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Access Valentino proudly presents our latest talent, Daniella Bjarnhof – the experiential and high-spirited melodic & progressive techno DJ and Producer hailing from Copenhagen, Denmark. With her career in music at its dawn, Daniella’s rise and emergence has been quite remarkable – establishing herself as one of the most exciting up-and-coming techno DJs, performing in clubs and festivals across the globe. I’m excited to share her journey with you and introduce you to a genre of music you may not have yet experienced!
The world of techno music is quite new to me, but I’ve found it interesting to learn about its origins and how it differs from more contemporary house music. Conventionally, house music tends to be slower and more melodic, whilst techno has a faster pace - using heavier beats and more futuristic sounds. This is where Daniella sets herself a part! Daniella’s first rule when curating a track is to make it uplifting!
“When I make music, it has to be uplifting and have energy. It’s all about spreading a certain vibe”.
Daniella explains that you need melodies to keep the music emotional and to create a journey for the listener. When listening to her music, you’ll notice dynamic ‘up and down’ moments that play with your feelings and change the way you respond to certain parts of the track as it plays out. Check out Melodic Techno Lovers to see what I’m talking about! This track really gives that sense of going through a journey – an emotional rollercoaster of vibes and feelings. This is something Daniella looks to achieve when producing music:
“How music is made has a big impact on the listener. You can control your whole attitude with the music you listen to. Music shapes who we are and the way we look at life to some extent”.
Daniella’s story is quite incredible – having only established herself in the industry over the past year and half, she’s made huge leaps and strides to gain a name for herself and perform across the globe. During lockdown, Daniella wanted to try something new and challenge herself. Her friend had controller decks which she asked to borrow, and the rest is history! Within her first month on DJing, she created a SoundCloud and Instagram account and started pumping out her high-energy tracks. One week after creating her SoundCloud, she was asked to perform at a festival in Denmark with over 800 people which gave her a rush, an energy she’d never felt before – changing her life forever.
“I quit my job shortly after the festival. I knew I needed to give full focus to this because it seemed like this is what the universe wanted for me – I found my passion”.
What surprised me the most about Daniella was how someone could be so talented in such a short span of time – not everyone can pick up a controller and actually be good at DJing. It’s a skill that needs to be developed and harnessed, it’s not just pressing buttons and mixing. Daniella explains that her parents played a big role in establishing music in her life at an early age and pushed for her to do something with music. She attended a music school and was often handed the very underrated triangle instrument – something she wasn’t so impressed about. She then picked up drumming and describes this as a pivotal point in her musical journey as this established her relationship with rhythm and understanding rhythm. She also mentions how she never really connected with ‘mainstream’ radio music, it wasn’t a part of her life and didn’t mean much to her. However, on occasions she’d hear different kinds of trance music and became infatuated by it – finding the underground, hidden, hole-in-the-wall clubs in Denmark that would play the music she gravitated towards.
In terms of her creative process, Daniella describes herself as someone that “goes with the flow”. For her, developing a track isn’t about perfection, it’s about getting in the zone and creating something uplifting – something she’s able to actually smile about on stage.
“When I’m creating music, the feeling is unmatched. Nothing compares to it! I get inspiration from listening to music, being around music, and feeling the music. I want to make people feel happiness and joy from my music”.
Daniella is in no way a conformist; she questions why the culture of mainstream DJing is so serious. You often find DJs have a certain attitude when performing, like a no bullsh*t attitude – ‘look at how cool I am! Look how smooth my beats are’. Daniella thinks that if producers and promoters want to make a change in culture in the techno world, everyone should start smiling more!
“I want to be different! I want to change the [techno] culture to something more colourful, and uplifting – I’m a hippie!”
For Daniella, it’s all about having fun and creating great music. What’s super interesting is that she explains how different it can be to perform in different clubs across the world, and how you may need to adapt a set, in order to engage the audience. I don’t think people always necessarily understand the talent and musical knowledge required to build a techno set that is engaging and can lift the crowd – especially if you need to flex the set to hit the energy required to match the audience. One thing about Daniella I love is that she’ll never completely change her music for a crowd – she always wants to be original to herself – happy, hippie, and free. In her short tenure in music, she explains how she has evolved as an artist, but she’ll never lose her originality as that’s what makes her special. She thrives on energy, engaging with the crowd, and connecting with the crowd.
“I like wearing bright colours and doing the opposite of what everybody tells me to do, and that’s a strength – not only in music but also in life!”
Being a techno DJ seems very reactionary, it’s not as simple as writing a song and putting it out there. Daniella spoke to me about the way she can spend hours and days preparing sets and getting to the club, and then improvising for most of the night. For her, it’s all about keeping the energy as high as possible for the night so people stay around and really build a connection with her and the music. This is why she steers away from playing hardcore music with bad vibes or evil-sounding vocals and focuses on spreading happiness. Take a look at Deep Uplifting House Therapy Session for an early night pick me up! One of her inspirations in music is a techno producer from Liverpool called Massano. Daniella sees a lot of herself in him – they both came into the techno world and rose pretty quickly and they share a similar approach to performing – being happy, gentle, and empathetic to the crowd. She describes his music as 'crazy and powerful’ and would love to share the stage with him one day – something to look out for!
In such a short span of time, Daniella has demonstrated her incredible musical abilities and passion for her work. She lights up a room with her performances and is changing the face of the techno scene. She’s played across the world and released music with some of the biggest record labels – and it’s just the beginning. There’s so much more to come from her, and here at Access Valentino, we can’t wait to see more from her. She’ll be touring in South America in the next couple of months, but if she’s in your town you won’t want to miss her high-energy performances!
Many thanks and shout-out to Eliot Nacasch! This article wouldn’t have been possible without him! Big things coming his way, so go ahead and check him out: @eliot.nac
Keep up with everything Daniella here: