Why Tomorrowland 2023 Was the Embodiment of Dance Music's New Golden Era

There’s a lot to be excited about in the world of Tomorrow.

Belgium’s Tomorrowland is more than just another festival. It’s a barometer for the current and future direction of electronic dance music at large.

This year the fantastical sights were grander, the crowds more globally representative and the sets performed with seemingly higher stakes than ever before in Tomorrowland’s history. There’s a feeling of euphoria in the air when it comes to the subject of electronic music in 2023, and it’s borne out in the numbers as the industry surges past pre-pandemic economic highs.

While it was hard to visualize at the time, David Guetta’s late-2021 comments stating that the best times in dance music history would arrive immediately after the pandemic have aged quite well.

The Mainstage of Tomorrowland 2023.

Tomorrowland

To support the demand, Tomorrowland is actively investing back into their brand. Every turn yields a new attention-grabbing sight, be it the coordinated waterworks at the Crystal Garden stage, the mind-bending visuals of Eric Prydz’s HOLO or the cinematic splendor of Tale of Us inside the Freedom Stage complex.

With over 10 stages boasting the corps d’elite of dance music, there’s endless ways to forge your personal journey on any given weekend of Tomorrowland.

Eric Prydz’s HOLO at Tomorrowland 2023.

Tomorrowland

There’s arguably no festival that commits to its theme with the fervor of Tomorrowland—and it all starts with the festival’s Mainstage. This year, the megastructure took the form of a multi-story castle equipped with a finely-tuned assembly of lights and pyrotechnics that sought to keep the flow of the action consistently fresh in support of the artists on its towering stage.

Tiësto, Martin Garrix, The Chainsmokers and more made the highlight reel with IDs in tow and show-stopping surprise guest appearances, such as Kid Cudi, who made a special cameo during Steve Aoki’s set. The byproduct of this positive feedback loop between the talent and the festival is a truly immersive experience that makes the fans feel like the main characters in an electronic music fairytale.

The Mainstage of Tomorrowland 2023.

Bryan Dellosa

Stylistically, Tomorrowland has historically skewed towards highlighting the mainstage sounds of the moment. In the midst of EDM’s current state of evolution, it was techno and hard dance that emerged as favorites.

The rise of the underground to the highest echelons of the festival circuit was highlighted in no small part by Hardwell’s seismic big room techno set to close out the Mainstage and Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike’s hardstyle-induced shockwaves rippling through the frenzied festival crowds.

It can be a challenge to make broad generalizations on the global state of dance music in any given weekend, let alone with limited anecdotal evidence and data. But no matter your favorite DJ or musical preference, the all-consuming experience of Tomorrowland is bound to leave fans hard-pressed not to feel optimistic about where the genre is headed. 

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LMFAO Member Redfoo Taps Sak Noel For Latin House Remix of Collab with Dainjazone, “Long Live Party Rock”


There’s a certain undeniable effect that LMFAO has had on electronic music in the US that will stand the test of time. Their bright and electrifying tunes helped fuel parties all over the USA. Co-founding member Redfoo hasn’t lost his lively spirit, and after recently returning with a collaboration with Dainjazone titled “Long Live Party Rock”, he’s now tapped Sak Noel for a vibrant latin house remix that is purely irresistable.

Adding a spicy twist to this club anthem is the remix by Sak Noel, the Latin Grammy Nominee and multiple times Gold & Platinum certified DJ. Known for his pioneering fusion of electronic music with Latin vibes, Sak Noel, the first Spanish DJ to hit #1 on the UK Singles Chart, has released this remix to his massive followership, garnering over a million impressions in just a few weeks.

Check it out below!



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A $52 Million Adults-Only Mini Golf Course With Live DJs is Coming to Vegas

Vegas has landed a hole-in-one with Swingers Crazy Golf, an adults-only miniature golf course coming to the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.

Featuring five courses, the 21-and-up “crazy golf” experience will take over 40,000 square feet of space inside the resort, Swingers recently announced.

