Article by DJ iCandy
I’m thrilled to introduce DJ XO Coco, someone I first met at a wedding reception. We instantly clicked after she caught my b2b (back-to-back) set at the event. Our shared love for the art of DJing sparked a conversation, and here we are now, diving into her journey and inspirations.
iCandy: What are your creative goals?
XO Coco: I want to produce my own music. I was at a DJ show at Celebrities, and I saw one of those artists that I’d seen before at a different show. His name is Dreama and he was playing, and he had this back-to-back with this woman named SiSi.
Their back-to- back was just like, so good. They fed off each other so well. We went backstage to say hi. I was like telling SiSi that I think I want to get into DJing, and she’s like, I teach at a school in Burnaby called Table Tutors. Within a week, I did my consultation with the school and ended up in the program taught by her for two months. So that’s what I learned the basics.
SiSi would always ask me, what’s your biggest dream?
I go to Vegas for EDC (Electric Daisy Carnival) every single year. I’m going next year, for year number four, and my ultimate dream (which is not in the nearby future) is that I want to be on one of those stages. My birthday always lands on the weekend of EDC. I want to play at EDC on my birthday.
iCandy: Why did you want to become a DJ?
XO Coco: I grew up around a lot of music. My family went to different music festivals, like the Caribbean Festival. My mom mom’s white. She adopted my sisters and I at a very young age. She wanted us to know our culture, and other cultures as well. She was very much like; how do I do that as a white woman? We’ll start with music. I used to hate singing. Couldn’t do it, didn’t like it, but I loved hearing people sing. Then I got into going to music festivals. I thought it would be so cool if I could DJ.
I had a workplace injury on my shoulder last May. I was out for nine months so I couldn’t do anything like at home. SiSi encouraged me to try DJ-ing at Table Tutors.
iCandy: How do you curate your mixes?
XO Coco: I play a lot of like Bass House, Tech House and Future Rave right now. I just pick individual songs. I just go with what the vibe is, so I really don’t make any pre-made sets anymore like I used to. I do it on the fly, which is a bit riskier, but a lot more fun.
iCandy: Could you explain more about either of those genres and what they mean to you?
XO Coco: Future Rave is very David Guetta. Basically, he made his own genre. It’s very spacey. Essentially you can have the sweep and echo effect on the entire time. It’s all about building that drop and adding the tension, with solid beats in between. Tech House is House music with a lot quicker snaps, and Bass House is kind of like the hHouse version of Dubstep. It’s very loud. It’s aggressive. Tech House, Bass House and Future Rave are complimentary because they’re all in the House genre, but they’re all very different. They all bring different vibes.
iCandy: What’s on your Top 25 most played songs?
XO Coco: So one song that I really like and I do play a lot is A Milli – SIDEPIECE Remix. I also have Pink Pony Club remix. All my music is EDM remixes of everything. I have Pink Pony Club and Chappelle Roan. I have those on deck because people always lose it to that. Another one I’ve played a lot this weekend was a Run it – Chris Brown Remix. I play a lot of throwbacks because Numbers is a much younger crowd. I also play Viv Castle, and I have a lot of Charlie XCX.
iCandy: How do you handle guests when they come up and have music requests?
XO Coco: This is really funny to me, because me and the other DJs at Numbers were constantly sending each other memes about requests!
I honestly don’t like doing requests but I will do them. I don’t pre-plan my mixes when I’m at Numbers because I know the vibe can change. Sometimes the crowd’s younger, sometimes it’s older. Sometimes they want throwbacks. Sometimes they won’t just listen to Sabrina Carpenter for like an hour. If I don’t have the song, I’m just like, hey, I have something similar. I am a people-person. I like to talk people up. I like to make them smile.
iCandy: What do you do to hype up a crowd?
XO Coco: I would say I’m not a ‘big on the mic’ person. I think every DJ has their own style. I almost let my music speak a bit more for me. I love playing with the effects, so when that drop is coming, I’m adding that echo. I’m adding the sweep, so people know it’s gonna happen because I do it that way.
iCandy: What’s your favorite set that you’ve performed and why?
XO Coco: I think it might have been my very first set I ever did. It was at Birdhouse, last January for their Open Decks night. I was going by my original name, Coco Logic. I just graduated from the DJ academy like a month and a half prior. It was such a jumble, and it was my very first time doing a set. I love Birdhouse because it’s a pretty big venue, and people were dancing and vibing. I had people at the door who said, ‘We loved your set!’ I had people coming up to me and talking to me.
This one girl, bless her heart, was just like, ‘I’m so excited for you!’ And I’m like, ‘Oh, why?’ She said, ‘Because I’m so excited to tell people years from now that I actually got to go to your first set!’
I was almost crying my eyes out. It was just such a magical night for me.
iCandy: What can we expect from you in the future?
XO Coco: You can expect music produced by me. I have two residencies: one at Pump Jack once a month, for now, and every Friday at Numbers. I’m also thinking going back to Table Tutors to get more technical training.
Welcome to Sweet Talks with DJ iCandy—your go-to space for celebrating the beats, stories, and journeys of womxn and non-binary DJs making waves in Vancouver’s music scene. I’m DJ iCandy, a DJ, teacher, and artist, passionate about creating spaces where voices are amplified, and creativity shines.
