture is not I saw something recently that rave culture what’s perceived as rave culture was actually what rave culture was a Completely against when I was going to raise as a kid we were against the establishment against these were underground parties or unheard of parties or parties of one of got that the police force the city that they went into they didn’t know how to deal with these and they were Bree and branded as Drug dens and drug this and the guy came up and made the anti Oh God What was the name of not the anti rave law? But it was basically like the law that said if a building owner If somebody was dealing drugs in a building that was hosting a rave Basically, then the building owner would share in the charges of the drugs being dealt there and like I just rented in the building They said they were holding a music event I didn’t know and you bust somebody for drugs and now I’m going to jail for it to try to make it so Places wouldn’t rent out which then forced these places to go into underground warehouses or garages or you know Parks or way out in the middle of nowhere to throw these renegade events But they’re not renegade anymore and you’re compared I have no I understand the money mechanism I’m not knocking any one organization out there But is it really rave culture of what it was back there? Of course not and that’s that happens with any genre it gets picked up by corporate and now it’s like here you go Here’s your pass for 350 bucks a day. Oh, here’s your bottle of water for 15 bucks.

Oh, here’s your slice of pizza for you know 25 bucks and you’re trapped in here all day long And all night long to watch the event you can’t go in and out Yeah, my type of festival that I love going to that. I’ve had a great time. That is when it’s all-inclusive Yeah, you can walk into your can’t eat while you’re at campsite.

You watch the event you you’re hungry You go back to your campsite you eat you walk in you’re up on that You can do what you want. You’re inclusive to everything You don’t have to pay for that extra thing is all with the ticket that you bought, you know You know or you’re paying, you know camping this kind of camping and this kind of camping but you’re all still in the event you know, I think that’s that’s more of a festival to me than what other people might call a festival or Rave style event, but you know, you can’t really go backwards in time unless you’re Marnie McFly and go back to the good old days You know, but yeah, it brings up a good point is where is this gonna go is are they gonna start creating? Rooms that hey, we don’t have to put DJs in this room.

No, it’s gonna be an AI Environment it’s gonna go with the mood of the people and then it’s gonna throw up different artworks and do different light shows And maybe that AI tent or whatever it is is sent to venue to venue to venue to venue and tours as This and the tracks being curated. Could they be AI generated to? And made right there on the fly.

So the users never gonna get the same experience, you know that’ll be interesting but More back on the real side of living Element of DJing and producing what gives you the inspiration to DJ? What I mean, I know you mentioned you went to the club in Barcelona and and you know You were DJing in Scottsdale and through college. But what what really what would be the number one thing that really?

Says I’m Jenova and I want to This inspires me to do this. What is that?

[Genova]
I think What it was? Was just the the ability to like transcend to people and connect emotionally with people I and My like one thing that I’ve always wanted to do for people is like how can I provide the most amount of value to people? Like ever since I was a kid I’ve always like kind of looked for like that angle like how can I do that for people and I think that like music offers a Incredibly unique Avenue to do that and then it allows you to like connect emotionally with people and resonate with them on a on a different level then almost anything else like music is like Everyone listens to music Everyone has music in their life in one way or another if someone’s been Like you have picked up a musical instrument at some point you listen to music it.

It’s a part of every culture in the world and The ability to like share music with people in Like connect with them on that level. I think is just Like it’s an ultimate tool it’s the ultimate way to like spread like good emotion to people to and like give them experiences that they remember and like want to talk about with their friends and Like, you know No matter how hard your day is like you can always listen to your favorite artists now You can all or even like back in the day like you can still listen to your favorite artists You know in your Walkman now, you can listen on Spotify like just like do you say Walkman?

That’s what my parents use man, that’s how they listen to music back in the day You got a Walkman or did you have a disc man? I think it was a Walkman Or CD Regardless regardless I think the Though the what music has always done for me is like it always gave me something to fall back on me when I had nothing else and I want to Pass that on to other people with the music that I make and give them experiences that they remember and that they You know will cherish and make memories too because that’s what music’s done for me. And I just I want to get back Absolutely.

[Darran]
If you who is your favorite? DJ slash producer or if you want to separate the two you could do that But most of them are now producers nowadays, who’s your favorite DJ producer and tell us why?

[Genova]
I Mean at the beginning when I first fell in love with dance music It was Tiesto just because I like saw him at a festival and that was like the first festival I ever went to he was like the best artist. I didn’t even know who he was before that I you know, I’m serious I had never heard of dance music until one day my friend randomly pulled me to a festival And I didn’t really know what was going on. I walked over to the dubstep stage by accident and it was just kind of like It was just like oh and Then I went over to the main stage saw Tiesto and was like wow, this is awesome.

I want I would like to figure out how to do that and then Over time like as there was more festivals more clubs went and just explored more. I kind of like going to like specific genres and now I would say like my biggest influence and Artists that I like look up to the most and like study his music the most is Max Tyler I Remember the first song that I heard of is was Kiki And I was like wow, this is so cool. And I just like after that I kept listening to all his music and I think the way that he structures his sounds and his arrangement is like super unique and It’s just like it’s like this.

It’s like a different version of tech house But it’s a little more like something a little bit of disco. It’s unique it’s I don’t know it just seems like it’s like one-of-a-kind and Like every time I literally I Remix this stuff every time he drops a new song already remixed London’s on fire. That’s and so I’m dropping that on Friday So, yeah, I would say max just because like Yeah for all the reasons Incredible artist credible mind cool drums cool bass cool sounds and and speaking of dropping tracks you have a new single that’s coming out here and On the 25th, correct?

Yes, sir Yep, some love. Um, I made that one. I Was looking for like I wanted like something like very clubby and I wanted something that’s just kind of in your face and just like Yeah, just kind of like makes you want to just like Don’t know like lose control a little bit like the the like the words are like I don’t want to leave the club I just came to find some love it’s got like this like robotic voice on it just some like cool since since stabs and it’s simple powerful punchy and Yeah Yeah, I remember when I was like, yeah, I just want to make a club banger and I did and I was like wow That’s yeah, that should probably be the next song. I put out.

So did you say you had a title for that already?

[Darran]
Yeah, some love some love some love all right, there we go some love on the 25th July all places Now if you had to take a look at your list of productions that you’ve done so far Which one of those stands out the most to you and why?

[Genova]
I mean right now like I’ve stuff I’ve released or stuff that’s on my like USB That’s a great question because a lot of people think that just like all they think I do is turn on a video camera and Talk to people.

[Darran]
It’s like no, I got a lot of research There’s usually 30 to 40 sometimes 50 hours of work goes in behind the scenes They don’t sometimes understand that artists, you know, I might release one track a month They might have 300 in there in their bookshelf. Well, it’s that reference right behind you Sitting back and it’s like I’m gonna pull this book off the shelf today and open it up and start playing around with this one I’m feeling inspired to do that.

[Genova]
I know I goes running with many irons in the fire at all times You know, I guess I would talk about ones that have been released Okay I think one I think the ones that have been released so I only have one out on Spotify right now and that one is Called bring the bass. Um, I would probably say that one I have a bunch of I have a bunch on SoundCloud, but I think bring the bass because it was the first song That and that’s why it was my first release because I had been making music for like about a year Trying to just I was experimenting with a bunch of different sounds and styles You know, I tried trance. I tried like deep techno.

I tried dubstep. I tried Rhythm I tried Just like each house piano house afro house. You’re like you name it.

I was I probably made at least one song But that song was when I kind of was like, okay, this is like what I’m good at making I understand how to make this I like making it and it sounds good and it also Kind of slots in with like these other types of sounds So I when I made that song it was like, oh my god, like You know, I spent you know I DJed for a year before I ever started like producing and then I started producing and that took like another year before You know, I kind of Stumbled upon like a sound that felt right So, I think that that’s like a very flagship like moment of like Wow, like I finally found something that like I feel like resonates and with myself and other people More so myself than anything to be honest because you know, I make I’ve made so much music It was just like it never sounded good until I was like, wow, this is the first song. I’m actually like this is I’m genuinely like really proud of this song and ever since then like I Make like one or two of those songs a week now where it’s like wow Like I’m like genuinely proud of this song Like I’m not like, you know I’ll pick it apart a little bit just to like make sure that it sounds nice and like that all the sounds are kind of glued together, but I understand now like What these like good songs sound like so and

[Darran]
Do you ever sometimes make music completely out of your own genre that never gets released?

