Features
‘When We Go Back To Normal, And We Will, I’ll Be Ready’: Q’s With Charlotte de Witte
Jonathan Braasch – Charlotte de Witte.
At Docklands 2018 in Münster, Germany.
Charlotte de Witte is one of the most sought-after DJs in the world right now, and has been for a while. The Belgian born artist just took the top spot on Beatport’s Alternative Top 100 DJs chart of 2020.
Career highlights include de Witte’s Tomorrowland debut in 2011, “which opened the doors to everything,” according her own words. Other milestones include debuts at Awakenings in 2017, Time Warp in 2019, Coachella in 2019 and the launch of her own label KNTXT last year, which just released the “Nothingness EP” by Alignment.
Pollstar seized an opportunity of rare downtime in de Witte’s usually packed touring schedule to talk about life in strange times, great live shows and becoming Charlotte 2.0.
Wozniak – In her element:
Performing at T7 in Paris, France.
Pollstar: How would you sum up the past half year in one word?
Charlotte de Witte: Unsettling.
How did this crisis affect you professionally, as well as personally?
It must be said that in 2020, I’ve felt a bit left in the dark. It’s hard to see a scene that I love so dearly, suffer so much. I’m talking about DJs, artists, managers, tour managers, booking agents, club and festival owners, stage builders, suppliers, sound and light engineers, security, ticket offices…
Everyone involved in the entertainment sector has been left behind by their government. There has been a serious lack of support or perspective. In a lot of cases, their silence has been deafening.
In 2019, I was one of the electronic music artists with the biggest amount of shows a year. I was constantly on the road, between timezones, traveling from country to country. My life was one big challenging adventure. The lack of sleep was tough, very tough, but the amount of energy I got in return was something extraordinary.
Looking back at it, I probably needed the rest that was imposed by the lockdown. After years of heavy touring, my body could use some well deserved rest.
I started having a normal sleep cycle, waking up feeling rested without having to put an alarm. I started eating healthy, home cooked meals (bye bye airport food) and I started to work out more regularly.
I always felt I’m blessed with a strong body and after all this exhaustion of the past years, it was time to give something back. Basically I’m Charlotte 2.0 now, ready to have my life again.
How does Charlotte 2.0 spend her days?
I’ve been rearranging my life and taking control again. I have found an incredible fresh source of energy which also resulted in me spending more time in the studio.
OffBrandProject – One of de Witte’s favorite venues:
The Knockdown Center in Brooklyn, NY.
Being away from clubs has distanced me a little from pure Techno music so I’ve been experimenting a bit more with music. Other genres, other BPMs. It’s fantastic to be able to spend time in the studio without pressure, without a clock ticking, telling you have to leave on tour again. It’s a more zen way of making music. One I’ll take with me in the future.
Covid-19 put a halt on all the plans we made for 2020, for myself but also for my label KNTXT that got founded one year ago. It’s a heavy disruption with a massive impact on multiple aspects. It’s not always easy to stay positive but in the end we must. It’s our only option. We keep on fighting and building a better future.
Congratulations on taking the number one spot on this year’s Alternative Top 100 DJs. What does this recognition mean to you?
Thank you! I was pretty speechless when I found out and it does mean a lot, especially because it’s such a strange year. I think it means that I somehow managed to stay connected, which was my intention. We can not be together in real life but it’s important to keep the connection alive.
You’ve done several live streams since the world shut down. We’re any of them ticketed, and are ticketed live streams something you’ll look into if this crisis continues?
All of the streams I initiated were free to watch, and you can still watch them for free on the internet. In July, I played at Tomorrowland’s virtual festival and they functioned as an online ticketed event. It’s hard to tell what the future will bring when it comes to streaming and virtual festivals, but for sure, they’re here to stay.
Is there anything preferable about the relatively solitary experience of a live stream when compared to a normal gig with an audience?
Hm no, not really. Live streaming is very calculated. There’s no connection with a crowd, even though the crowd is much, much bigger than in a club or at a festival.
Knowing millions of people are watching gives you a lot of stress and the fact that you’re surrounded with cameras instead of human beings make the entire experience feel very alienating for me. It isn’t easy but it’s so important to stay connected, especially when times are hard.
– Her biggest crowd yet:
Charlotte de Witte closed Glatonbury’s Arcadia stage in 2019.
What’s the biggest audience you’ve ever played in front of? Where was that?
I think that must have been Glastonbury 2019, where I closed the Arcadia Stage in front of 40,000 people. That was…insane.
What was your last normal performance in front of people pre-Covid?
The after party of CRSSD Festival in San Diego, at Spin Club. I was on a one week U.S. tour where I had shows in Atlanta, San Francisco, Miami and two in San Diego. In that order. Flying around the country like a lunatic. I was completely exhausted, but looking back at it, I’m very grateful I still got to experience it all before the world went mad.
Your favourite venue to ever perform at?
In February this year, we hosted our first KNTXT party in New York City at The Knockdown Center. The venue is simply insane. It has this beautifully raw vibe you’d be looking for in Brooklyn. We sold out the night and the atmosphere in there was something I won’t easily forget…It truly was a night to remember!
Speaking about KNTXT and its one year anniversary: What are the main functions of a label in 2020?
More than a label, we try to be a creative institution. Besides being a music label and releasing music of myself and other artists, we also organize parties on an international level and host stages on festivals around the world.
We are constantly looking for interesting collabos that can show the love relationship between for example music and design, sports, fashion or food, something we all love at KNTXT. We’ve been experimenting with radio shows in the past already and we also intend to experiment in the streaming world.
Felicia Garcia – The last performance pre-Covid.
CRSSD Festival in San Diego, as part of a one week US tour.
Can you describe what Techno is, what it means to you personally, and what its place is in the big wide world of electronic music?
A very difficult question. Music is something you experience and how you do this strongly depends on yourself as an individual, which makes it hard to pin down in words. What’s fast for some is slow for others.
According to Google, “Techno is a style of fast, heavy electronic dance music, typically with few or no vocals.” It doesn’t necessarily sound happy. It touches the darker side of the music spectrum. It’s stripped and repetitive and is initially made to be played in sweaty underground venues.
The last couple of years, Techno got big. Mayor festivals started programming Techno acts on the main stage, which brought the genre to another level. This somewhat interferes with its underground origin and causes lots of food for thought for the online community.
In the end, I don’t think it matters what something is called. I also believe that putting things into boxes only can only lead to limitations. In the end it comes down to this: If it’s good, it’s good.
What are you planning on doing next, where do you want to take your career?
Planning in 2020 turned out to be impossible but when we go back to normal, and we will, I’ll be ready.
Anything you would like to add to the people out there.
A message of positivity and good hope. The past months have been very hard for a lot of people. Know that times are changing. It will get better and we will be united again. Better and stronger than ever.
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