There won’t be any shushing here as live DJs spin dance music throughout. And since liquid courage is par for the course in Vegas, caddies will deliver themed cocktails to players as well as bites from Vegas street-food vendors.

An artist’s rendering of Swingers Crazy Golf in Las Vegas.

Swingers Crazy Golf

Swingers recently raised $52 million to fund an expansion and open the new Vegas course, which is expected to debut in the spring of 2024. Its proprietors already own and operate locations in London, New York and Washington D.C. after launching in East London in 2014 as a humble pop-up.

“Our journey to becoming a global brand in some ways feels meteoric, until you consider the ten years that it has taken to get here!” said Matt Grech-Smith, Swingers co-founder and CEO. “We never anticipated as we opened our pop-up in a London warehouse in 2014, that ten years later we would be opening in Las Vegas—it has been an incredible journey.”

Swingers Crazy Golf is also teeing up a new location—its first franchise—in Bluewaters Island, Dubai next spring, the company said in a news release. They are projecting a $60 million boon this year and expect to reach at least 15 locations by 2026, forecasting $150 million in annual revenue.



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The Epic Return of HARD Summer to Los Angeles [Event Review]


HARD Summer and Insomniac Events made their triumphant return to the city of Los Angeles this past weekend. It was the first full scale electronic music festival to be held in the city in a decade; the first since HARD Summer last took place at LA State Historic Park in 2013.

The city has been warming up for this; Kaskade and deadumau5 played a full show at the Coliseum last December, and Insomniac has been hosting events at “The Torch”, the Coliseum’s northeast entrance. However, this was the first multi-day festival to be held on the Exposition Park grounds since EDC back in 2010. Overall, the weekend was a huge success and is hopefully the runway for more Los Angeles-based events. Since this was a completely new setup, there’s a lot to get into.

The Festival Layout

HARD Summer has been at the familiar NOS Events Center the past two years, and it occupied the Fontana Speedway, three of the four years prior to that. Insomniac went absolutely huge with the festival layout for the return to Los Angeles. The HARD stage occupied the entire area behind both the Coliseum and the BMO Stadium, with MLK Blvd running along the south end of the festival.

Headliners could walk into both of the aforementioned venues and not only easily access the floor, but just chill and sit in the bountiful grandstands that both stadiums provided. The HARD stage was the very first place headliners walked in and gaining access to the Green (Coliseum), Purple (BMO Stadium) and Pink stages was super easy. Getting from HARD to HARDer was a little bit of a walk, however, no one got lost here. VIP headliners also got access to an incredible air-conditioned area inside BMO. No bottlenecks, easy to move around, 9/10.

The Stages

It’s tough to compare the HARD stage to stages at festivals like EDC or Tomorrowland which all have very unique themes. Over the years, what’s made HARD unique is that it really doesn’t have any type of aesthetic, other than backyard summer BBQ, however, that doesn’t mean that HARD doesn’t have impressive production. In fact, the HARDer, Green and Purple stages all had mind-blowing production. The HARDer stage kind of resembled the Ultra Europe stage. The stage was divided into two horizontal rows of video panels extending outwards and curving inwards behind the DJ booth. Rows of lights illuminated the columns in between the LED panels. Getting up close, you got absolutely lost in the stage design.

The Green stage inside the Coliseum had an absolutely massive scope. The stage featured a square video panel border extending out and getting bigger in three different rounds of panels. Lasers and pyro made the stage come alive at night, and being inside the massive Coliseum gave the Green stage a scope that the HARDer stage didn’t have.

Same for the Purple Stage inside the BMO, which is a brand new, world class stadium. The stage featured massive diamond shaped video boards protruding out into the crowd. The main video board behind the stage showcased all the madness that was going on. For Diplo b2b Blond:ish, they even had a basketball hoop set up for each DJ to shoot free throws on whilst the other one spun. Maybe one of the greatest setups I’ve ever seen.

