Asia’s leading Techno musician fell in love with Techno music during her first night out in Europe, realizing that her destiny was to become a DJ. She moved to Berlin, driven by her packed touring schedule. By the end of 2022, she had performed at over 1800 events in 78 countries, including major festivals like Tomorrowland, Love Parade, Loveland, Parookaville, and Nature One. She also played at renowned clubs in Berlin such as Watergate, Tresor, and Sysiphos, among many other top venues and festivals around the world.
Interview with Nakadia
Hello Nakadia, how are you in the new year of Dragon? And what are your plans and goals for this year?
The year started so amazingly, I think this was the best start of the year ever for me. I have been 8 weeks on Asia tour now and all events were just crazy good. I never had so much fun in Asia before and I think in the next years the scene will grow even more and the Thai islands will become the new Tulum or Ibiza. This year I will be on tour around the world again. So far I have bookings in 30 countries on 5 continents but I am sure it will add up to much more until the end of the year
You have been active on the scene for over 20 years. How has your music evolved since you started your career, and what have been some key milestones in your journey?
It took a long time for me to find my style. In the beginning, I tried everything from Trance to Progressive and even some commercial tech-house, but with time I decided that I only wanted to go for Techno. So the past 10 years I have moved between driving and energetic techno and melodic techno. I don’t like flat sets as I think they are boring, so I like to take people on a rollercoaster ride through sounds.
The first key milestone was my move from Thailand to Berlin. I learned so much by going out in this city. Good things, but mostly I learned how not to be. The next milestone was when I was discovered by Yann Pissenem – the founder of Ushuaia Ibiza – and was invited to join the Ants family. The third major milestone was my events with Sven Väth across Thailand between 2015 and 2018.
Can you share with us about your early life in Thailand and how it influenced your decision to pursue a career in electronic music?
I grew up in the countryside without electricity or running water. Life was very basic and there was no electronic music. I started to work in factories at the age of 15 and made my own money. I was always looking for something exciting in life and didn’t want to end up in my village. After some years I ended up with a job at an internet café where I tried to learn English by chatting with foreigners. One of the people I was chatting with was Seb, who is still my manager today, 23 years later. He invited me to Europe one day and took me to a Techno party. That was what changed my life, that night I decided to become a DJ and tried to find techno for the following years. It’s a long story, but I wrote a book about it which is available on Amazon, called “positive energy”
What were some of the biggest challenges you faced when breaking into the international electronic music scene, and how did you overcome them?
In the early 2000s, it was nearly impossible to get good bookings as a female Techno DJ. Girls were only accepted if they had a tomboy look. I was used to making myself look pretty when I went out of the house, so that didn’t help at all in my career. My Thai smile also didn’t help. At that time a DJ had to be cool, not smiling and not having fun behind the decks, that was what promoters wanted back then. It was also the time of minimal music and none of that was me. I had to stay strong, play for very few people most of the time, and try to build my fanbase little by little until enough people found out about my DJ qualities.
How does the regular day of Nakadia look like, when you are not touring?
Usually, I come home very tired on Sunday nights. On the weekdays when I am not touring I usually wash my clothes, cook Thai food, stay in touch with my followers on social media, and get my office work sorted out. Then hopefully in the evenings, there is some time to work in my home studio. I built my dream studio during COVID-19 and I would love to have more time to make music.
Having performed all over the world, how do you see the global electronic music scene evolving, and what trends do you think will shape the future of techno?
The music trends are always moving and some areas are getting more interesting and others less interesting. It always moves around. Techno has a boom right now and especially Hard Techno is getting big in many places. But I don’t follow that hype as I can’t enjoy it. I need emotions in my music, sometimes powerful, sometimes pumping or uplifting, and sometimes just beautiful to dream away. I can’t find all that in hard techno, so I leave it to the kids who have lots of energy right now. In the future, I think we will get split into different scenes again like we had 10 years ago when EDM became big. Underground and commercial techno will go their separate ways again.
Are there any upcoming projects or collaborations that you’re particularly excited about?
I will do lots of collaborations this year with many of my favorite artists. I don’t want to name names right now, but it will be exciting. I also work on some bigger events as a promoter again for 2025 and even this year I will do a few events in Berlin during the summer.
What can your fans look forward to soon?
I have huge projects coming up that will be life-changing, but I can’t talk about them right now. They will need a bit of time, but in 2025 there will be big news!
