Ranked as one of the top party schools in the country, the University never lacks entertainment with its plethora of music venues. From bars to frats to house shows, there’s something for everyone.
Club music has had its mainstream resurrection with 2024’s brat summer, ushered in by Charli xcx’s newest album. It would seem that club music is trending, with electric beats and a rhythm made for dancing. DJing has become a popular hobby, with celebrities like actor Idris Elba, Elijah Wood and Paris Hilton picking it up. Even the University’s own Canopy Club hosted fitness influencer Sommer Ray last month.
EDM has begun to grow in popularity across campus, adding a new layer to the University’s infamous party scene. Those tired of the bars and house shows can find somewhere new in the revived EDM community on campus.
“I think it’s building back up,” said Ja’Naea Modest, DJ and professor in FAA. “I mean, there are DJs everywhere now.”
About 15 years ago, Modest got her start in the world of DJing in the wake of a car accident. Since then, she’s paved her way as one of the premier female DJs in central Illinois, and she actively works to make the world of EDM a more inclusive space for young women.
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Five years into her career, Modest started She Spins Camp, a DJ camp for girls, to help them break into the male-dominated field.
“I didn’t want other kids that looked like me, little girls, to go through the same things I did,” Modest said. “It helped me to make it count, so in my fifth year, I started She Spins Camp.”
Modest teaches MUS 128: DJing I, a new course offered for the first time in Spring 2025. The course teaches students a foundation for DJing and hip-hop. She also works full time as a professional DJ, under the name DJ Silkee.
Many of Modest’s students have become interwoven into the DJ community on campus — a vast and expansive one, cultivating a love for EDM across personalities and disciplines.
“The DJ community on campus is really popping off,” said Adam Freeman, senior in Media. “It’s flourishing. It’s doing really well.”
Freeman, who goes by the name Adam Atrix, has been a DJ for the past four years. He mixed his first track in October of 2021 and has since released nine singles on Spotify and performed at popular places around Champaign-Urbana, like Gaybar and Gallery Art Bar. He also won Best of CU’s Best Local DJ this year.
“There’s DJs of all ranges here, and all genres,” Freeman said. “I really feel like there’s such a plethora of people DJing here. It’s really beautiful.”
This sense of community is the tie that binds the tight-knit community of student DJs together, and is something felt by all involved — performer and audience alike.
“It’s a really cool community on campus,” said Carson Boggs, senior in Business. “You really get a chance to know people.”
Boggs has DJed for the past two years. In March, Boggs opened for University alum John Summit, a well-known professional DJ with more than 10 million monthly listeners on Spotify.
When he’s not opening shows for world-renowned DJs, Boggs performs at places like Joe’s Brewery and The Canopy Club. He cites his sound as being inspired by Chicago house music, with a hint of the EDM scene in Amsterdam.
“Chicago house music has one type of sound, which is totally unique from what they might be playing in Europe,” Boggs said.
Each DJ brings a unique sound to the turntable, and despite the University’s proximity to Chicago, the EDM scene on campus is versatile, with artists finding their inspiration in a wide variety of musical traditions.
Artists on campus, many who’ve dug their niche closer to the house show scene, utilize the elements of UK garage in their music — a European genre that finds its roots in 1990s dance-pop R&B.
“Right now, the two big genres I’m playing are hard groove techno and UK garage,” said Jason Miles, senior in LAS.
Miles started DJing in Fall 2024 through the Electronic Music club on campus. Miles has performed under his DJ name, ILOVECAUSINGDRAMA, at The Canopy Club, many house show venues, and holds a weekly slot at the student-run radio station, Pizza.fm.
“I feel like the scene with the house shows here is, like, primed for a surge of techno,” Miles said. “Specifically techno.”
Aditi Khandelwal, sophomore in Information Sciences and FAA, is another new DJ in the house show scene, and started her career in October 2024.
Khandelwal got her start in DJing at 14, playing with the blend feature on Spotify. It felt rewarding to her in a way that things like piano never had, so in college, she decided to pursue it.
“Obviously, people are going to dance to Charli xcx, Lady Gaga — those are safe options,” Khandelwal said. “But, I’m trying to get people to discover new music.”
Khandelwal grew up listening to music in Hindi and Spanish, both of which she incorporates into her sets.
“I’ve been able to introduce some Bollywood music,” Khandelwal said. “There’s a huge Indian population, and we have so much culture as Indians, but there’s not much introduction here. So I have my sets, and I’m able to bring in some of my culture, which is something that I enjoy because sometimes people enjoy it.”
Like many other DJs, Khandelwal has always felt a strong connection to music.
“All my life I’ve been very, very into music,” Khandelwal said. “But it’s never playing an instrument.”
The love for music is the universal thread that connects all DJs, with or without backgrounds in performance music. It’s a sentiment echoed by all — Freeman has a background with theatre, Boggs grew up going to music festivals, and Modest dreamed of opening a club. Everyone in the DJ community is connected to music, connected through music and connecting to others with their music.
“Just to get that natural high of people having fun, that’s the main reason I like DJing,” Modest said. “It’s not about the money, it’s not being the number one person in the room, it’s not about that. It’s just seeing people get together and have a good time.”