While the HARD stage was massive, it lacked the grandness and creativity of the other stages. It was the same trapezoidal design that’s featured each of the past couple years at NOS. I love the red and the added lasers were much appreciated, but, at a stage where the average headliner was probably really far away from the stage, it felt small. The sound was not impeccable either.

Metro came in clutch

If you’re a veteran SoCal raver like me, you’re probably very familiar with that dreadful drive from LA to San Bernardino. It can approach two hours, if you’re like me, you’re staying at a Motel 6 or Comfort Inn somewhere in the Inland Empire, it’s a lot to get out there for a two or three day festival. This year it appears that local headliners overwhelmingly took advantage of public transportation and took the Metro to Downtown Los Angeles. For $3.50 a day you rode maybe 30-45 minutes worry free to and from the venue. No searching for parking, no expensive rideshares; if you didn’t take the Metro down to the festival…well, kudos to you for spending unnecessary money. And, although it was hot in DTLA, low 90’s, it was nothing like San Bernardino, which experienced triple digit heat both days of the weekend.

The Lineup

There’s never really been a bad HARD lineup, HARD has always been known for having some of the most eclectic and unique lineups across all festivals. There are always HARD stalwarts like Diplo, Skrillex, Dillon Francis, Flosstradamus, however, this year, the festival went in on unique b2bs and appealed to the older millennial in all of us. Kaskade b2b John Summit and Skrillex b2b Four Tet were the headliners this year. One difference between HARD and other Insomniac festivals, best believe there is a designated headliner.

Hip-hop was also well represented with 21 Savage and Kid Cudi each taking over the Purple Stage. Early 2000s favorites Fat Joe and Ludacris also performed. Ludacris’s performance was notable as he absolutely packed out the HARDer stage. Seemingly every millennial in Los Angeles was there. Disco was also strongly represented at the festival with Yung Bae at the HARD stage and Jungle at the Purple stage. You never know who will be headlining HARD, but you know it will always be good.

Areas the Could Use Some Improvement

Alright it’s come to that time where I have to call some things out. In this case, there were only two things that stood out to me, but they stood out big time. Obviously, there’s going to be growing pains with a new festival location, but these need to be addressed.

First, the bottleneck at the entrance. While there was nothing wrong with walking down Bill Robertson Ln from the Metro stop, or wherever you may have parked, there were basically 2 VIP entrances and 8 GA entrances to the entire festival. That’s a fraction of what is usually available at NOS Events Center or previously at the Fontana Speedway were there were multiple entrances. It was completely unorganized getting into the venue and I’m sure plenty of people just walked past the hearty staff who were wristbanding. Maybe open up more entrances on MLK Blvd? But, there needs to be more room for ingress and a more orderly way to get wristbanded.

Second, the VIP section at the HARDer stage. It’s tough to complain about any VIP area, after all, you’re there. But, if you paid for HARD VIP and spent any decent amount of time at the HARDer stage, you were vastly disappointed. The pool was small and crowded, and similarly to the entrances there were basically six bars serving the entire VIP area; needless to say the lines were not exactly moving smoothly. I understand that space was limited at the event, but the HARDer VIP section did not live up to expectations.

That’s pretty much that on HARD Summer Los Angeles 2023. Despite a couple of missteps, the festival was an overwhelming success. Fingers crossed that HARD maintains its home here in Los Angeles for the foreseeable future. Nothing has been announced yet, but stay tuned to Insomniac’s socials for future updates.



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Zamna Festival Set to Bring the Spirit of Tulum to Miami

From Tulum to Miami, Los Angeles and beyond, Zamna Festival curates vibrant and energetic atmospheres for fans to celebrate life through dance music. 

Beloved for its lush, jungle-inspired locales, Zamna is known for its iconic global events featuring the likes of Tale of Us, RÜFÜS DU SOL, ARTBAT and more. They also bring some of the scene’s most cutting-edge audiovisual production, carefully designed to stimulate the senses while harnessing the mystical spirit of Tulum.

