Raphaella: Holler At Me, Female Producers, and Musical Identity on the Virtual Sessions 10/11/23

Raphaella: Holler At Me, Female Producers, and Musical Identity

 

In this vibrant Virtual Session, The DJ Sessions host Darran Bruce welcomes London-based singer, songwriter, and producer Raphaella for an inspiring conversation about her creative journey, collaborations, and latest release Holler At Me. From writing her first song at nine years old to teaching herself Logic Pro as a teenager, Raphaella’s path into music has been marked by determination, experimentation, and a love of both songwriting and production.

 

She explains how Holler At Me became a turning point in her career, not only because it was produced entirely by herself, but also because it represents a statement of independence in a male-dominated industry. Wanting her name to be the sole credit on the production, she underscores the importance of female visibility in electronic music and the need to prove that women belong behind the console as much as on stage.

 

The discussion also explores Raphaella’s diverse influences, from Persian roots to R&B icons like Destiny’s Child, and how these blend into her unique sound. She shares stories of working with MK and Sonny Fodera, as well as her debut in drum and bass through a collaboration with Dimension. Beyond her music, Raphaella talks about finding inspiration during spin classes, her definition of success as peer respect and fan connection, and even the quirky story of hearing her track played in an unexpected small English town.

 

From reflections on Nina Simone and James Blake to her dream of building a label supporting female producers, Raphaella emphasizes authenticity, experimentation, and trusting your own instincts as an artist.

 

Show Notes – 

Host: Darran Bruce
Guest: Raphaella
Location: Virtual Studios, Seattle WA & London, UK

 

Overview:
Darran Bruce speaks with Raphaella about her new single Holler At Me, her influences, collaborations, and the importance of female producers being recognized in the electronic music industry.

Topics Covered:

• Early beginnings: writing her first song at nine and discovering Logic Pro 
• Inspiration from R&B classics and Persian-British heritage 
• Story behind Holler At Me and producing it solo as a statement of independence 
• Collaborations with MK, Sonny Fodera, and Dimension 
• Reflections on blending songwriting, singing, and producing 
• Definition of success: peer recognition and fan connection 
• Inspirations from Nina Simone, James Blake, and Fred Again 
• Perspectives on ego, confidence, and learning as an artist 
• Dream event: hosting a massive dance event in Esfahan with Persian culture at its heart 
• Ambition to create a label supporting female DJs and producers 
• Balancing intense studio sessions with spin classes and ballet-inspired fitness 
• Stories of hearing her music unexpectedly played in small-town England 
• Philosophy on experimentation, sound design, and trusting instincts 

Call to Action:
Follow Raphaella on Instagram @raphaellamusic and stream Holler At Me on all major platforms.
Discover more exclusive interviews and live sessions at thedjsessions.com

[Darran]
Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of the DJ Sessions Presents the Virtual Sessions. I’m your host Darran and right now I’m sitting in the virtual studios in Seattle, Washington and coming in all the way from halfway around the world from London. I think you all know that’s in UK, you know, London.

We got Raffaella. Raffaella, thank you for coming on the show today. Thanks so much for having me.

Absolutely. Well, we got a lot of stuff to go over and, you know, it’s your first time being on the show. When did you get started in the music industry?

Did you start at a young age or did you start, like, what age did you start at?

[Raphaella]
I was, like, one of those really annoying kids that basically never stopped singing. I was, like, I just remember, like, the first time it’s, like, really cheesy but the Sesame Street was, like, on and I was obsessed with, like, you know, the intro and I would just sing it everywhere. So, yeah, I’ve just been singing for as long as I can remember and then when I was, like, nine I wrote my first song.

I remember singing Homeless Man for the first time and I was, like, it was the first time that I recognised that something was wrong as a child and I couldn’t understand why everyone was just walking past him. So, when I got home, like, really cheesily, I wrote him a song and then prayed that it would reach him so he felt, you know, loved and, like, that he wasn’t on his own. So, like, that was the first time I felt, like, music was something that could transmit, like, emotion and thought and then, yeah, I started, like, writing and I got, like, a Tascam four-track recorder when I was, like, fourteen.

[Darran]
No, I know those, I know that unit.

[Raphaella]
So, there’s only, like, four channels. So, I would be, like, writing and in my head I was, like, okay, well there needs to be a bass, there needs to be drums, there needs to be all these things but there’s, like, only four tracks. So, we very quickly found out, realised four was never going to be enough for me.

So, I, like, came across this thing at school called Logic and I was, like, wow. It’s, like, my mind was blown. I was, like, are you trying to tell me that you can basically put everything that’s in your head down and then you press play and it plays.

I was mind blown. So, I basically, like, begged my parents because, obviously, I was, like, 15. Please, can you get this for me, like, please?

And they’re, like, we don’t understand what this is. So, I begged and begged and then at Christmas I remember they got it for me and I literally spent hours just, I taught everything myself. I just was, like, what does this do?

What does pan mean? What is this? Like, what is that?

I just spent, like, hours experimenting and then, yeah, that’s kind of how I got into music and I fell in love with the production and, like, the writing and singing, like, the whole, like, shebang and then I did a music degree and, yeah, then met my publisher in my last year of uni and I’ve been signed since.

[Darran]
Nice. It’s funny you bring up that Tascam 4-track because my brothers were musicians when I was a kid growing up and my dad kind of lavished a lot on them in the way of gear and equipment and the Tascam 4-track recorder was one of the first things that they got and a trick that my dad did with more than four tracks was, yeah, you’d make, you’d bounce all four tracks one, then you’d play all four tracks through, put it on one channel, then you have three more tracks to play on.

But then my dad got them an eight-track machine, rack mounds, all this stuff, all this gear. My brothers weren’t really, I wouldn’t say they weren’t illiterate, but they weren’t really technical orientated. So, I’d be in the studio and I’d be reading all the manuals, which at that time, this is the 80s, where things were translated from Japanese into English and they didn’t translate very well.

So, you’re trying to read these instructions on MIDI and all this stuff and I’d get in the studio and they’d get kind of pissed, but then I’d show them, I’d hit these buttons, they’d go, oh, that’s really cool. And so, setting the way forward o’clock to 2005, I actually went to work for Apple and I became a certified trainer in all their pro products and that’s why I really got introduced to Logic. I never touched Logic until, because I wasn’t a music guy, I’m a video production guy.

So, Final Cut Pro, Motion, DVD Studio Pro, all that stuff was my forte, but I got into training on Logic so I could train people on how to use the software, not train them to be a music producer. And that’s when I got into use the sequencer. I mean, it was Logic 7 at that time and then it went to Logic 10.

[Raphaella]
I have a ghost, apparently, because the TV is turning itself on.

[Darran]
You know, the craziest thing happened in my studio, the total side note, I’m sitting here doing some work and I have Netflix just in rotation on the background, it’s just rotating through the slides. And all of a sudden it goes, boom. I’m like, what the hell, I didn’t even touch a button, is there a ghost in the remote?

[Raphaella]
I swear to God, it’s creepy, it’s a freaky one.

[Darran]
Totally creepy. But now you’ve worked with a number of people, we’ll talk about some of your previous collabs, but we want to talk about your new single, Hollow Me. Tell us all about that, what is that, why is that so important?

