afterPRTY’s Guide to Breaking Out in Music
My group chat with my two childhood friends is blowing up on an otherwise calm Sunday afternoon, my phone blinking and buzzing like a tiny nightclub. One of them, Fran, is recapping what happened the night before at a party she attended, but she says her news can’t wait. The notification frenzy is so crazy that I almost miss her writing, “I’ve been WAITING for this”. What could have possibly gone down that she’s dying for us to know? Fran, who had been releasing music and DJing under the name afterPRTY for years, was just recognized in public for the first time. A random partier approached her without prompting, expressed their love for her sound, told her to keep going, and showed their support. She’s freaking out; my other friend and I are freaking out with her; a stream of “AGHHH”s and “WOWOW”s flood the screen. Though our excitement and awe for her are genuine, there is an air of being unsurprised. Making and mixing music has been her “thing” for years, and she was bound to have a big break. We just never expected it would happen to her so suddenly, and neither did she.
That happened this past December. Fast forward to today, and the group chat is used to seeing texts along the lines of “I got a gig tonight…”, “I got invited to this party in LA…”, “I’m gonna be in the studio today…”; typical emerging artist phrases, yet we still get excited for her every time. afterPRTY is successfully turning partying into a career. She edits, produces, writes, and designs all her own content, actively building her brand and reputation, specifically throughout the Bay Area. Claiming she wants to make music for clubbing in the year 2093, her sound celebrates old and new club gems by combining elements of techno, hip-hop, hyperpop, dance, and alternative genres- basically, “what people actually want to hear” (her words). Looking at her Instagram (@seeuattheafterprty), which is riddled with candids of her and her friends at the DJ booth, you get the itch to go out and dance with her. She’d gladly have you, too; her natural charisma has her befriending people from all over the country and getting invited to perform and mix at all kinds of events. She brings a magnetic, electric energy to the room that draws people physically toward her. Whether it's her fashion, reputation, or mere association, people want to talk to her; they want her opinion; they want her in their content. This effortlessly coolness translates through the screen, making her the perfect candidate for the next “It Girl” of the deck and dance floor. She knows it, and she wants you to know it too.
afterPRTY (middle), surrounded by friends at the DJ booth
afterPRTY and I became friends in 2014 when we were 12 and 11, respectively. Before I met her, she was already making Minecraft parodies of popular songs and posting them on YouTube, which now makes us cringe, but used to make us laugh endlessly. Her songwriting began as an outlet for having fun and messing around. But over the past decade, her lyrics have matured, exploring both glamorous and messy emotions, including yearning, reclaiming her identity, and being the life of the party. “I feel like I've always had a hard time trying to express my feelings,” she says. “With music, I can just sit down, reflect, and write down how I feel, and it helps me understand myself a lot better because I don’t rush it.” While rap holds a special place in her heart as the first genre she worked in, her sound has evolved into a more EDM, nightclub-style sound that gets all the girlies moving. With songs like Dead and Gone and tarot cards, you could easily picture flashing lights, gorgeous girls, and pounding bass that reverberates throughout your body. She makes music to give back to the nightclub scene, wanting to be more than just someone in the background; rather, she’d be the person leading the energy of the function with her musical taste, ensuring everyone has a good time.
afterPRTY creates all of her own album and single covers.
Her humble beginnings started with a Blue Yeti microphone from her dad; when she started taking music seriously, she graduated to a Scarlett Solo interface. At the time, her music school was YouTube; between learning recording techniques, making her own beats, and figuring out how to promote her music, the internet and curiosity helped her get started. DJing is her most recent and rewarding venture, but she recounts how branching out from original projects was a bit scary at first. She explains, “Figuring out how to DJ was definitely one of my biggest hurdles. It was all new to me, but still weirdly familiar since I’m always surrounded by music. But the more I met other artists and listened to mixes on YouTube, it kinda came like bread and butter to me. There were times I’d be mixing in public and fumbled bad, but the idea of pushing through and getting the hang of it was louder. That’s what people hear from me now.” Beyond raw determination, her network of friends and mutuals throughout the Bay Area also helps her grow as an artist, most notably her producer, Telescape, whom she considers more of a friend than a collaborator. Having worked together for only a year, they combine his decade of EDM production expertise with her vision, making their projects even more impressive. Telescape helps her engineer her music, while she now uses her friend’s studio, “The Box”, to record with their equipment. She has said that at least half of her musical knowledge has come from her connections, further proving the importance of collaboration in this industry. Her vast support system is something she is always thankful for and gives back to whenever she can. For example, she’ll invite all her friends to the parties she hosts in San Francisco and San Jose, no matter how far away or not party-oriented they are, so that she can include them in her videos and on social media. She reposts her artist friends’ works and talks about them with so much love and admiration. One of my favorite phrases she’ll say is, “When I’m big, I’m giving all of my friends jobs. Y’all are coming with me on the tour bus.”
afterPRTY and Telescape at the DJ booth
afterPRTY, like any girl in her 20s, has a lot on her plate. Between focusing on her career, friend drama, traveling, working at her family’s restaurant, going back to school, and maintaining her image, it’s a wonder how she still goes out to perform and party. This may be why she keeps her personal life and musician life totally separate. “afterPRTY is definitely an alter ego of mine, like how Beyonce has Sasha Fierce, and Kobe has Black Mamba,” she says. “I think of afterPRTY as the most confident version of myself, the version where I can come out of my shell.” But beyond being confident and having a good ear, she aspires, above all, to put out real, meaningful projects. For instance, her latest single, “see me fall,” is one of her most authentic releases, and she wrote and demoed it in two days.
Photos from her “see me fall” release
For sound and storytelling, she pulls inspiration from The Weeknd, one of her favorite artists. With her vocals and the pop beats she’ll sing over, she aims to paint a picture for listeners, giving off an aura and star status similar to his. In terms of work ethic, her biggest inspiration is Prince, whose vault holds over 100 songs beyond his celebrated discography. Beyond these unreleased tracks, what inspires her is the evident heart and soul in everything he made, and she aims to be as authentic and consistent as he was. She claims, “I don't wanna be the type of person to sulk. I think it's important to process emotions, but even more important to put that energy into work. It's so important to channel that energy into something good instead of bad shit that makes you fall into a rabbit hole. Turn that energy into something beautiful, like art, because it's raw.” True to this logic, one of the biggest lessons she carries is to surround yourself with the kind of energy you want to radiate. If you hang around performative, close-minded people, you won’t grow. Her biggest advice for artists on a similar path is simple- be curious. In the music industry and in her position, you get the most out of your time if you ask questions, stay persistent, and believe that your work matters. If your sound and look are unapologetically you, you’re on the right track, and you're someone afterPRTY would want to have at her next set.
afterPRTY’s new single, “SIX SPEED feat. Daviigelato”, is out this month.
Her music trajectory this year is already on an exponential climb, with a new single, “SIX SPEED feat. Daviigelato”, being released this week, and a new EP release that she’s particularly excited about. The latter will feature much more EDM, which will be perfect once it's warm enough to wear club outfits again! If you’re in San Francisco in early April, she’ll be opening for Badger, a DJ from the UK. afterPRTY is going to take over your pregame (and workout, driving, the list goes on) playlists, I’m calling it now. On a personal note, I’m incredibly proud of her, and I can’t wait to see what crazy text I’ll get next.