Born in Ghana and raised in the south of France, Patricia Baloge is a singer, DJ and producer. She is heavily influenced by her African upbringing, listing genres such as highlife and Afrobeats as big inspirations. Though she refuses to put her own style of music in a box, hoping to subvert expectations and avoid the prison cell that set formulas and labels seem to bring about. Having been a successful DJ in New York, Baloge is now releasing her own music, dropping EP ‘Womb’ into the world. ‘Womb’ isn’t just her first EP, it’s the start of a self described spiritual transformation. Having come to her suddenly, ‘Womb’ felt like a message from God.
A sign that it was time for Patricia to begin her journey.
How and when did you get into making music?
I had always wanted to be a musician but it wasn’t till around 2016 that I felt ‘the call’. I was doing other things but I just didn’t feel fulfilled. I had dabbled in music but I had this feeling that if I didn’t truly follow it, that I’d be living an empty life. I knew I had to pursue it but I didn’t know how to go about it. Around that time I met a DJ and he introduced me to mixing and from then I started learning how to DJ myself. I fell in love with it.
I started having producers work on my stuff, but nobody had my style, they didn’t understand what I was trying to express. They were all trying to put me in a box. At one point I just realised I’m gonna do my own thing.
‘Womb’ is your first EP, how would you describe your experiencing producing it?
It was a spiritual awakening, I felt like I had to be ‘reborn’ into myself. I had been going through a phase of deep emotional turmoil that really affected how I saw myself, and how other people saw me. At one point, I started to see myself through the lens of others instead of who I really am.
This EP was a way to cleanse myself of how the world sees me and instead focus on how God sees me. That’s why it has such strong spiritual connotations.
I’ve noticed a lot of religious themes to your music. To what extent does your personal spirituality affect your music?
Completely.
I think that each one of us has their own unique sense of spirituality. I think of myself as a spiritual being before anything else. Without it, I cannot be grounded, and be who I’m meant to be in the world. Music is mostly spiritual and this project is definitely representative of that.
Why the name ‘Womb’?
A womb is the seat of creation, life begins there. It reflects what a woman is. It represents the beginning of my transformation. The woman that I currently am, and that which I am evolving into. It was also about a ‘gut feeling’. When a woman can connect to her womb, she’s more in tune with her intuition. I have to be connected with my intuition so I can be better guided in my future.
Would you ever put yourself into a specific genre, or does your sound transcend that?
When it comes to being a DJ then yes. I DJ house music and that is very clear cut, but when it comes to my own music, I call it ‘electronic’ only because its music made electronically. I do not put myself in a box whatsoever. It gives me room to grow without any unnecessary obstacles. I’m all into breaking boundaries, I think thats music is about, what I have coming next may be very different.
Do you think house music has reached its peak?
I think that all kinds of music have ‘reached their peak’. That’s what makes it interesting. It’s about the individual adding a part of their self into a genre and making it evolve.
What are you working on at the moment? Will it be connected to womb?
It will definitely have a relation to ‘Womb’. It will be called ‘Queen of the Damned’. It’s actually the name of a track that I had planned to put in Womb, but I decided to wait. The production wasn’t there. It didn’t make sense, but now its becoming its own.
How would you describe your creative process? Is everything planned or do you go with the flow?
Oh I go with the flow. I’ll make a beat and it will evoke a feeling in me and then I’ll have a name. But ‘Womb’ was a different process. It felt like a spiritual thing. It was sent to me by God. Other wise I just make tracks and see if they connect. If they tell a story together. I get inspired by the beat, sometimes I’m not even finished with the beat and then I start tumbling melodies on top of the beat. As the melodies start coming then the words start coming. I never know which story I’m going to tell, a dark story, a jovial story, it just comes as it comes.
You recently posted on Facebook with the caption ‘nothing trumps purpose’. What is your purpose?
I want to grow. The only thing I don’t want to do is stagnate. My aim is to always be growing, to keep surpassing myself. I want to inspire. To have an impact on somebody just by stepping into your truth, thats the best thing ever. Knowing that some little girl somewhere can see me and think ‘I can do it too’.
Are there any other artists to watch at the moment?
Christine and the Queens. I love her transformation. She was nothing like who she is now, she was this shy artist. Something bad happened in her life and she decided she would overcome it. She became her true self. This deeply inspired me. I too knew there was something in me, that I could walk into, to become the real me.
Where can I find ‘Womb’ and some of your other music?
Spotify is the main place I upload, Deezer too, but mainly Spotify. There are three more tracks coming out that are going to be remixes of the tracks on the EP. Two versions of ‘holy trinity’, one by New York DJ, Jordi Iven, and another by Amir Telem. The track ‘Authentique’ will remixed by the DJ, Polar Inc.
Words: Dylan J Turner