[Raphaella]
So, I was born in the 90s and so like I grew up with, I basically was obsessed with like R&B, Destiny’s Child, TLC, you know, like literally everything, Omarion, like that for me is like the golden era of music. Well, one of the golden eras of music. So, like, No Scrubs has always been one of my favourite songs.

I just think that the hook is undeniable, like no matter what decade you’re in, that melody is just like wild. And so I basically was like, quite unusually, I didn’t sit down to write or produce for me that day. I was like, I knew I had a couple of sessions coming up in the week, so I kind of prepared some tracks because I was producing for them.

And I was like, you know, I just want to be prepped. And I had like this bass line and like the piano line that I kind of like came up with. And just, I kept singing the hook over and over of No Scrubs.

And I was like, it just feels right. And I was like, you know what, I think I won’t take this into my session. I think I’ll keep this.

And I kind of had like, I kind of wanted it to be like a really fun self-empowerment kind of twist on the original. So like, you know, you can holler at me if you want. And I’m the one with the new car.

You can come, like, you can chill on my passenger side, like if you want. And I kind of just want to see like a cool, fun twist on it. So that’s like the story of it.

Yeah.

[Darran]
Now, but this is an important project for you because this is one that you produced solo, correct?

[Raphaella]
Yeah. Yeah. So I feel like the last few years I’ve been doing lots of collaborations, which is amazing.

I feel like there’s so much fun to do because you can, you’re not like, you know, stuck to one specific lane or genre. And they’ve been like really, really fun to do. And I’ve been collaborating with them and often most of them I’ve either co-produced or I’ve definitely vocal produced them or been on the co-production side.

And I feel like, unfortunately, the world is changing and I’m very happy about it. But there is still, I think, a long way to go in terms of like, in terms of female producers being visually seen, visually heard and being taken seriously. So it’s funny because my name is next to credits as a producer, but when I’m going into places, they’re not understanding I’m a producer.

So for me, I was like, I really want this to be produced on my own all the time. I was like this, I want to literally have no other name, but mine on the production credits. So no one can think that I’ve done a little tinkle of something.

So yeah, I think it for me, particularly as a female in the dance genre was really important because it’s very, we love our dudes, love them very much. But I think it’s quite a male-dominated kind of scene at the moment. So I think it was like, yeah, it was quite important for me just to show that it’s me.

[Darran]
And if you could describe your music in three words, how would you describe the sound? How would you describe it?

[Raphaella]
Oh, okay. Well, I’m, I love words. So three is going to be hard, but let me try.

Okay. Synthy. Alternative.

Synthy, alternative. And I guess, like, well, if there’s a way to describe the fact that I’m Persian and British put together, so.

[Darran]
Purge-ish?

[Raphaella]
Purge-ish, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Darran]
Britch-ish? Awesome. No, I was reading your bio and that you do use those Persian sounds in the back, and this was one of the key things that you say you do.

Now, in addition to that, you’ve worked with a number of artists over the years. Tell us about some of those previous collabs and what one stands out to you the most?

[Raphaella]
I think they all really, really have been, like, really fun and great for different reasons, but I think probably one of them that I think, for me, in terms of, like, the dance. Actually, there’s two. I’m going to start with one.

In terms of, like, the dance kind of scene, and I felt like, I was like, oh, wow, I’m here, like, by accident, in the best way possible, was my collaboration with MK and Sonny Fodera, and it was, like, such a, like, unexpected but fun collaboration. So, me and Sonny, we’ve worked together on, like, a couple of different things before, and Mark, like, came in and, like, just made it amazing, and I was like, wow, this is, like, something I never would have thought to have done, but it was a really cool collaboration to do, and I think kind of set me, I was like, it kind of set me on the path to being in house music, if that makes sense.

[Darran]
I love house music.

[Raphaella]
I love house music, too. I do, I really do. I was like, oh, I didn’t think I knew how much I loved it until I started writing it.

[Darran]
So, you know, go ahead.

[Raphaella]
Oh, no, no, I was the same, and then I think the other one would be, like, my first ever drum and bass track that I did with Dimension. That was, like, the first ever drum and bass song that I’d ever actually been on, and it was, like, when, you know, when you do something for the first time, you’re like, oh, actually, that really works. I think there’s something about my voice on drum and bass that I was like, oh, well, this is an interesting ton of events, and it was really, really fun, and I think I’ve, like, from that specific collaboration that I did with Dimension, I was, like, kind of really growing my love for drum and bass so much.

[Darran]
So, yeah. Nice. Now, producing music, dance music, stands, like, synonymous with spending countless hours behind a computer screen, sculpting the beats, putting it all together, collabing with other people, you know, mastering it, all that fun stuff.

What do you do in your free time to stay fit?

[Raphaella]
That’s a good question, Darran. I actually, do you know what? I go through phases of just being so, so hyper-focused on work, and, like, for example, like, Holler At Me, I probably produced that in one day, but, like, literally, like, a 14-hour strain of, like, just work, and so, like, I’ve been self-enforcing working out in order to break that up and to give me just, like, a new kind of perspective.

So, I really, really love, like, ride classes, so spin. I love and I hate them, and so, while I’m doing them, I’m, like, why am I doing this to myself? This is terrible, and then afterwards, I’m, like, yes, and actually, like, spin classes have been really, really good for dance as well, because you kind of get to know, like, so many new tracks and kind of, and for DJing and stuff, you kind of get to know different edits of things, and what, like, really makes you just, like, the thing I love about music is when it just hits you here and makes you either want to run, want to, like, fly, want to cry, want to just feel human, anything, and so, for me, like, the best kind of place to test that feeling is while you’re spinning. So, that, and then I also love bath, so I used to dance when I was younger, I went to, like, an art school, and bath is, like, a sadistic reminder of my ballet days, so, yeah.

[Darran]
You mentioned finding new tracks and how you can, like, how that helps in your DJ career. How would you define success as a DJ slash producer? Is it a Beatport top 10 hit, a sold-out tour?

What are your thoughts on this?

[Raphaella]
I think it’s changed over time. I think when I first started out, started out in the industry, I was, like, wow, it needs to top 10, you know, like, that, for me, was the pinnacle of success, and to some extent, it probably still is, but I think along the way, I’ve kind of, the things that have become important to me are actually, like, my peers rating stuff that I put out and texting me and being, like, yo, this is sick, like, oh my god, I love this, and for me, I think, like, because I’m so inspired by my friends and by the music that they make, by what they put out and stuff, and so to have, kind of, respect from my peers, I think probably actually means a lot, and also just hearing my stuff out, you know, you’re just somewhere, and then you just hear your song come on. There’s, I don’t think it will ever get old.

[Darran]
And speaking about hearing your music out and about, where’s the most interesting or strangest place you’ve ever heard one of your tracks play?

[Raphaella]
Oh, like, I didn’t hear it played. It was my brother. It’s not even that weird, but for me, it kind of is, you know, the context of, like, England, so my dad is Persian, and he has a Persian car, he’s a Persian carpet expert and dealer, and he has, like, a couple shops in Hampshire, which is kind of, like, South, I don’t know if you know where Hampshire is.

