Spotlights On: CloudLifter

Coming Full Circle

Some musicians get the chance to revisit their roots.

For local DJ CloudLifter, that opportunity is coming up in just one week from now, as she plans to play Cadillac Pride Picnic next Saturday. Wrapping up a series of Pride events, including Traverse City shows, including People’s Pride Benefit on June 27th and People’s Pride Beach Takeover on June 28th, this final nod to the celebrations reflects much of where she got her start: DJ gigs with UpNorthPride and other NMC community events. 

An Accidental DJ

CloudLifter got her start in college, roughly three or four years ago, through an unexpected route.

“I actually had no idea what DJing was and was not remotely interested because I didn't know what it was,” she described. “I was sort of into electronic music, I was into pop music and stuff, but I was in the audio tech program at NMC, so I was getting more familiarized with music and technology and all that. They had gear in the back, and I was always just looking at what they had. They had an SRT DDJ 1000, and I saw it in its huge case. I didn't know what any of that meant, but I was just like, ‘oh, I want to see what this looks like with its lights turned on.’”

CloudLifter playing a live set.

From there, the learning began. She figured out what software she needed to download to her laptop before plugging it in and experimenting with the controller itself, and soon, everyone around her awarded her the title of “DJ.”

“The way things were at college was everyone's doing music, everyone wants to jam, everyone wants to do a show. So people just saw me messing around with the equipment and wanted to put on shows and stuff. I was like, yeah, sure, I'll try that out, and it's just kind of been like that ever since,” she recounted.

Defining Genre: Who Knows What That Means?

Another thing that hasn’t changed? The way she defines herself as a DJ.

“Anytime people were trying to ask me, ‘What kind of DJ are you?’ I'm like, I don't know what that means,” she said. “I'd say I'm still all over the place. I don't think there's a point in naming one genre or style. I think even the people that do say that they are one genre, one style, aren't really. We're all just DJs. We're all just artists. We're all just doing us, you know?”

One of her main DJ features is keeping her mind open to what might seem like unexpected mixes, including music that “isn’t DJable.” For a summer, this meant taking Rihanna’s well-known hip-hop track “Bitch Better Have My Money” and mixing it with the official Korn remix, before tying in A.G. Cook’s rendition of it and finishing it with a pop artist like Addison Rae.

“I guess I've always called myself techno, or sometimes pop, especially when I know that what I'm playing is absolutely not pop. I think it just comes back to me thinking that genres are kind of pointless. I used to always put in my bio whatever extremely niche genre I was into, just to see how silly it felt to label myself as that,” she narrated. “I feel like I'm just going with the flow, pretty much. I'm just allowing myself to just accept whatever's given to me.”

Originally a jazz drummer throughout high school, her musicality soon took many forms, from an interest in electronic music to exploring pop and punk and indie music. As it turns out, the multi-genre background has served as a launch point. 

“I have a great appreciation for improvisation, just getting weird with whatever you're doing, because, at the end of the day, as long as it's just an expression of yourself still, that's what matters,” she detailed. “I think that's letting me be more relaxed when I'm DJing, kind of careless if I feel like I'm doing something that is unconventional or strange. I just allow myself to be like that, because I've just, you know, been around a lot of unconventional music and strange stuff. I don't want to try and reduce or take that out.”

That same open-mindedness shows up in where she plays, not just what she plays, as she’s explored everything from DJ’ing club sets to beach parties to even ecstatic dance events.

“When I say club sets, I guess I just refer to playing in a more dance music environment, whether that's like the Coin Slot, being on a stage, people grooving and shit. I got asked to do ecstatic dance and I had no idea what that even was,” she said. “I sat in on it and I was like, this looks completely different from what I do, but I really want to try it because I have a lot of love for, you know, more ambient music and just playing acoustic songs, but through a DJ board. It seemed like the opportunity to express myself in a way that I don't usually get to, so I'm just like, ‘why not jump at that?’”

Staying True to the Sound in a Tourist Town

In her experience, Traverse City can pose some limits on experimentation due to the lack of gigs, as well as the tourist audience, who typically have a set expectation in place when they go out to enjoy a live set. 

A peek into where to see one of her sets this summer.

“There's not a whole lot of places to play, but I'm still, like, grateful for where I can play, and the

crowd is one thing. I remember really struggling with some gigs at the start because, you know, I've always played how I play, not really substituting how I would express myself when I'm DJing. That can be difficult sometimes when we just live in a tourist town, where there's a lot of tourists that don't really want to see any of that kind of weird stuff,” she said. “I have a lot of opportunities where I'm just playing a lot of the different worlds of music that I really love and cherish. So it's nice that I get to have that space to express that.

“I've been fortunate enough to have people around me who do love what I do and do want to show up and support. And even if no one likes it, I like it, and I feel like that matters. Especially when it comes to art; all art should be for you first, not for being perceived well by others,” she finished.

For CloudLifter, a good set doesn’t necessarily have a set goal. Instead, she finds joy in working the crowd: starting with vibe-setters, and slowly working her way up into more and more creative remixes as the energy heightens. 

“[When I DJ] I hope I made someone’s day,” she said. “And if not, that’s okay, but if that is the case, that’s cool too.”

To experience the positive energy and experimentation live, check out Cadillac’s Pride Picnic next weekend at Diggin’s Hill Tennis Courts from 11am-4pm.

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Catch CloudLifter at an upcoming show by keeping up with her on Instagram, or visit our calendar of events to see what else she has coming up.