[Genova]
uh, I Mean I did like a dubstep song with my friend like a couple weeks ago and Sometimes I’ll you know experiment with Like new like packs that I’ll find and like try out different sounds but it’s been a minute since I made like a totally new out of Out of my genre thing because I’m just trying to hone in on this genre right now to like get my pocket of like this is like This is my sound so that I become attractive to like labels Festivals this on the other because they’re like, okay, we know this kid is kind of in this realm. We kind of know where to we kind of know what he’s gonna bring to the table and then You know not to say I’m not experimenting within that genre and that mode though like today I made a track that was like definitely a little bit experimental With like the sounds that I usually use or like the arrangement that I usually use But it’s just like I Think that that’s like the I think that that’s the true thing It’s like now that I have a sound like experimenting within that sound So yeah, it’s been a minute since I’m hit a rhythm song to answer the question

[Darran]
No, it’s all good. You know, sometimes artists, you know, they do experiment with other genres just to kind of See where it’s at or again. They might have had Artists on the show before and they’re like, oh, yeah, sometimes I Explore with drum and bass or you know, I’ll do dubstep or some rhythm stuff, you know on the side just to play around with it but You know or or they’ll have I’ve had artists in the show 15 different aliases, you know and nobody knew who the alias was It’s just I release under this I release this under this name this under this name this under this name, so I don’t The loop my overall brand of who I am, you know, it’s kind of crazy It’s it’s just how that all goes You know, I can see the pros and cons with that you know if You mentioned earlier that you did or you just released a remix or you’re releasing a remix Do you ever participate in remix competitions?

And then do you feel those are good or bad for new talent?

[Genova]
I’ve never participated in one so I can’t directly speak on if it’s gonna be good or bad. I think my overall thoughts are like It can’t hurt to try it. But at the same time, I Mean I’m doing I’m doing a like a quote-unquote remix challenge for myself like every week Like I’ll find a new song and challenge myself to remix it in like a day.

So like That’s kind of how I operate that’s like what I’ll do so like yeah, I’m doing remix challenges, but they’re just for myself Maybe you know, that’s just who I am Like I’m not somebody that needs like a competition to kind of like, you know Kick me in the butt and like get going But for some people like it might you know, that might be the secret sauce dude like you might be like hey, I want to enter this competition they get the Juice to like go out and make it and who knows maybe I could be the same way.

[Darran]
I haven’t done it yet But I would say that you know It can’t hurt like why not Switching gears over to more of the DJ aspect of the business, you know, what what’s a current track that you current? What’s a track you currently play and and and why do you play it and describe in detail? Like why is it such a great production for you to choose not one of your own?

[Genova]
Um That’s a good question. What is a track that I play a lot recently? I Would say There’s a song called dolly.

I yo mommy by Kelland and it’s got this like kind of weird like I don’t even know like I kind of understand like what he’s saying, but like it’s just like a classic like kind of dance like bass tech house song where it’s like You don’t really understand what the guy is saying, but it’s like it’s super punchy It’s super danceable and like even though you don’t really know what the guy is saying It’s like the house music thing where it’s like it’s repeated enough that and you kind of know when it’s gonna come That on the dance floor you’re like, uh, you can kind of like sing along with it even just a little bit I Think that that’s like a super fun. Those tracks are super fun where it’s like you start out not really knowing What’s going on or like how to like sing along to it? Maybe even dance to it, but by the time the second drop comes along You know, you kind of you you’re familiar with the song.

You’re like, okay, like I know what I’m doing now And I think that that is kind of the essence of house music And that’s why I really like that song because it’s like it’s very much in my vein of like powerful punchy groovy club music and Just like super clean production nice bass sounds good drums so And got that got that like little sing-along element that I think is super important

[Darran]
Nice, if you could pick one city to play in around the world Where would you want to travel to where would you want to go and play in that city? And say this is my dream to play here or I could be nightclub slash City.

[Genova]
I think Geez, I mean I have to go with Barcelona just because of how much Impacted that City had on my life and that’s just whole experience. I mean, you know, my artist name is Jenova I think playing in the city of Genoa Italy would be pretty cool. I can’t lie.

I think that that would be pretty funny But Barcelona is gonna be my favorite city when I play there for sure Do you have any bad habits that are beneficial to your career? in terms of like Just like lifestyle bad habits. You could be anything anything that it actually Helps it looks like I do this, but I did it actually helps my career I think one of my bad habits is that like I am always like really really hard on myself like I’ve always been that way and I’m always just like pushing myself and Just like thinking like okay, like I can do more like what else can I do?