Okay, I’ll break it up. It’s basically, like, it’s South England, and it’s probably, like, the most leafy, you’ll have, like, sheep for neighbours, basically.

[Darran]
Okay.

[Raphaella]
You know, in, like, in many places, and, like, this one specific road, it’s called Stockbridge Road, and it’s, like, it’s so lovely, and it’s really, really quaint, and it’s got such beautiful history, and generally, it’s quite, like, if I say an old town, I don’t mean that in a bad way, but the general age of the population is slightly older, and so, like, my brother was down there, because he works in the family business, and he was, like, you know, one of the shops, and he just came out just to get some, like, some air, and a car drove past, and it was blaring my song, Like You Do with DoD, and he was, like, this is so random, of all the places, Stockbridge, that will be, like, blaring out, like, Like You Do, like a, like, a dance record, so, yeah, probably, probably there.

[Darran]
Were you getting radio play at that time, or do you think it was somebody maybe listening on Spotify, or?

[Raphaella]
I did get radio play, but this was, like, a couple of weeks ago, so this song came out last year, so it was definitely one in that Spotify library.

[Darran]
Nice, nice.

[Raphaella]
I listened, which was nice, yeah.

[Darran]
You know, I was wondering, you mentioned your peers, and getting feedback from your peers. Are you planning to go to ADE this year?

[Raphaella]
Not this year.

[Darran]
Okay.

[Raphaella]
But probably next year, because I’ve got so much stuff coming with release, and I’m, like, so, yeah, I will be there in spirit.

[Darran]
Awesome, yeah, we’re going again this year. It’s kind of a staple of our thing to do. We went for, I went for the first time last year, going to Europe for my first time last year.

It was just amazing, beautiful city, but you mentioned peers, and I didn’t know if you do a lot of connecting in person, or, because everything’s gone online now. You can produce tracks, you can produce that with somebody halfway around the world.

[Raphaella]
Yeah.

[Darran]
I mean, it’s been that way for probably a while now, but.

[Raphaella]
No, no, it’s true, and I feel like some of the ones that I, some of the collabs I did, I had a track out with Bredo, that I did with Bredo in America, and we did that, actually, in the middle of lockdown, and so we did it online. Like, we’re just flying parts back and forth to each other, and it was just super fun. I think it, like, opens your, opens your mind to a different possibility, and a different style of working.

I feel like both are amazing, but I really do love being in the room with people, and writing, and producing, like, collaboratively together, but it’s great. I mean, like, there’s been so many tracks that I’ve done, and I’ve never, we’ve not even ever met. I’ve, like, before I played Brixton Academy with MK for New Year, the fateful 2020 New Year’s Eve party, where we were like, this is gonna be the best year ever, and it really was.

I didn’t age well.

[Darran]
I know that feeling.

[Raphaella]
We’d never met. We’d never met before.

[Darran]
Oh, wow.

[Raphaella]
So, it’s, it’s, like, really, I think the, I think the internet and technology is, it’s absolutely incredible what you can do, and how you can connect with people.

[Darran]
Absolutely. I’ll go ahead.

[Raphaella]
Yeah, it’s, I mean, we’re doing it right now.

[Darran]
Well, that was the whole thing, is a lot of our stuff, I like doing in-person interviews. Think about doing a lot of red carpet interviews, meet and greet with the celebrities, or the artists backstage. We have a mobile studio that we can pull up.

It’s a big glass box in the back of a truck that we pop up in front of the nightclubs and do our interviews there, but, you know, everyone thought I was crazy for doing this online live streaming show. They’re like, who’s gonna want to watch a DJ online? I’m like, well, we’re doing, you know, it’s taking a radio show, and basically adding video element to it.

[Raphaella]
Yeah, that’s true.

[Darran]
And if you see some of our first episodes, and how technology has progressed over the years, I mean, I’m like, that’s what our shows look like, and people thought they were good. Like, whoa. I mean, the quality, the bandwidth wasn’t there.

[Raphaella]
Well, even, like, creating. I remember, like, a couple of years ago, before the Zoom, before Zoom completely blew up and, like, like, wildfire across the world, I remember trying to, like, create, like, make beats over Skype.

[Darran]
Wow. Yeah, that, yeah.

[Raphaella]
I mean, you still have a lag in Zoom, but at least you can share, you can screen share.

[Darran]
Yeah.

[Raphaella]
You’ve got, like, so many, I think the audio quality, too. We use audio movers. Well, like, so I vocal produced the Little Mix album, like in lockdown, Confetti, and we were doing it through, through, like, audio movers, and the quality was unbelievable.

So that is a really amazing tool as well. So you’re right, it’s, like, completely changed.

[Darran]
Well, I probably, I probably, unless you came to the States, and unless you came to Seattle, Washington, I never would have had this interview with you. Sure. You know, and that opened up the world is, like, our, our shtick when 2020 hit, you know, Pandy, and I, everybody from the number one, what?

[Raphaella]
It’s the Pandy D.

[Darran]
Yeah, I call it Pandy of, yeah, but the number one DJ in the world to a DJ who never thought, somebody who never ever thought of DJing.

[Raphaella]
Yeah.

[Darran]
Everyone jumped online and started doing that music production online.

[Raphaella]
Yeah.

[Darran]
But because nobody could go anywhere, and they didn’t know the technology they did. It was just them. I called 2020 the look at me year when it comes to the internet.

Look at every post on social media. I’m going live. I’m going live.

I’m going live. I’m like sitting there going, okay, I think I need to reinvent my brand. I think I need to reinvent something and do something different.

We found a way to actually still do events here in the States because our state was on total lockdown, because we do what’s called silent discos.

[Raphaella]
Oh, that’s so cool.

[Darran]
Yeah. Silent discos are fun. So we found a way that we could go out to a park.

We could stream live from the park. I put a six foot barrier around us because you’d have two people in a park, put a six feet barrier around us. And then I’d slide the headsets across the table, six feet to the person who could pick up the headsets.

Then they could go social distance out in the park, but they can still have a collaborative music experience, social distancing in the park.

[Raphaella]
That was a great idea.

[Darran]
Yeah. We tried to get it approved by the state, the city, the health department, everything, because we were considered an essential business that could be still simply open because we’re a media service and we did live streaming media services. So that was kind of interesting.

It wasn’t a loophole. Everyone thought we were kind of breaking the rules and breaking the, I’m like, no, we’re following every protocol you can down the line. So it was kind of really cool doing that.

But then I started getting heavily more into doing the interviews online with the DJs. And at one point we were sending out, this is 2022, I started sending out, I was sending out like 40 emails a week. I had my virtual assistant send out 40 emails a week.

And I was like, okay, I’m hitting about six to eight interviews a month. And 2020, April, 2022 comes around. I go, let’s step that up to 300 emails a week and see what happens.

And I think that was April, we started sending those emails. In May, I think I had 57 interviews. June, I had 49 interviews.

I was booking so many interviews. I was so going crazy that I came back and in August, I made a set schedule. I said, I’m doing two interviews a day, Monday through Wednesday.

And then I added Thursday in there and kind of just set this pattern up. And then that led up to ADE. And then I have kind of been on a break since then because I moved and everything into a new place.