The entrancing Zamna experience is now landing in Miami’s MANA Wynwood on September 2nd for an epic takeover featuring Ann Clue, Moritz Hofbauer (live), Deniz Bul and a headlining set from German electronic music superstar Boris Brejcha.

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The spellbinding sounds of Brejcha’s FCKNG SERIOUS are sure to captivate Miami with the label’s forward-thinking “high-tech minimal” style. Expect an otherworldly techno and minimal house journey complete with eye-popping production, lighting and stage design. Secure your tickets for Zamna Miami here.

The same lineup will also perform in Tulum on August 26th under the Zamna banner, DJing in the heart of the jungle around a beautiful, natural cenote. Tickets are available now. 

FOLLOW ZAMNA FESTIVAL:

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Facebook: facebook.com/zamna.usa
Twitter: twitter.com/Zamnamusic
Website: zamnafestival.com





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Watch Turnstile throw the first pitch at the Baltimore Orioles game


Turnstile had the honour of throwing the first pitch at the Orioles baseball game on Tuesday, August 8 in their hometown of Baltimore, Maryland.

The Baltimore Orioles game against the Houston Astros was held at Oriole Park in Camden Yards. Turnstile walked out to the mound with guitarist Pat McCrory throwing the ceremonial first pitch. His bandmates, frontman Brendan Yates, drummer Daniel Fang and bassist Franz Lyons stood behind him in support.

Speaking to broadcaster Melanie Newman during a pre-pitch interview, McCrory shared that the Orioles are inspiring some songs after he was asked what they would write in a song about the baseball team.

“Their season right now is inspiring some songs. We honestly might have a demo already somewhere waiting, you just have them get ahold of us,” he said. The guitarist also took the time to describe his perfect day at an Orioles game, sharing that all he needs is a hotdog, a collectible cup, his mum and his friends.

Yates also added: “We all grew up coming here, so to have family here and to be at the park at an evening game is just a really cool experience. We’re just happy to be here.”

Turnstile recently wrapped up serving as opening support for Blink-182 on their North American tour. They were also nominated for Best Rock Song, Best Rock Performance, and Best Metal Performance at the 2022 Grammy Awards.

Last month, the band had to cancel their London show at Brixton Academy due to the venue’s continued closure.

They also debuted a new song earlier this year called ‘Listening’ as part of the third season of Tim Robinson’s Netflix sketch show I Think You Should Leave.

The show’s fourth episode features a song by a group called The Everything-You-Knows, who are made up of Turnstile’s Yates, McCrory, Fang and Lyons.





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HARD Summer Returns to the City of Angels for High-Flying Festival in Downtown L.A.

HARD Summer stayed true to its name over the weekend, descending on the City of Angels for a momentous return to L.A. after 10 years.

Prior to its start, the festival’s new location had been a hot topic of conversation within the music community. After a decade in San Bernardino, this year’s HARD Summer utilized a brand-new combination of venues with five stages spread out across the campuses of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Exposition Park and BMO Stadium.

Despite the expected logistical headaches, you can always count on HARD to showcase the best and brightest in stateside electronic music. And they did just that on Day 1 as we walked into a ferocious DJ set from EDM.com Class of 2022 star ISOxo. From there, the energy skyrocketed.

What would a music festival be these days without Shaq? DJ Diesel stomped in and tore up the Green Stage, quaking Downtown L.A. with his no-holds-barred brand of dubstep and riddim.

Diesel also showcased a handful of tracks from his upcoming debut album, GORILLA WARFARE, before it destroys the festival circuit like the backboards he used to shatter in his NBA days.

Gina Joy

HARD’s first day came to a close with one of its most anticipated sets, a b2b from Kaskade and John Summit. Despite a gap in age of over two decades, they beautifully bridged the gap of house music’s past and future.

John Summit and Kaskade performing at HARD Summer 2023.

Jamal Eid

While HARD Summer’s return was triumphant in many aspects, there were a few minor hiccups. Many attendees bemoaned the event’s logistical challenges and said its sheer size occasionally led to longer-than-anticipated wait times to enter each stage. However, these minor quibbles did little to dampen the overall spirit of the festival.

