In 2016, Nostalgix (Negar Hamidzadeh) started on their DJing journey performing in different clubs and venues across Vancouver, Canada. Then for the next year, she explored mixing other people’s tracks, doing it purely for enjoyment, the learning experience and her love for electronic music. It wasn’t until later, when she had performed at all of her bucket list Vancouver locations, that her mind shifted.

“I wanted to take it to the next level. I was like, you know what? I love DJing, but I want people to be able to come out for a specific song and I want someone to come and yell the words to my song,” Nostalgix said. “ I want that feeling and I don’t wanna just be playing other people’s music.”

After this realization, Nostagix started to produce her own tracks, utilizing her own vocals, and fully dove into the music production process. For the next two years, one would have been hard-pressed to find her outside of the studio. 

For Nostalgix, there are a lot of different elements to being in the studio. Some days it will be purely about the vocals, writing, recording and the engineering of the vocal aspects. Some days are mixing the different parts of a song together. Then one day might just be creating the baseline. 

“I personally love when I get to go into the studio and start a new idea or start a new song,” Nostalgix said. “Because, for me, that’s when I feel the most fulfilled. I don’t necessarily love the end of finishing a song. Because then I get so, nitpicky, and I become such a perfectionist that I’m overthinking everything. But, for me, it’s the process of just getting in the flow.”

A month ago, Nostalgix set out on her Star City tour taking her all over Canada and the U.S. Her tour shares the name of her new six-track EP that was released Feb. 2. Nostalgix describes the EP, along with its associated visuals and the tour, as a world she has created that encompasses who she is as an artist and the messages and inspirations she wants to share with listeners. 

“Before I got into music production, I was studying film production and I wanted to be a director because I love to create things,” Nostalgix said. “I love to tell stories—I feel like with this EP I was able to put in the time to create a concept and execute it. What the song sounds like, what the energy of the music is and the story that it tells, and also visually what that looks like. It’s not just an experience sonically, but visually.

The feeling of self-power is the goal of the music for Nostalgix, the music both representing her own coming into the best form of herself and also sharing that with everyone else. Her past has seen her as a people pleaser and never putting herself first. She never saw herself as being in the spotlight. When it comes to DJing, Nostalgix is able to put the work in and put that power into herself and make her own best self. 

“I’ve had to overcome a lot of obstacles to become the best version of myself and to be in the position that I’m in now,” Nostalgix said. “So I want to be able to give back to people and help people know that there’s more out there and you don’t need to settle for where you are at or how good you think you are.”

This year has seen many big moments for Nostalgix, not just her tour. This includes the achievement of two big dreams of hers; getting word that she will be playing at Tomorrowland in Belgium and Ultra Music Festival—two of the first festivals she ever went to. 

“They’ve always been my biggest dreams as an artist. And now that I get to do it this year, it makes me very appreciative ’cause it makes me see how much is really possible,” Nostalgix said.

With these dreams now happening, she wants to spend the next while after this tour working on a lot of new music and evolving her visuals and artist persona, and the overall show she puts on to bring it into that next place. So keep an eye out for what’s next, because it doesn’t stop here. 

​​Are you or someone you know a musician or involved in music? Do you like to talk about your music? Well, email [email protected] and potentially be featured in the column After the Show.