And it’s like, let me get the dust settled. But technology, again, has made it so easy to collaborate. I can now talk to people in Japan.

I can talk to people in Buenos Aires. I can talk to people in London, talk to people in Germany. I can talk to people in New York.

And it just, it’s really awesome utilizing that. And again, changing it. We didn’t change the format.

We still focus on the music, but we’re really heavily on getting to know the artist and staying in contact with that artist and watching their career develop over time. It’s really a fun thing. Is there something you’d like to say to new and up and coming producers to watch out for when it comes to making their career successful?

[Raphaella]
I think the most important thing is trusting yourself, like trusting your gut. Because for me, it took me a long time to do that. And I think for me, when you produce, it is such a, from your brain and your soul, on to, into sound, there is, there’s such an identity there, that for me, like, it’s so easy to listen to, obviously, you should learn and keep your brain open and listen to criticism.

But I think particularly like, you know, as a young producer, and for me, with my personal experience as a young female producer, I think I, it’s very easy, people are always trying to tell me what I should sound like, and try and do it for you. And actually, the biggest thing that I learned was, no one is going to create my sound better than I can, because it’s literally in my brain. So why should you go through other means to other people to then get to what you actually what you’re hearing in your head.

So I think really trust yourself and don’t be scared to experiment. I literally put the most random, I put like a, I put like a pedal that should not be put on a profit synth, but I will, because I think it sounds really cool. So don’t like be bogged down and think, oh, I shouldn’t do this, because that technically isn’t correct.

Obviously, you need, you know, there’s technicalities to make it sound like a mix sound good. But I think the coolest stuff comes when you just literally experiment, like put the most random stuff, like, I literally open sound toys, and I’m like, Hmm, what can I do today? Like, I just follow your ears, basically, and trust yourself.

And that’s, I think, the most important thing, I think, for a producer is to have like your own distinct sounds like I love artists, and I love producers that when I listen to a piece of music, I’m like, I know that’s them. From that, the second that you hear it, that has, I think, and I think Fred, is doing that really well at the moment as well. He’s sort of just like following his ears instead of what he thinks should be a certain select structure, or this should probably happen now.

And we don’t think we could do that. That’s not allowed. So I think that’s, yeah, trust yourself and have fun and just experiment.

[Darran]
You know, I’ve heard that before about creating your own sound that’s kind of has resonated over time. Because if you do follow the trend, oh, house music is really hot right now. And you’re now you’re a house.

[Raphaella]
Yeah, exactly.

[Darran]
And you kind of pigeonhole yourself as being that house person. And maybe you want to do house, and maybe try some drum and bass. Maybe try some trance, you know, and do that and don’t necessarily follow the trends that are going.

Because by the time it’s already a trend, it’s already kind of done.

[Raphaella]
And I feel like the coolest sounds come from you can hear people’s influences, you can hear what they’ve listened to, you can hear in their music, when you hear something like really, really interesting, you’re like, wow, that sounds different. It’s because you can hear that they’ve listened to so many different things, they’ve immersed themselves in so many different worlds. And I think the coolest stuff comes from an amalgamation of all those experiences.

So yeah, I agree.

[Darran]
And you mentioned what you use the word influence there, who has been your biggest influence when it comes to your career as an artist? And why?

[Raphaella]
Oh, that’s really difficult. I think there have been a couple of people, to be honest with you. I think, like going really, really, really far back.

Nina Simone, I think is one of like, my huge influences, because I just think what she stood for as an artist is universal to genre. And I think what how brave she was as well, to kind of be what she, you know, everything that she wrote, and she stood for was basically like standing against everything that was currently, you know, injustice. And I think her voice as well was so incredible, was so like resonant.

And as like a female, like, that’s amazing. So Nina Simone, I think number one, and then I think, I think Fred again, too. I know, that’s probably like a very, very like obvious 101 answer.

But I think I really, and I know that he’s come from doing stuff like writing for Ed Sheeran, and producing for Ed Sheeran. So I know he’s like very commercial as well. Lots of people don’t actually quite realise that maybe.

But I think the way he’s been able to kind of come through and cut through like as an artist that sounds so different to what we’ve been used to is awesome. And James Blake, as well. I absolutely adore James Blake.

I realised we were in the same, we were at uni at the same time, and I never knew. It’s so sad. He was, he was like, year three, and I was year one.

And I think his, his writing, there’s just so much soul, and so much truth in it. I think that’s the thing that really resonate, resonates with me when I listen to it, because there’s just no filter on what he feels. And I think the music that really, really connects the best is when you feel that there’s that human experience that’s being sent to you.

And you’re like, wow, I’m not alone. Like someone else feels this. So yeah, I think, and I think all those three artists, actually, the one thing is truth.

It’s like a red thread. Yeah.

[Darran]
Okay. Who’s the most inspiring person you’ve ever met backstage? And tell us why this person inspired you?

[Raphaella]
Oh, that’s, that’s a good question. Okay. I think, actually, Martin Solveig.

So I, we recently had a check out together, and I’ve got another one coming out on his album. And I say inspiring, because he was, he’s such a lovely person. And I feel like he has not many, not many, I say not many, it’s unfortunately, not super common.

He, I think, has like a selflessness about him with really loving and protecting and kind of like, really championing young artists and young producers, and giving them sort of like a platform and not being threatened by it. And I think he has such a lovely, like, way of doing that. So he, we met actually, like back in November.

So I say backstage, I say, loose backstage, a backstage in the way of a studio. And we were working with Mark Ralph and Karamani, like Mark Ralph actually did the final mix of Holler at Me. And he is one of the most, Mark Ralph is one of the most incredible producers in the UK, like, I’d say 90% of hit songs that are out currently, he’s had something to do with.

And so we were in the studio together. And me and Martin, just like, we just like hit it off immediately. And he was like, come to Paris, we need to like write more.

And so we went to Paris. And like, my parents, we’re very Persian. So we go often places together.

So my parents like tagged along, because they were like, oh, you’re going to Paris for work? Well, we’ll come for a holiday. So we all had like dinners together.

And yeah, and he was he was so lovely. I actually played him Holler at Me before anyone really heard it. And I was like, nervous.

I was like, what do you think? Do you rate it? And he was like, oh, it’s great.

And he was like, really, really encouraging. And he was like, you know, if you want to collab on stuff like that. He was super, like lovely, and open.

So I think yeah, Martin.

[Darran]
Okay, you mentioned your family and taking them on a trip with you. And you mentioned a little bit earlier on what your father does for a living and your brother actually works. It still works there.

Do you come from a musical family or not necessarily traditional music? I mean, maybe not classically trained, but were they did your parents have an influence on you musically? Or do you feel you kind of did your you mentioned really early on you were singing song right in your first song Sesame Street nine years old?

Or did you just you just ran with it? Or do you feel you came from a musical family and helped encourage that?

[Raphaella]
So I think it definitely was in me from the beginning. I just remember like just having this like, burning passion and just love of music, all things music. But I think I’ve I do come from a very creative family.

So on my mum’s side, my grandparents are both artists. So they met at the Royal College of Art and a different kind of different medium of art, but still creative. And my granddad, he was a stained glass artist.

