Your Friday night Valley headliner

“The word is artist,” says Honey Dijon. She is talking about her new album Black Girl Magic – thirteen fierce tracks of attitude, energy, heart, community, and engagement. But she could be talking about all of her work and life: her stratospheric DJing career; her fashion line Honey Fucking Dijon; her soundtracking of some of the most iconic fashion shows of the 21st century. “For me, it’s just about creative energy,” she says. “It’s so human for me, to want to express my experience.”

Which puts Honey’s work firmly in a cultural tradition as urgent today as it was in the days of disco and early house. Dance music is as much of a force today as it was then, especially in this age of structural racism and media-fuelled transphobia. “It’s the politics of the party,” says Honey. “It’s no different from when Joe Smooth made Promised Land over thirty years ago. The conversation is still valid. It has always been queer people of colour using dance music to create spaces for themselves.”

Honey knows what she is talking about. Born and raised in Chicago, she grew up surrounded by House music, and the creative souls who started a global movement. Moving to New York, she learned her art of DJing the right way: by playing records night after night after night. She worked the dancefloors of the city to master her connection with the crowd, that special magic she now brings to every set she plays.