Like even yet like take for instance like yesterday like I I finished two songs. I filmed like five six pieces of content and like set I like scheduled out all the content as well and then I did a bunch of like outreach to people and then you know, I looked at my analytics because that’s what I usually do that on Mondays kind of took notes on them and You know, I worked for you know the whole day And at the end of the day, I was still like I feel like I could have done more And I think that it’s like it really keeps me going and that like I’m able to like self motivate like really really easily But at the same time there’s definite days where it’s like I’m too hard. I’m probably too hard on myself So it’s a blessing and a curse like that’s what allowed me to get To like even to NASA like that’s how I got there was by just being like I’m not doing enough every day And so yeah, it allowed me to it allowed me to achieve my goals and allowed me to achieve my goals in the same space but You know Definitely like, you know, my family sees it too The people around are like, okay like Do you think you ever can take the foot off the gas? It’s like yes and no, but

[Darran]
No, you know I can relate to that I have my own team have come back to me over the years and I’ve said Darren how You seem like you’re going a million different directions at once and You know, the only way we’re really communicating as a group is through discord and so they see me doing like a million miles a minute doing stuff like Some people said can’t you just pick one thing and focus on that and go with that and I started my friend the other day And I’m like, you gotta understand all of this is under the umbrella of putting all this together You know and most people understand I get to do this in a capacity That’s 7 a.m. Till 6 p.m Five days a week, you know, I try to take my weekends off I do try to get back to I’ll answer emails and stuff sometimes on the weekends and stuff But typically I’m just I’ve learned a pattern myself My bad habit was just like you’re putting too much into the burning too many iron putting too many irons in the fire at once And not taking time for my personal self my personal health and growth, you know, just take a break back Hey, you know what that goes in the idea that goes in the notes that that email it is kind of Let’s get let’s just answering some emails really isn’t that bad when you get a hundred and fifty emails a day, though Yeah, you got to clean that thing out because by Monday you got 450 emails to go through At least I do and I’m like if I don’t stay on top of them, you know and sort it out and make sure it’s all Organized, you know, I think organization is my key thing, but you know, it’s uh, I can get overwhelming, you know And then the burnout happens, you know Unfortunately, so I could totally relate to that You know, where do you envision yourself Say ten years from now. Where is Genova gonna be as an artist musician?

Is your artist as Genova?

[Genova]
I Mean ultimate goal has always been to You know, not only have like have my own like record label and also like music like performance and group basically so like what like we sign artists and then we go out and like do performances together or like we distribute music and like it the whole goal is to connect with people musically and to find people that are in the somewhat similar vein to me to bring them in and like have it be like a Little bit of a family. I don’t know what the labels name is gonna be yet But just you know continuing to make music continuing to you know travel play for people and Continue to like give positive experiences because I think now more than ever like offering emotional connection to people is a huge huge thing with you know in some ways the only thing that separates a human from a computer now is an emotional connection like the ability to foster emotional connection and so I think You know right now. I’m making like these deep club tracks and how like, you know Really learning how to like synthesize music and make good music that really slaps in You know clubs and this and the other but I think you know ten years from now You know when I’m playing bigger festivals and playing for more people I think making somewhat more emotional and melodic music is where I want to be to really hit that like you know emotional resonance piece with people because I Mean that’s the ultimate goal is to just give people, you know, a feeling of like euphoria and happiness and you know create those memories for people and so that’s where I would want to be, you know running a great label filled with great people and Distributing music making sure that people are getting paid the right ways having a good team Playing cool events with those same people and then you know learning from those other artists that I’m surrounded by on how to make Even better music because music is the one thing where it’s like I Want to get better at it every day I want to be challenged or want to be surrounded by people who are better at it than I am because that will push me to great greatness every single day, you know and so That’s where I really want to be just surrounded by People who do the same thing as me and do it better than me so that I can learn from them

[Darran]
Absolutely, no, that’s that was one of the founding Pivotal founding mission statements of the DJ sessions which came out of my broadcast series ITV was to work with independent artists and businesses and Never wanted to own anyone never want to be somebody’s manager But give them something where they can use us as a stepping stone or something to put in their arsenal say look I was on this show.

I was on this series, you know, I’ve gotten press, you know It’s not just we’re going after the elites and the a-list people You know and try to play in that realm or the red carpet stuff We want to talk to people on the ground. I mean, I’ve had artists on the show that were pretty much Nobody’s now they’re playing stages in front of 200,000 people, you know That is just you know, seeing that that pathway go up over the years. You never know who’s gonna be that next person You know, it’s kind of really awesome to see that, you know after all of this though after you’re done doing the music all day Like what do you prefer doing when you’re taking a break from DJing and producing?