And he’d like do stained glass artists, but art for churches. And he’d have this big, he had this big studio in a barn, which was basically part of the house. He was like, they have this like big farmhouse, essentially.

And so I remember like, just I actually lived there for the first couple of years of my life. And we’d always go back there for like, you know, for the summers and stuff. And just he would literally blast all types of records.

He was a vinyl collector, and was obsessed. And he was so meticulous and particular about his vinyls, no one could touch them. No one could play with them.

And he was he was, he absolutely loved records. So he would put them on it was it was like there was a reverence of respect around them, that I grew up understanding. And he would blast them through the house of all types of genres.

And he would whistle and sing and be playing and be like, you know, creating art at the same time. So I kind of like grew up around that very free spirited and like very creatively open. And then my my great auntie on that site on my mom’s side, she was a concert violinist.

And actually, my great granddad, he was, he was a pianist for silent movies, which was super cool. And on my dad’s side, I think often people think like, if you’re from a Persian background, the typical thing is you must be doctor, lawyer, engineer. But my dad, he came to London, he came to England when he was like 17.

And he got stuck in England because of the Iran Iraq war. And then the revolution that happened. And he had like nothing.

So he like everything was cut off all the money or the communication. So he basically built his entire business from literally nothing. And he says, like, I remember there were like weeks where we’d have like biscuits for food because we had no money.

And so he has like, he’s created like a company completely from his own brain. And so he always kind of instilled that in us, like, it doesn’t matter what you do, just go for it. And if you love it, and you are, you know, you work super, super hard.

He was like, I’m here to support it. And he’s really, really musical. He actually managed me for like, from until two years ago, and not many people know that I actually like, the one thing I was so happy about was like, I could give him say, one night from the track, I did with Sonny, Adira and MK went silver in the UK.

And my dad managed me, he, you know, did that deal and everything. And so I was so happy to be able to like, give him his disc. So he has a disc and it has his name and it’s like super cool.

So he’s he’s got a really musical ear. He didn’t like grow up doing music. But with all that he’s obsessed with drum and bass.

He’s obsessed with dance music. And I, you know, like up until a couple years, like years ago, I would always be creating music at home. So I had like a home studio.

I’ve got my own studio now. But my dad would always come and be like, okay, play me what you’re working on. And if I was ever stuck on a song and still to this day, if I’m he, he has his DNA and a lot of songs that people don’t know.

Like if ever I’m stuck on something, I’m like, something’s just not quite right. Can you listen to it? And he’ll listen, he’ll be like, yeah, like this snare needs to be louder.

And I’m like, oh, yeah, cool. Okay. Well, like, there needs to be more verb.

[Darran]
I guess that answers my next question. I always love it when this happens on the show. I was gonna ask, does your family enjoy listening to your music?

[Raphaella]
Do you know what I do? However, when the same four bars are looped, over and over and over and over again, which we all know, that’s the only way to get stuff done. I mean, I just go into like hyper focus.

My mom has this thing because I still go, I still go home and like work sometimes that I’m basically there all the time. She’ll have to do this thing where she’ll just come in and she’ll just like, close the door. And they were like, cool.

Okay, well, I’ve understood that you’re kind of fed up of that four bar loop. But yeah, they do. They do really love it.

And they like, they blast it every like weekend. We go up every Sunday, we have like a family day. And we like sit in the car.

And I think that’s like one of the things like, why I love music so much. My dad, kind of like my granddad, treated the car stereo as like, almost like an altar. He’s like, okay, this is like, and he was very kind of like only good music may pass these, these speakers.

And so like he now like every day, because I’ve produced, I write so many songs in a week, I’ll send him them. And then at the weekend, we’ll have a listen to all the ones that I’ve done like that week. And then like blast them.

So yeah, they really love listening.

[Darran]
So you do you do the car test with your song?

[Raphaella]
Oh my god. Yeah.

[Darran]
That’s kind of a huge test getting out of the studio and seeing what it sounds like in the car.

[Raphaella]
Oh my god. Off the sub.

[Darran]
It’s funny you bring up that Sunday listening or Sunday family thing, because when I was growing up as a kid, it was either we would clean the house on Sundays, but it was either classical music, country music, country, Western music. And I grew up, I didn’t necessarily appreciate country music as until I got older. And I’m like, actually, that’s a really great song.

Because I was more into hip hop and rap. And then I got into electronic music, which, you know, there’s roots in classical music there in the sense of when it’s down tempo ambient, and obviously house music in the clubs and trance and techno and all that fun stuff. But yeah, I remember those Sundays was very key.

My dad would make a big breakfast for us. Like the big breakfast would be his fried potatoes, eggs, bacon, the sausage, the Italian, you know, the big Italian sausages, not the little breakfast sausages.

[Raphaella]
We have the halal sausage. Yeah.

[Darran]
So that was kind of a thing to do on Sundays as well. So definitely can relate to that. What has been the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

Relating to the relating to the industry?

[Raphaella]
Raising to the industry? Oh, I think actually one, one that stuck with me, that I think is very useful is when I was like, 19, I had this music teacher called Kevin Leo. And he was, he, he was really, really tough in the best way, if that makes sense.

You know, one of those, like, tough love teachers. And I need that, like, I respond well to that. So he was kind of like, he gave me this one piece of advice.

And he was like, ego will make you but also break you. And as an artist, he was like, it’s the one thing that will make you successful. But you need to let it not get in the way of learning.

And I think like, for me, that was like, really important, because I feel like as artists and producers, we all have like, we feel like we want to get something out. And we feel very, very personally connected to it. And sometimes that can like get in the way.

And like, it’s important, because you need to believe in yourself, you need to have a slight, I think all of us are slightly delusional, that, you know, we need that. But I think like, to always have that in the back of your head. And I’m quite spiritual.

So I, I really, really love Rumi and Hafez and Sufism to me is like really important. And that actually is based along the whole idea of dissolving the ego, and becoming at one with, with God, whatever you want to call God, like the universe. And for me, like that, it’s always treading that fine line of believing in yourself and being confident, but not, but not cutting yourself off from learning and being open and being stubborn.

And I think like, I think no matter what part of your career you’re in, I think that’s always important. So whether you’re starting out, and you think I’m the best, and you don’t want to listen to anyone, important. If you’re gay, if you’re gaining success, and you’re like, damn, I’m hot.

Important. So it’s another, it’s really important, because there’s other people also that are going to come and say, Oh, no, this is crap. Do this, do that.

And you need to have some level of like, no, I am who I am. But just yeah, finding that fine line. And I think he was the first person to, to tell me, in a way, basically, don’t let your ego get in the way, which I thought, yeah, important.

[Darran]
Totally can relate to that. I have a little moniker that I have that I call it PMI, or positive mental influence. And I use that in my daily life and everywhere.

And I actually had somebody a few years ago, come to me and say, because I was the way I post on Facebook, the way I post on socials. It’s all positive stuff. It’s all very, like, this is really awesome.

Having a great day did it. And they came to me and said, Darran, there’s no way somebody can be that positive. And I’m like, Okay, maybe because you maybe because you have negative things on are you’re doing negative things in your life.

