WHAT WENT DOWN @ KEYRAH’S HEADLINE SHOW

London based, Birmingham-bred DJ, Keyrah has continued to take her career to new heights. From supporting artists like Destin Conrad, Jorja Smith and Loyle Carner to spinning at Boiler Room’s collaboration with Soulection and Places + Faces, her eclectic blends have been flying through the airwaves of nightlife. Her headline show was due to be a night on the town that you didn’t want to miss, with an artful selection of key players to keep the party going from 10-4am at Phonox in Brixton.

Glade Marie

Glade kicked the night off with an abundance of grooves of various genres including R&B and amapiano, filled with plenty of kaleidoscopic flips. The selection was incredible – I even heard a song I heard years back that I could never find the name of when I heard it the first time. The aura of her selections glowed through the vibrations of the speakers.

Sanasesh X Rishy Malik

The B2B from Sanasesh and Rishy Malik called everyone to the dancefloor while the night was in full swing.Their perfect synchronicity had the bass booming and the vibes at an all time high. They had instruments from all across the globe bleeding through the tracks on their USBs, with the through-line being Dance and that’s exactly what the crowd did.

Lil Silva

Lil Silva kept the energy going with exhilarating basslines pumping through the sound system. The array of electronic and funky house contained a plethora of pulsating beats that were truly electrifying. ‘Backwards’ featuring Sampha off of his phenomenal album, Yesterday Is Heavy would also make an appearance in the set – hearing Sampha’s rich vocals in the club enhanced the euphoria that Lil Silva’s set provided the audience.

Keyrah

Anticipation grew high in the room as Keyrah hopped on the decks, starting off her set with a man speaking before launching into the Soulwax remix of Daft Punk’s ‘Robot Rock’. A sea of dancing bodies caught the waves travelling from her USB to the soundsystem, from  incorporating the breathing on a remix of ‘Frontin’’ by The Neptunes with F For You by Disclosure and getting the heat rising with a house remix of Sean Paul’s Temperature, letting the nostalgia seep through different genres. The peak was when she played a wheel-up worthy remix of ‘Little Things’, seemingly a special moment after bringing Jorja Smith out at calm. in Birmingham around the time of the track’s release, aswell as featuring in the video. 

She would skilfully calm down the energy at different points in her set, before erupting with another fast paced track to get the people on their feet. It felt like a dance time machine, exploring different eras and subgenres.

Kojay

Closing out the night with an array of funky house, breakbeats and more, Kojay had the crowd dancing til they left the club. People of all ages were throwing shapes on the dancefloor into the early hours of the morning to his arsenal of bangers. He had everyone in trance til’ it was time to go home. 

Keyrah thanked everyone for coming and staying til’ the end, dubbing them “the real ravers” before shouting “0121 to the f*****g world!” 

As I was leaving Phonox, I overheard a man in his 60s say that he hadn’t “had fun like that in 20 years”, a true testament to the amount of enjoyment that was experienced at the event.

We even had a little chat with KEYRAH herself……

Kat: How did you find your night?

Keyrah: Amazing! I’m happy with the turnout, I can’t complain. It was nice to see people down here early, enjoying the vibes. I’m usually quite nervous before sets, but I feel like it went well. I genuinely enjoyed it, I’m so happy everyone had a good time. 

Kat: How did you curate the lineup for your headline?

Keyrah: I kind of had to think about what sort of sounds I want. Lil Silva’s an OG – I was like “I have to have a classic like Lil Silva playing,” and then my friend Kojay is sick with the house, garage, breaks, so he supports Lil Silva’s sound nicely. Sana Sesh and Rishy Malik are my favorite duo – they just be doing the dance s**t like crazy, and then Glade is just perfect for that warm up, she knows how to warm up the crowd and just keep things flowing. 

Kat: If you could say one thing to yourself when you first started now that you’ve done it, what would you say?

Keyrah:  Don’t worry. Kill the nerves, kill all of that apprehension – you’ve got this.

PHOTOGRAPHY: ALFIE WHITE

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