Day 2 brought sweltering heat both in the air on the stage. One of the afternoon’s highlights was a spellbinding performance from Giolì & Assia, a rising superstar tandem in the world of electronic music. The EDM.com Class of 2021 duo stunned with their signature sound, a hypnotic blend of house and ambient music.

Giolì & Assia performing at HARD Summer 2023.

Shea Flynn

At nightfall, Flosstradamus and Yellow Claw pulled up for a gigantic headlining b2b set. The influential producers ripped up the Green Stage and dropped a slew of their biggest trap anthems, like the ageless “Prison Riot.”

Yellow Claw and Flosstradamus performing at HARD Summer 2023.

Jake West

Meanwhile, hip-hop icon Kid Cudi was a breath of fresh air on the Purple Stage, where he cycled through his deep catalog of generational hits, including “Day ‘n’ Nite.”

Cudi also played out new music from his upcoming ninth studio album, INSANO. An unquestioned highlight came when he performed a hotly anticipated unreleased track, tentatively called “Wild.”

Kid Cudi performing at HARD Summer 2023.

Shea Flynn

HARD Summer 2023 came to a close with the weekend’s biggest performance, a b2b from Skrillex and Four Tet. They brought it all home with a typically show-stopping DJ set, playing banger after banger before a rollicking crowd. Dubstep, house, moombah, Taylor Swift, you name it—we heard it all.

Skrillex and Four Tet performing at HARD Summer 2023.

Skyler Greene

Fans can sign up for first access to tickets and updates on next year’s HARD Summer here.

FOLLOW HARD SUMMER:

Facebook: facebook.com/HARDFest
Twitter: twitter.com/HARDFEST
Instagram: instagram.com/HARDFEST





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Corey Taylor says “a lot of people” in Iowa “are very ashamed” Slipknot are from there


Corey Taylor has spoken about how people in Slipknot‘s home state of Iowa have reacted to the band over the years.

Taylor has said he reckons that the people of Iowa are still “so mad” about Slipknot’s success, suggesting it was down to the state’s increasing conservatism and the disdain of “bitter” musicians from the area who never had the same level of success.

“We were judged for so fucking long about who we were, I mean we came from The Fringe and what we represented was something that, to do this day, is still anathema to a lot of people in Iowa,” he said in an appearance on the Zach Sang Show.

“There are a lot of people in Iowa that are very ashamed of the fact that Slipknot comes from there and it’s because of this newfound Resurgence and conservative bullshit. As much as Iowa – when I was there – was a purple State it’s very red now and there’s a lot of people who I know who are not happy about it.”

When Sang expressed surprise at people being disappointed in Slipknot hailing from Iowa, Taylor said: “Not if you come from there, not if you know the people. There’s a lot of fucking dicks who still live in Des Moines, Iowa, that are so mad. I know dudes that I’ve known for 30 years, I run into them and they side-eye me hard.

“There’s so many bitter pricks in that goddamn town and and they’re just hanging on you know, like they just don’t want to accept the fact that they didn’t want it [success] as much as we did. And I’m not going to sit here and say that they didn’t deserve it because there were a lot of great bands in this scene that we came out of, but for whatever reason, they didn’t push hard enough and even when we did make it, and we tried to shine that spotlight on the Des Moines scene, because it was almost in a weird way like a pseudo Seattle moment.

“There was a lot of people trolling through Des Moines trying to find the next Slipknot. Everybody who we tried to help blew it, they just didn’t fucking want it as much as we did you know: I mean we would have lived and died for the shit and these guys just thought it was a crumb.”

Taylor also recently spoke out about the recent spate of fans throwing things at artists during shows, describing it as “fucking ridiculous” and arguing that it means “artists aren’t regarded as people anymore”.

Meanwhile, Taylor recently announced an upcoming UK and European tour for his second solo album ‘CMFT2’.