You may not believe that somebody can actually be like that. But yes, I can be and I have to, in a sense, be that way, not egotistical, not conceited, but confident. Because you don’t want to wake up in the morning and go today, I’m gonna suck.

Yeah, I’m my own coach. I’m my own boss. I’m my own network.

And, you know, if I was sitting here and doing an interview with you, and I’m like, Hi, Raphael, how you doing? I don’t know if I really want to be you feel that energy. And you’d be like, Yeah, this guy sucks.

You know, I got to kind of pump myself up. And saying that I use is from the old school 80s. WWF is Randy Macho Man Savage.

We always use that slap into a Slim Jim commercial that you do. Yeah, let’s go. You know?

No, you have to, you have to like, I mean, to self motivate. I mean, I got to get out of bed today. I got to do this interview.

I got to get back on the ball. I mean, I just revamped my whole schedule. I can look up here and wondering why I wasn’t getting things done.

And then go, here’s my daily tasks. Here’s my weekly tasks. Here’s my monthly tasks.

Here’s my one offs. Yeah, I’m getting back to those basics, because I got kind of lazy with all the help I was getting. I didn’t want to do it.

Because I was paying somebody else to do it. Like I have a guy doing my new, my website for my other company right now. And I’m like, I know how to do this stuff.

But I’m like, I don’t want to do it. So I pay you to do it.

[Raphaella]
You have to keep hungry.

[Darran]
Yeah. Because what happens is if I started doing my own website, guess what, it takes me away from doing this stuff. Or if I start doing the sales, it’s like, okay, now I’m spending 40 hours a week doing sales, and I’m not focusing on the DJ sessions.

Yeah, something’s gonna suffer. And this project, I really wouldn’t say project this, this is turned into kind of what we started in 2022 was, I think even 2021, I was working with somebody from the UK. Luke, one of my guys, he was helping me do some PR and everything.

And he was getting me write ups in some of the top publications, he was booking interviews with some of the top DJs from around the world, producers, and that, but I had to pay for that. You know, I understand the value of paying for something to maybe open up those doors or have that Rolodex open, but it was nice having somebody do that. Yeah, because it let me focus on the other stuff.

Yeah, you know, and being able to focus, there’s only so much bandwidth, you can get burnt out really easy too.

[Raphaella]
And that I kind of get, I get that feeling sometimes, because I do, I’m a producer, I’m a writer, I’m a vocal producer, and I’m a singer. Sometimes I’m like, what can I do? It’s too much.

And it’s really, really great. Like, I wouldn’t change it at all. But I think like, that’s one of the reasons why with Holler At Me, for example, I was like, I need to outsource this mix to Mark, like, get to the point where actually, like, also, a level of distance is also important.

Because otherwise, it’s so easy just to kind of like, you know, get lost in too much detail. So yeah, I agree. It’s good to be able to do everything.

No, you can.

[Darran]
Yeah.

[Raphaella]
Jeez.

[Darran]
As I’ve always, whenever I’ve assigned a task to somebody, I will never assign them a task that I don’t know how to do myself.

[Raphaella]
I agree.

[Darran]
You know, that way, if they have a question about it, be like, here’s how you do it. Let’s do the training video, boom, boom, boom. You know, once you get this down, I can do this in two minutes, it may take you six to eight minutes to do it your first few times, but eventually, you’ll get it down to where you’re doing it really fast.

And that was where, you know, when I did this first, I did 57 interviews, I did those 57 different interviews over a period of 12 days. You know, it was three days a week, just boom, boom, boom, like almost back to back. I didn’t have a lot.

I wouldn’t eat lunch.

[Raphaella]
Yeah. I was like, wow, that’s a lot.

[Darran]
It’s a lot. It’s a lot for an independent show like what we do. We’re not being, we’re not BBC one.

You know, we’re not MTV, you know, we’re not getting funded by Budweiser or Coke. We’re not a boiler room or anything like that. For an independent show to produce the amount of content that we produce, and somebody not get burnt out a lot of shows, they’ll do one show a week.

And that show might be 20 to 30 minutes per week. And they might film a whole season over the course of, you know, two or three weeks, and then they’ll just release those shows as they come out. Yeah, it’s like this is constantly going.

So yeah, staying positive is I think, you know, one of the biggest things. But watching that, putting that keeping that ego in check, I think is definitely, you know, something that is, I can see happening. And that happens a lot in the DJ world, because you’ve got to, yeah, I’m the best because you want to hire me because I’m gonna, yeah, I mean, it’s performance.

[Raphaella]
Yeah. Like, no one’s gonna want to watch you if you’re like, you have to kind of believe in yourself. But it’s like, I think where the confidence comes from, comes from is important.

It’s confidence in your ability, instead of confidence that you, you know, an ego confident. Well, it’s not like confidence, it’s just ego.

[Darran]
But yeah, I like something you said earlier, we’ll circle back to this is that you said, you really like it when your peers compliment you on your music and things like that. Your peer group, I think, is also a huge influence of people you surround yourself with. And, you know, when I tell people like, how are you doing that?

Why do you what nobody does this. And that’s amazing. And that just is a huge when I hear a peer say that to me, it’s like, really, nobody does this?

Well, I guess I kind of do a full time. So most people work a day job, and they’re doing it on the side as a hobby, because they got to pay the bills. Well, this is like full time for me.

So speaking of running a business and all that fun stuff, what has been your best business decision in favor of your artist career?

[Raphaella]
Oh, this might be controversial. This is, this is slightly controversial. I mean, say, I would say up until now, because I’m not, I wouldn’t rule it out.

So I think staying independent has probably been the best decision. So far, that’s not to say that I, you know, wouldn’t not, but I think to stay independent and retain sort of my, you know, the power that I have and the choices that I can make, when I want to put music out how I want to do it. And just in terms of I think it’s quite empowering as a female, I have my own label, I have my own business.

And this one I put out with Tile Yard and Believe, Believe are great, and so are Tile. And I think to retain that independence for me has been quite, I think so far has been the best decision. I have a grandmaster plan where I want to do JV with a major.

So I think that is like probably the way I think I would love to do it and then sign other artists as well, you know, and create like, create a really great community particularly for females, and sign female DJs, female producers, and cultivate a community that I feel like is really, I think, not only lacking, but I think is really needed. Because I think there are a lot of females that are doing absolutely sick stuff, like Jazzy is killing it, my friend Camden, Camden Cox, there are so many, and I’m definitely going to be missing loads of people by naming anyone. But there’s so many of us that are like absolutely like killing it.

And yeah, I’d love to cultivate a new generation of doing that too.

[Darran]
If you could host an event of your own without any limitations, name five things you would want to have at that event.

[Raphaella]
Without any limitations?

[Darran]
Without any limitations.

[Raphaella]
Is it a music event?

[Darran]
Yeah, well, I guess any kind of event, but I would assume there would be music there.

[Raphaella]
It wouldn’t be my event if there was no music. Yeah. There would be an absolutely massive Persian buffet.

[Darran]
Okay. I’m a foodie, so I love this event already.

[Raphaella]
Okay, I think, do you know what, I’m actually going to say, this is completely like a dream event, right? And a dream scenario.

[Darran]
A dream event without any limitations.

