W: George Gray

DJ, producer, and recently announced record-label head, Emerald is an icon of the UK underground scene with a palmares many an artist would envy. With almost a decade of residencies on Rinse, hosting last year’s DJ Mag awards and shelling down sets across the world, her artistry shows no signs of slowing down.
So as Sonar 2025 approached, Emerald’s set was firmly stapled into our plan for the night.
Fortunately before she hit the decks we managed to catch the genre-spanning artist for a quick chat, and explore some of the story behind the USB.

Our meeting point lay tucked away in a corner of the massive Parc del Fira venue, past dodgems, stages and the tron-like lights beaming down. Thoughts of questions had been running around my head all morning but one thing had settled it: tucking into a bowl of cornflakes whilst blasting her 2019 Keep Hush Set around my flat.

As it played, my curiosity fell pinned on Emerald’s style. The ease of which she dipped in and out of genres, nonchalantly taking from a palette of tunes and styles, felt like someone genuinely in love with the music.

As a selector this cross-fertilising variety seems to be Emerald’s superpower, so where better to start than its origin story. No spider bite she revealed, but rather a musical eco- system. One between herself, family and a love for radio that sparked a passion for exploring genres.

“I’ve always been a real lover of Radio”, Emerald put it plain and simple, explaining to her its power is held in giving the listener power. Power to build an eclectic and informed taste from direct address and variety. “It’s such a personal experience, you feel so connected to what’s coming through”.

It’s a philosophy learnt through the help of her step-dad, “When I first started he bought me this book on how to be a great radio presenter, and there was a tip that when you’re talking to the listener you never use a collective you always use you”. Since then it’s always been, from Emerald “coming straight to you!”, and her parents' influence didn’t end there.

“My Dad listened to a lot of Hip-hop, Reggae, Ragga and Dub, Mum was really into trance and my two older sisters massively influenced me too, one listened to lots of Garage, Grime whilst the other was into more Indie, Pop, and Rock”. The presence of African influences also shone through for the London-raised artist, with the likes of Tinari Wen and Fela Kuti playing a massive role in her upbringing.

Before long it all came holistically together, “naturally you just start to pick up what’s around you”. Emerald’s surroundings only further pushed her down the path of music. First was raving to Dubstep, then Garage and House followed soon-after. “There’s so much going on in London” she emphasises.

It’s a path that’s been winding, but this ethos is evidently fixed at Emerald’s heart, “I’m just one of those people that don’t like being restricted to just one thing, it’s a bit of a blessing and a curse.”

A dichotomy that’s hard for anyone to balance, but in the world of electronic music one thing seems to prevail year on year, there are no boundaries in this game. An avant-garde ethos reflected across her Rinse residencies, so on the station’s 30th anniversary, what does its significance hold to her….

“It’s where it all began for me, it laid all the foundations and genuinely does feel like family and always will”, the pride beaming from her expression. “I feel like I could go back to that building at any point and find my family there”.

It’s a love clearly rooted in history too, “they’re the original pirate radio”, the passion lighting up her expression”. “Around the time major labels’ importance began to dwindle in response to the uprising of genres like Grime, Garage, dubstep”.

Genres all championed by Rinse. “It became such a powerful tool for the working class and black people, radio’s such a conduit like that, it’s just the best thing in the world.”

Radio may be at Emerald’s core but it hasn’t taken away from her abilities as a club DJ either. If anything her ability to connect so personally through the airwaves seems to have translated to the dancefloor too. “Every gig is so different, at Sonar for example you’re physically quite far from the crowd, making it hard to get that intimate connection”.

She may often prefer the smaller intimate venues, in and amongst the crowd, but on a bigger stage like Sonar there’s clearly a strategy. “There’s always one or two in the crowd you spot, you kinda pick your people and play to them, everyone sort of follows”, she explains. “You’ve gotta make a few people happy and that energy will just spread around”.

It’s this element of community that is often so powerful, so when it comes to advice for aspiring artists, producers or radio hosts Emerald has tactful advice. “It’s a really tough time right now, for a couple of reasons”.

Firstly, “the nightlife industry in the UK is struggling” and secondly “because it’s such a saturated industry now”. “Technology has expanded so much since I started, so it’s really hard to stand out nowadays but really it’s all about authenticity.”

“People know when you’re trying something that isn’t you, if you’re a nerd just be a nerd, don’t be shy to be quirky, weird or different - embrace your weird.” Powerful words for anyone regardless of their industry, or aspirations.

It’s hard not to look at the future with apprehension when you’re at a festival such as Sonar, with AI installations, and experiments laced throughout the playing field. So looking to the future we moved on to thoughts for how technology may evolve in the next 5 to 10 years.

“I’m terrified that AI’s gonna take over, but that’s the thing people from generations past were probably terrified of CDs, or USBs, or CDJs, or Spotify taking over.” A retrospective view that fewer and fewer of us seem able to take, but after all Emerald has reached this stage for a reason.

“These things come with good and bad, pros and cons, and I don’t want to be one of those people stuck in the past refusing to move forward with it”. With more artists flexing the tool’s muscle Emerald’s words made me reflect on the wall I’d maybe put up.

Just a week prior I’d seen Caribou deliver one of the best performances at Primavera Sound, a set full of tracks from his 2024 album Honey. An album that seamlessly blends the use of AI and human innovation.

So when Emerald tells me she thinks “you’ve just got to adapt to what’s coming next”, I find her optimism in a frightening situation more than uplifting. All of a sudden I’m curious even, for in Emerald’s own words, “things to really change”.

As we wrapped our chat up I had to ask one final question before her set, if she were to create her own dream club night what would it look like. “That’s tough, you’ve put me on the spot big time!” she exclaims as we walk toward the quick pre-set photo shoot.

“Well my favourite club in London is Corsica Studios, so that kinda layout, system, environment is number one”. A first box firmly checked, “then a floorless soundsystem” she adds, “an essential” that’s hard to disagree with. Finally, the line-up: “Radioactive Man, Paranoid London and hmmmm”, a pause before a decisive answer “me!”

A recipe for a serious night, one we can only hope for, but at least in the meantime we were treated to a phenomenal set in the halls of Sonar.