Starting on November 8, the tour will kick off with a show at Leeds’ O2 Academy, followed by a gig in Wolverhampton the following day. From there, the dates will see Taylor make stops in cities including Manchester, Glasgow and London. You can purchase tickets here.





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5 Reasons You Need to Attend Fiji's Your Paradise Festival

If you expend your time, energy, resources and serotonin to a music festival, it should go beyond the music.

Your Paradise fits the bill. Believe it or not, Fiji’s allure doesn’t lie only in its postcard-perfect scenery. The islands become the canvas for this once-in-a-lifetime festival, a breeding ground for transformative shared experiences.

One of the world’s most intimate music festivals, Your Paradise is squarely in a league of its own. It takes place annually on the remote Mamanuca Islands, which can only be described as breathtaking. Located off the coast of Nadi, the sheer natural beauty of the festival’s home of Malolo Lailai, or “The Island of the Resting Sun,” only scratches the surface.

Your Paradise returns from December 10-16, 2023 with a headlining performance from Grammy-nominated superstar Bonobo, who will be joined by TSHA, Koven and Kah-Lo, among many other high-profile artists. Here are a handful of reasons why you need to experience it for yourself.

A new experience in a fossilized festival space

Let’s be honest: today’s stateside music festival blueprint desperately needs a redraft. How many times can you see the same DJs headline corporate festivals that are caricatures of each other?

Many jaded music fans now feel the need to escape to foreign countries to scratch their festival itch as they prioritize unique, community-driven experiences over commercial EDM extravaganzas.

So why not vamoose to Fiji? Having been there ourselves, we can attest there’s no event in the market quite like Your Paradise, which is firmly established as one of the world’s top destination music festivals despite its modest affordability.

“Your Paradise is really, really fun,” Skrillex said after making the trip and performing in 2016. “You’re in Fiji with your best friends. It’s intimate. I don’t know anybody that has gone to Your Paradise that says anything shy of, ‘It was an incredible time.'”

MY Media Sydney

A luxury vacation for a fraction of the price

The aptly-named Your Paradise is as much a honeymoon as it is a music festival, but you won’t break the bank. Imagine staying in a bungalow in the lush Fijian jungle and dancing barefoot on a white-sand beach mere steps away. But at any moment, whisking away to a yacht party, oceanfront DJ set, skydiving excursion or even to a wild dayclub smack dab in the middle of the ocean with nothing around for miles.

Packages are divided into three categories to suit every traveller’s needs: Solo, Couples and Groups. With each package, you can either include flights or opt to go flightless and organize travel using your own points.

Whichever one you choose, all of Your Paradise’s packages include a five-night stay on the island as well as boat transfers, festival passes, access to pool parties and secret afterparties, daily meditation, beach yoga sessions, traditional kava ceremonies, sustainability workshops, tree and mangrove planting, and local village visits. 

The starting price of the flightless option is $1,799 USD. To put that into perspective, the average weeklong honeymoon costs over $5,000, according to The Knot. Moreover, a nationwide survey from Casino.org found that, on average, Americans are willing to spend $728.49 to attend just one dream concert, encompassing the cost of tickets, travel and accommodations.

The Cloud 9 dayclub, or “Fiji’s Floating Paradise.”

MY Media Sydney

Partying with purpose

Since the event’s inception nearly a decade ago, sustainability and altruism have been pillars of Your Paradise. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they delivered over 20,000 meals to Fijian families in need. They also recently become an official member of the Mamanuca Environment Society (MES), a nonprofit founded by local businesses to support the environmental protection of Fiji’s west coast.

Throughout the festival, its organizers host a spate of community-based volunteer programs, like tree-planting sessions to zero out emissions. They also operate a robust environmental program each year with the ultimate goal of donating $15,000 FJD to the MES and planting over 1,500 mangroves and trees.

All shows, parties, add-ons and bars do not offer single-use plastics and all drinks are served in reusable, biodegradable cups.