What’s the what’s your go-to? Like, what do you do after you know, I know you got it. You got a cat right?

You say you got a cat, right? I Was good.

[Genova]
I was getting my charger. There’s cats in my house right now I’m just crashing with my parents until So until I get my career going exactly how for myself Then they’re done that don’t worry about no shame You know what? I feel like that that’s every good story, right?

You probably started out in the basement doing you know, some I’ve had everything and gone back to the basement had to come out of the basement So it’s just part of it man, and when why any other way? But when I’m not like working on my business, I always go to the gym I go to the gym every day because I think taking care of my physical and mental health is it’s super Pivotal to it. I meditate every morning.

I like doing that Get home I like cooking Go on walks too, but honestly like most of the time like right now like I’m just obsessed with like Making better music and figuring out how to get it in front of people and how to connect with people Emotionally through my music and also my content, too and You know, I think that Like as my career grows, I’ll probably have time But I’ve always been someone who becomes obsessed with things like I became obsessed with the space industry and became Just so like hyper focused on you know getting better at that sort of stuff all the time Like I joined rocket clubs.

I joined I was a space ambassador for the University, you know I joined a satellite club I was just trying to surround myself and be involved in that environment so that like The things that I was doing like my life was just built around this one thing. So it never really felt like Like all the things that I was my hobbies were like centered around that I centered around that idea and that Like a vision and so that’s usually how I structure my life But the one thing I’ve all it like sports in the gym have always been consistent, you know I’ll watch, you know the finals when they’re on Or just you know, hang out with my family maybe play some golf shoot some pool, but yeah, I mean No, but I mean, but I have so much fun doing what I do that. It’s like, all right, like This is good.

[Darran]
Mm-hmm Awesome, you know, we also are gonna be treated to an exclusive mix from you on our show We’ll be getting that up here on our site and everything looking forward to getting that from you Is there anything else you want to let our DJ sessions fans know about before we let you go?

[Genova]
I just I think just thank you for coming. Thank you for watching and I’m just excited for the journey that I have ahead and seeing where it goes and I’m you know You guys came early you got to see me before You know bigger things happen and you know for that I’m forever grateful forever appreciative And I think the biggest thing I can leave you with is even if you don’t do music if you never like listen to me again, whatever Just have the strength to believe that you can figure out what you want to do You know, you can if you put your vision your mind your focus Towards one thing you can make it happen. That’s how I went from linen closet to NASA in 18 months and That’s how I’m gonna go from you know, college graduate to who knows and what amount of time it’s just be willing to be cringe be willing to Go against the grain and do what feels right to you because it will be so fulfilling and rewarding when you get there and Never you always have time you always have time to pivot but the biggest thing is like be your biggest cheerleader like Not many people are gonna believe in you so you might as well believe in yourself at all times

[Darran]
Absolutely. Those are good good words to live by good good inspirational words to live by Where is the best place people can go to find out more information about you and what you got going on?

[Genova]
The best place you can find all my stuff is at my Instagram Genova Genova dot music I got post on my content there You can find the links to my Spotify and SoundCloud in my link tree there You can also my youtube where I post full-length mixes as well like the one that I have given DJ sessions so that’s really cool and Yeah, my sound you can find all the ways to listen to me and watch my content through my Instagram and Yeah, I hope you come by tune in. It’s fun time and Yeah, that’s all I got Awesome.

[Darran]
Well, thank you very much for coming on the show today. Pleasure having you We are definitely to be following up with you in your career as you grow Genova. Thanks for coming on the DJ sessions today Thanks for having me.

[Genova]
I really appreciate it

[Darran]
You know on that note don’t forget to go to our website the DJ sessions calm find us on all the socials out there and There’s so much more at the DJ sessions calm you have over 600 news stories 2600 past episodes Exclusive mixes our store right there the DJ sessions calm if you’re watching this I use your phone take the QR code take a snapshot Find out everything and more at the DJ sessions calm if you want to donate to us That’s great the donations of day you can get some cool merch how we got a new music store that I’m sorry music Section music section can’t say store or not in that business yet But you can go out and check out tracks by producers up-and-coming and some very well-known names Here soon and at the DJ sessions calm and if you are into VR Check us out in VR chat with our VR nightclub called beta pretty badass experience going in there and having some fun there But this is Darren and that’s Genova coming in from Seattle, Washington both of us. I’m in the virtual studios.

He’s in his virtual Studio as well or the DJ sessions presents the virtual sessions and remember on the DJ sessions the music never stops