[Raphaella]
Any limitations. Okay, I’m going to say in my hometown, Esfahan, I currently can’t go back to you because I’m a female producer and a female artist and singer, and it’s illegal to be a female singer. And so I don’t know, yeah, we’re fighting for freedom.

And so I think when hopefully that happens and all of us, like so many of us Persians who are like, you know, we’re essentially in exile slash the diaspora, that would be so beautiful because currently music is illegal to be like, it’s illegal to dance like in the street. So it would be an absolutely massive dance event in the middle of Esfahan with like loads and loads of sick, sick food. And then there would be, I feel like there would be, there’s going to be like a lot of food involved in this.

I was like a massive chocolate fondue fountain. And what else would there be? I feel like all of the, all of the most incredible artists living and, living and deceased, dead, because this is, this is a dream event, would be there, would be, would be invited and would be in attendance.

What is this? Number four is a number five is five.

[Darran]
We’re on three. You got two more left. Okay, two left.

[Raphaella]
I think, okay, the entire event would be sponsored by Gucci.

[Darran]
And everyone gets a free handbag, right?

[Raphaella]
No, I absolutely love their ready to wear so much. I’m, I’m really, I really love fashion. So yeah, I think.

Yeah. Sponsored by Gucci ready to wear. And then wait, one more.

I feel like, oh, okay. And then I feel like there would be like a secret garden in this event. And in the secret garden, because I’m an absolute nerd, there would be like a really, really cool library.

You know, one of those like really awesome ones that you can like sit with like lanterns and it would be at night and it would be like really cool and cozy. Yeah. So like a secret garden for lovers and book lovers.

Very random.

[Darran]
Well, you had me at food, you know, that, that’s, you had me at food, food, food, three times. Like I said, it’s a lot of my posts on social media are pictures of food. Even one of my, one of my assistants here in Seattle, he was like, Darran, I was going over revamping your Instagram account.

And you seem to have a lot of food pictures on your DJ sessions page. And I go, I know, because I put them on both my personal and the DJ sessions. Because yes.

And so he’s like, well, that doesn’t say anything towards music or artists. And I’m like, I know that’s why I’m going to stop posting food pics there.

[Raphaella]
Yeah. I mean, I can’t help myself. I’m like, I’ll just post it to my stories.

You know, my feed is that, but I’m, I’m a huge foodie too.

[Darran]
So what would be, I know we just covered an event without any limitations and five things there. But going to working on a project, like if you were to work on a project or a collaboration, what would be your dream project to work on?

[Raphaella]
Oh, I think, um, I think I wouldn’t even want to say a specific thing because I won’t want it to grow. But I can tell you what I would want the elements to be. So I grew up in orchestras.

So like my first instrument actually was violin. So I’m technically like a string player. And I’ve always absolutely like adored string sections and like cinematic orchestras and they’re just orchestras in like as a whole.

And so I feel like access to a string section would be incredible. Like, and I feel like one of my, I really, really love like, um, Max Richter is one of my like all-time favorite composers. And I think something like, I feel like Sampfer and James Blake are really, really cool, like mixing worlds.

And I feel like it would be that kind of vibe. So definitely access to an orchestra slash string section. Two, um, I would want there to be so many analog synths here, like any, every single analog synth you could possibly imagine, like every single rare corg, every rare piece, like rare synths would be there.

So I love synths so much. I have like a Juno-106. I have Prophet-6.

I’m actually an artist with Sequential. And, um, I have like just loads of cute little like, um, you know, analog corgs. And I have like, just, yeah, so I just collect bits that I find and I’m like, oh, I’ll add you to my collection.

So yeah, like access to every single possible synth in the world. Um, and then also I reckon just like an open, like an open phone book of being like, hey, can you come down and come to the studio? So yeah, I think like that would be really, really cool.

[Darran]
That sounds big. I once had somebody say the way, when you want to find out how big somebody wants to grow, you ask them, what’s your dream house? And if they describe your dream house, like they have big goals or they have, if they have small goals or they have big goals, it’s big.

And I thought that was on that same realm of big. Yeah, pretty much. That’s awesome.

[Raphaella]
And I think just create like an, like, sorry, like a project that no one’s ever had before. You know, like I feel like there’s every now and again, every couple of like, I guess every decade even, or like, yeah, probably every decade, there’s like a project, there’s an album that comes out. And it’s a world unto itself.

I felt like Mark Ronson did that, you know, with Amy Winehouse. And I feel like there’s every now and again, there’s a product that comes out that is, you can literally hear that there’s a universe within like, in it. So yeah, that.

[Darran]
What’s the nicest thing a fan has ever said to you?

[Raphaella]
Oh. That I have really like, inspired them and helped them through like dark times. Because I, I mean, I have suffered from mental health myself.

And I feel like we’re human, we’d probably be lying all of us if we said we didn’t. And so I feel like one thing that I think always surprises me about putting out music is that it can resonate and can help people even when like, so much of my music has come from places, has come from a place of like, a heartbreak or a really dark place in myself. And it’s a way of, it’s like a cathartic way of working through that.

And so when I hear that something that came from a dark place can help someone else, it’s like, it’s really, it’s still amazing to me. So yeah, I think that it’s like, helped them through such a terrible time in their life. That’s like, that, for me, it was like, really, it actually like, brought tears to my eyes, because I was like, wow, well, it was created from a really dark place in my life.

So I’m so glad that that helps you too.

[Darran]
Awesome. And how do you envision your life 10 years from now? Where is Raffaella going to be 10 years from now?

[Raphaella]
Oh, well, I’ve thought about this. Well, I hope, I really, really hope, I have such, I think more than anything, I don’t, I think, you know, when you first start out, you’re like, oh, my God, I want to be super famous. I don’t.

If that happens, great. I actually more just want to be really, really well respected. And no, I want to go down as one of the best producers, composers, artists in history.

And so I would hope in 10 years time, I’m on my way to doing that. So whether that means kind of like, you know, winning a Grammy or two. But that’s not even that, you know, I know that sounds like a silly thing.

But I guess that’s probably a very like visual representation of that. But so yeah, I think just really renowned in my field. Both my peers and also the public, but mostly my peers, I think.

And I have, I absolutely, this is like, non, like, music related, but I love properties. So I basically want to have like a property empire. And then also, and basically like have a label that is signing people and giving, you know, young girls an opportunity to get into the industry.

So I think hopefully like in 10 years time, I truly think that’s doable.

[Darran]
You know, I remember one of the first, yeah, one of the first interview sessions I ever had was interviewing a friend of mine, acquaintance of mine here in Seattle. And it was at a Paul Oakenfold show. It was the first time I ever had a celebrity guest on the show.

But the interview wasn’t, this didn’t come out of the interview with Paul Oakenfold. But I asked my friend Darran, I said, Hey, Darran, is it, are there any overnight successes or does it happen overnight? And he goes, no, it’s a long process.

You go through this, there’s trials and tribulations, there’s hangups, there’s bad business decisions, there’s good business decisions. Sometimes it’s two steps forward, one step back, sometimes it’s five steps forward, two steps back, but you just keep going with it and pushing it forward. You know, and, you know, when I started the DJ sessions, it was this idea that started in my living room as a live streaming show.