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Zero-tolerance policy for abusive behavior

Let’s address one of today’s biggest flashpoints in music festival culture: harassment. It’s sad that it’s come to this, but many women find themselves unable to enjoy events—if they even decide to attend them at all.

In a scene where sexual harassment remains rampant, Your Paradise is a rare refuge. The festival has a zero-tolerance policy with regards to threatening or abusive behavior, both physical and verbal. The same goes for excessive intoxication.

“If your behavior is deemed to have the potential to negatively affect another guest’s experience, then the Supplier, at our discretion, may not let you continue with your holiday,” reads Your Paradise’s terms and conditions.

MY Media Sydney

The warmth of the Fijian locals and culture

Fijians are beloved for their kindness, warmth, hospitality and inviting personality. To say that the charismatic locals are happy to have you on the island would be a gross understatement.

You’ll quickly find out the meaning of the word “bula”—a common Fijian phrase that translates to “hello” or “welcome”—and you’ll find yourself mirthfully yelling it throughout your days.

The words “immersive” “and intimate,” on the other hand, have been desperately thrown around by entertainment execs like coins into a wishing well. Your Paradise, however, is a true embodiment of both. Tourists are welcomed with open arms and then immersed into Fiji’s rich culture.

c/o Your Paradise

Follow Your Paradise:

Facebook: facebook.com/YourParadiseFiji
Twitter: twitter.com/yourparadiseexp
Instagram: instagram.com/yourparadise





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Breaking Barriers in Rap: The Inspiring Journey of KILJ


KILJ blazes his own path in the rap world, defying stereotypes along the way. At just 18 years old, KILJ, born Jelani Lofton, offers a refreshingly vulnerable perspective in his music, going beyond surface-level content. Inspired by the candid and genre-melding late rapper Juice Wrld, KILJ makes music with heart, proving age is no barrier to pursuing your passion and making an impact. 

 

Born in Prince George’s County, Maryland, and currently based in Atlanta, Georgia, KILJ began releasing music in January 2019 at just 14 years old. Now at 18, he has achieved impressive feats in his music career. The rapper’s music, which he initially recorded independently in his bedroom, has received over 25 million streams and led to an invite from The Recording Academy to attend the #GRAMMYsNextUp event. Most importantly, KILJ’s music has had an immense personal impact, with the artist often receiving messages from fans sharing how his music saved their lives.

 

KILJ’s journey into making music took root due to his admiration for Juice WRLD. The “Lucid Dreams” rapper, known for hit songs with emotionally raw subject matter, inspired KILJ to believe it was possible to create rap music that went beyond flaunting wealth and focused on more vulnerable themes such as mental struggles.

 

As a multi-talented creative, KILJ juggled school, music, and auditions for TV roles, leaving him stretched thin at times. Despite these challenges, KILJ’s unwavering determination led him to balance his responsibilities, and he managed to graduate high school on time in June 2023.

 

KILJ’s versatile background in the industry sets him apart from other rappers. Before honing in on his rap career, KILJ was a national competitive dancer and a television actor in several TV shows and commercials. With plenty of entertainment industry experience under his belt, KILJ is equipped to navigate the music world and push boundaries in the rap game as a true artist.

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The rapper’s music features authenticity, polish, and infectious beats. From the melodic confidence of “The One” to the buzzing energy of “Militant,” KILJ’s talent is evident. He peels back the curtain of his creative process on his Instagram and TikTok, sharing colorful photos from his time in the studio and video content documenting his journey with his dedicated followers. KILJ’s music can be found on Spotify, where he boasts over 400K monthly listeners.

 

KILJ intends to keep progressing in the rap world and envisions lots of success in his future. He aims to have a song hit the Billboard Hot 100 Chart and dreams of his discography one day including some gold and platinum songs. In a few years, KILJ sees his music career leading to frequent tours where he can more directly inspire and connect with his fans through his memorable music.

 

What started as just KILJ in his bedroom with a mic and free recording software has grown into impressive traction in the music industry at such a young age. Having just graduated this year, the sky’s the limit for KILJ’s music journey.





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