Dancing Astronaut recently spoke with Los Angeles based Lauren Abedini, aka KITTENS, about her career, her activism, and her favorite artists.

In addition to her performances at Coachella, KITTENS will also be performing during the Space Yacht takeover at Day Club Palm Springs on April 20th. To win a VIP Package for Day Club Palm Springs, enter the contest here.

We spoke with you in the summer of last year, ahead of your performance at Hard Summer Music Festival. What has changed for you since then?

SO MUCH. I literally feel like my life changed so quickly. Mentally I feel just like a more grounded balanced person. I went on my first bus tour with RL Grime and Gravez which was incredible. I’m playing Coachella. I’m playing EDC. I got a Vegas residency. I’ve got releases in the works with two of my favorite labels, Fool’s Gold and Insomniac. I’ve been able to focus on activism and charity work which is my deepest passion. I redecorated my house lol. I just feel GOOD. Like life is so good.

What’s your touring schedule looking like through the rest of the year?

Ima be everywhere.

What does the LA Club scene look like these days?

Honestly, I haven’t been going out in LA that much. I’ve kind of just been trying to stay home and work on music and my self growth. When I do go out it’s usually more of a party situation versus a club situation. So the music and vibe is a bit different but in a really refreshing way.

You made some great artist predictions when we asked last. Who are you co-signing the most these days?

I stan RL Grime so I’m super excited for his new album to come out. I really love this rapper Flipp Dinero who I actually have featured on one of my tracks. Gravez continues to just release fire. I’m super excited to see him get more and more recognition.

You are a self-described “Intersectional Feminist.” This is a highly evolved view on the matter, but can you spell out what that means for everyone?

Intersectionality is complicated but simple. It basically means you take into account all the other factors that might make someone’s life a bit more difficult. Like for example, ya, women face inequality, but a black woman who is living below the poverty line without access to resources is ABSOLUTELY going to deal with more inequality and struggles than say a rich white woman. So then when we want to talk about progress and how to move towards equality, we don’t just leave the conversation at “women need to be paid the same as men” for instance, we factor in ALL the different levels of oppression people face and address how to fix those too. It also means people with less struggles should check their privilege. Like my life isn’t as hard as a darker skinned butch woman for example. 

Another huge part about intersectional feminism is that we focus on issues outside of women. LGBT, race, poverty, gender…all these things can affect how difficult the lives of HUMANS are, so taking time to educate people on being compassionate to all of those bits will eventually lead us towards true equality. It helps men, it helps women, it helps people who don’t identify as either. In simple terms, intersectionality helps everyone be aware and compassionate of other peoples struggles in life.

Billboard recently featured you along with Krewella and Dani Deahl on “Dance Music’s Gender Gap in the Age of #TimesUp and #MeToo.” What’s been the reaction since that was published?

So far so good! I think it was an important conversation to have. I’m glad we were able to focus on progress and “how do we move forward” topics versus just how messed up things can be. Also it was just really amazing to connect with such dope women.

Are you seeing growth in your PWR series? What do you think is causing that change?

PWR is booming more of a social movement outside of just the charity DJ women’s workshops. This year I’m going to be launching PWR 2.0 basically which will really focus on those intersectional issues and focus on educating everyone in simple to understand ways. I’m really really excited. I feel like this is my main purpose in life so I can’t wait to share it.

What’s coming up from you on the music front?

STUFF COMING OUT lol 

Releasing a couple little projects that I’m excited about because I’ve literally been working on making stuff I like for YEARS and I finally feel like I’ve made stuff that I’m like “OK this is good this is ok enough to put out! I don’t hate it!” which is a big deal when you’re the most hyper critical person ever.

Anything else you want to impart to the DA fam?

2018 is a cool ass year.

Thanks KITTENS, keep doing you in 2018!

Tags: coachella, day club, interview, Kittens, palm springs

Categories: Features