And I was just talking about it. And my friend Alex comes over one day and says, we’re doing the DJ sessions. And I said, what?

Okay, I guess we’re doing it. And he sat down with a laptop behind me, I had two cameras, we’re sitting at the computer and I’m watching this and I’m listening to the show in these headsets. And the first hour goes by and I get up to go to the restroom or get a glass of something like that.

I take the headsets off, I’m in my apartment. And I’m like, it’s completely quiet in my apartment, like dead silent. But I felt like I was in a nightclub the whole time.

I was interacting with people online. And we’re talking with Alex on the microphone, we’re just having fun. And the next week, I moved the studio into my bedroom.

Like it was a foot and a half away from my bed, this multicam studio. And nobody was doing multicam streaming at this time. I mean, it was just crazy.

Well, the bandwidth wasn’t there. So what grew into what I wanted it to be over time was to be a show that would be an international show, that we have multiple representatives from different countries doing interviews at all times, going to the major festivals like ADE, Winter Music Conference, Sonar, all those major ones, Tomorrowland and capturing interviews there and doing press meet. And that’s slowly starting to happen.

Had pandemic not hit in 2020, we were still on that 2020 is going to be the year thing. And it was like, no. So you know, it does take time and setting those goals.

I always tell people when you start out, set your 30 day goal, set your 60 day goal, set your 90 day goal, set your six month goal, set your one year goal, set your two year goal, set your five year goal, set your 10 year goal. Those can change. But as long as you are envisioning where you want to get to, there’s a manifestation that comes into play or even manifesting and putting putting sticky notes on your mirror in the bathroom or all over the house.

If you want that Ferrari, put that picture of the Ferrari up and see that Ferrari if that’s what you’re into cars.

[Raphaella]
I literally had like the year before I had my first UK plaque. I remember it was like, I always do this every Christmas and every like New Year. I always sit down and I always write a list of everything, everything good that I managed to do or achieved that year.

And then I make another list of everything I want to be able to achieve the next year. And then I consciously pray for those things I want. I am I envisage myself doing them and how I will do it.

And then I just pray and I’m like, you know what, like, I’m just going to work as hard as I possibly can. And whichever one of these lists on this list is good for me, and it’s meant to be, bring it my way. And I just begin every year with that energy.

And I’m just like, go forth. And I think it’s Yeah, it’s, it’s really helped. I think.

I think it’s important to kind of like get yourself in that and in that mindset and like, visualize. And my dad has always said he always said this thing that’s like, you know, if you if you set your goal at like, let’s say 100, even if you get to 60, that’s better than if you’d set your goal at 30. And you’ve got to 15.

So as big as you set your goal, even if you don’t, if you make half of it, you it’s actually trajectory. And it’s also, you know, it’s the journey as well that matters. It’s not just and I think that’s another, I’ve like really learned to just like, enjoy life and enjoy the small things and enjoy like, the little wins along the way.

But yeah, I think bigger you think, then the more room you have to sort of like, get as far as you can.

[Darran]
Absolutely. And my to do list, I told you about this. I’d be nowhere if I didn’t make my to do lists.

[Raphaella]
Oh my god, I’m literally a sucker for lists. I will buy. I love stationery.

I’m a very weird person. I think it’s stationery since production. I’m very like, I like kind of concentrating and sort of like, you know, really hyper focusing.

And I literally, I’ll just go around and if I see a stationery shop, I’ll be like, let me buy another notepad for a list. I have so many lists, I think like to do lists is so important. I agree.

[Darran]
I’m a sucker for lists. Absolutely. Well, we’re gonna get to wrapping it up here.

Like three or three more questions. When you’re not entertaining others, what do you do to entertain yourself?

[Raphaella]
Oh, I read. I read a lot. Like I love reading.

I actually just bought, there’s one of my favorite books I’ve read like in the last couple years is The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. And so I literally picked up selected poems of Sylvia Plath today because I was like, poetry really, really inspires me. It just gets my brain thinking in a different way.

And I think like to create music, it’s another form of art. And so I read, which is probably like a very geeky thing to say, but it’s true. And what else?

I love fashion as well. So just even just people watching, like my studio is in Shoreditch in London. I don’t know if you’ve been to Shoreditch before.

But it’s sort of like I’ve been told that New York is very like London. And I guess it’s kind of like it’s the hipster part of London. So there’s graffiti all over the walls of artwork everywhere.

It’s so inspiring. And I just literally take myself and my book. And I’ll sit in a coffee shop.

And I’ll watch people go by. And it’s really like, it gets my creative juices flowing for different reasons.

[Darran]
One of the cool things last year when we stayed in Amsterdam, we literally had an Airbnb above Rodeo Drive, what I would call their Rodeo Drive. The Cartier, the Fasenad, I mean, or the Gucci, every single one of those, Bruber, every single one of those stores was just a row, beautiful row. And we’d just get out and we’d go, let’s go this direction.

And we’d just walk. I mean, there were lines outside of the stores and they’d only let a few people in at a time because it was kind of like they knew they were tourists. They probably weren’t necessarily shopping.

But a lot of stores were like by appointment only. And those were the higher end ones. I mean, it was the high end, high end, high end, what you’d see in like Beverly Hills.

It was just amazing. I used to work in fashion, used to work for Nordstrom, selling men’s sportswear. So I’d be dressing and putting fashion together.

I’ve always had a fashion sense of things, not as a Blade. I’m wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants because I’m in the home studio now. No, I love fashion.

It’s awesome.

[Raphaella]
I mean, you’re rapping Mackie, so.

[Darran]
Yeah. Well, they’re one of our sponsors, so yeah. Gotta support the sponsors.

So you will be sending us an exclusive mix, correct?

[Raphaella]
I will be.

[Darran]
Awesome. We’re looking forward to that. We’ll get that up on the site.

You know, we’ll wrap it up here. Is there anything else you want to let our DJ Sessions fans know about before we let you go?

[Raphaella]
I have a string of singles coming out, which I’m very excited about. Yeah, so like Holler at Me is basically the beginning.

[Darran]
Awesome. And where’s the best place people can find out information about those singles, about the releases?

[Raphaella]
I’d say my Instagram and my TikTok slash my Spotify page.

[Darran]
And that’s it right there? At Raphael Music? Yes.

Awesome. All socials. Cool.

Well, Raphael, thank you. Raphael, thank you so much for coming on the show today. It was a pleasure talking with you.

We’re definitely going to follow up with you in the near future. Send those singles my way when you get them. I’d love to pump them out and get them on our socials to our fans and everything as well.

[Raphaella]
I will. Thank you so much for having me.

[Darran]
You’re welcome, Raphael. On that note, don’t forget to go to our website, thedjsessions.com. Find us on Twitter or X now, Meta, not Facebook, TikTok, Instagram.

We’re out there. The DJ Sessions were all over the place, but the best place to go for information, 600 news stories published a month, countless live interviews, and exclusive guest mixes are at thedjsessions.com. Again, this is Darran coming to you from the IT, whoa, the ITV Live Studios.

I haven’t said that for 14 years. From the virtual studios for the DJ Sessions, that’s Raphaela coming in from London. And remember, on the DJ Sessions, the music never stops.