Denitza Todorova, native of Bulgaria, chose Berlin as her new hometown seven years ago. Now, she calls herself DENA and plays music which can basically be described as kick ass cool. If you know your way around the depths of YouTube, then, on the rare occasion that the sun actually comes out, you've hopefully sung along to her incredible ear worm “Cash, Diamond Rings, Swimming Pools“. If you haven't, then all you need to know is that DENA manages to blend together rap, late 90s dance and R'n'B vocals with a pinch of East European folklore. Everyone in Germany is totally in love with her, which is why we decided to ask her to make us a mixtape. While doing so, we also sat down to ask her how she gained a foothold in the Berlin music scene and why she doesn't care about music trends.YNTHT: You are often called upon for effectively fusing late 90s and early 2000s R'n'B and hip hop. At least, it's what I think about when I listen to your music. Were you aiming for that sound?DENA: That’s interesting. I have no idea, to be honest! All this talk about eras… I try not to have any time references with the stuff I write. There’s only one track on the album that sounds like the 90s to me and I am going to change it a little. There are bands out there that always point at certain retro trends, but I try to get out of the way of that. It can be funny for a while or ironic or whatever. But I find this nostalgia trend a bit weird. Even if it’s totally hip at the moment to look like TLC in “No Scrubs”, I’m always like “Erm, okay. Why this all the time?”Do you find it strange because the 90s music and style don’t mean anything to you or do you simply find the repetitive nostalgia odd?
When I started writing I didn’t have any references at all. It might sound weird but it’s true. In the studio they always asked me “What’s your reference?” and I was like “What reference?” There are lots of people who work like that. I always found it odd when people wanted me to send them stuff I’m into so they could imagine how something should sound. I never understood what that sound had to do with my shit. I just love music, art, and culture in general. Sure you get subtly affected by specific trends and aesthetics, but when I started writing I certainly had no specific time era reference. Songs can wear a whole bunch of different clothes. That’s why I always do acoustic versions and try to think out of my own box.But in a city like Berlin where there is so much going on in the musical scene and new trends are born constantly, do you feel part of that?
The thing is that I tend to check everything with a little delay. The new Kanye West album is out, for example, and I am surely not the only person who has taken this long to listen to it. Sometimes I get a blockade when everybody talks about something and everybody expects me to know what it is. I can see that everybody is talking about it, but it always takes me a while until I want to occupy myself with that. Of course I do have an input, but I don’t search for new trends all the time.Haha, you literally resist noticing new trends.
Yes, in a way. The moment I see something I think to myself, "Cool, that exists.” But, recently, I recognised that I had begun to search for video or music productions that look or sound exactly like I want it to. Simply because it’s much easier and faster for my work. For a real long time I didn’t even know that things work that way.Cool, so tell us about the mixtape you did for YNTHT.
I‘m so happy. I always wanted to do this and last week it finally worked out. I did a Best Of Everything that I had in my mind over the last few months. And I am really happy to have some tracks on it which are like the best hymns of life. Music that brings together the whole universe and is the conclusion of everything.Well, that's the perfect ingredients to making a mixtape. Did you put NY guilty pleasures on it?
No, not really. I dont’t have any guilty pleasures. Well, I didn’t choose Aqua’s “I'm a Barbie Girl“. But I’m really excited; I’m going to fly to Bulgaria now. I hope I won’t realize it too late when it’s online and how people like it while I hang around at the beach.And you're making your new video with us, right?
Oh yes, I’m so excited! It kills me. That’s the real reason why I fly to the beach, because I want to relax. I am so nervous, we just finished the video for my new single. It’s a crazy, sick video. But I don’t want to babble out too many secrets.
2. SpottieOttieDopaliscious - OutKast
3. Stakes Is High (feat. Talib Kweli and Posdnuos) - Miguel Atwood Ferguson
4. La Pinata (prod.by Amaze88) - Kool A.D.
5. Dem Thangs (feat. Q Tip) - Angie Martinez
6. The Motion (feat. Sampha) - Drake
7. Summertime Sadness (Ryan Hemsworth Remix) - Lana Del Rey
8. Ache - Twigs
9. Light As A Feather - Katy B x Diplo x Iggy Azaelia
10. Thin Rope (Stefan Goldmann Remix) - DENA
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When I started writing I didn’t have any references at all. It might sound weird but it’s true. In the studio they always asked me “What’s your reference?” and I was like “What reference?” There are lots of people who work like that. I always found it odd when people wanted me to send them stuff I’m into so they could imagine how something should sound. I never understood what that sound had to do with my shit. I just love music, art, and culture in general. Sure you get subtly affected by specific trends and aesthetics, but when I started writing I certainly had no specific time era reference. Songs can wear a whole bunch of different clothes. That’s why I always do acoustic versions and try to think out of my own box.
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The thing is that I tend to check everything with a little delay. The new Kanye West album is out, for example, and I am surely not the only person who has taken this long to listen to it. Sometimes I get a blockade when everybody talks about something and everybody expects me to know what it is. I can see that everybody is talking about it, but it always takes me a while until I want to occupy myself with that. Of course I do have an input, but I don’t search for new trends all the time.Haha, you literally resist noticing new trends.
Yes, in a way. The moment I see something I think to myself, "Cool, that exists.” But, recently, I recognised that I had begun to search for video or music productions that look or sound exactly like I want it to. Simply because it’s much easier and faster for my work. For a real long time I didn’t even know that things work that way.Cool, so tell us about the mixtape you did for YNTHT.
I‘m so happy. I always wanted to do this and last week it finally worked out. I did a Best Of Everything that I had in my mind over the last few months. And I am really happy to have some tracks on it which are like the best hymns of life. Music that brings together the whole universe and is the conclusion of everything.Well, that's the perfect ingredients to making a mixtape. Did you put NY guilty pleasures on it?
No, not really. I dont’t have any guilty pleasures. Well, I didn’t choose Aqua’s “I'm a Barbie Girl“. But I’m really excited; I’m going to fly to Bulgaria now. I hope I won’t realize it too late when it’s online and how people like it while I hang around at the beach.And you're making your new video with us, right?
Oh yes, I’m so excited! It kills me. That’s the real reason why I fly to the beach, because I want to relax. I am so nervous, we just finished the video for my new single. It’s a crazy, sick video. But I don’t want to babble out too many secrets.
TRACKLIST1. Just What I Am (feat. King Chip) - Kid Cudi
2. SpottieOttieDopaliscious - OutKast
3. Stakes Is High (feat. Talib Kweli and Posdnuos) - Miguel Atwood Ferguson
4. La Pinata (prod.by Amaze88) - Kool A.D.
5. Dem Thangs (feat. Q Tip) - Angie Martinez
6. The Motion (feat. Sampha) - Drake
7. Summertime Sadness (Ryan Hemsworth Remix) - Lana Del Rey
8. Ache - Twigs
9. Light As A Feather - Katy B x Diplo x Iggy Azaelia
10. Thin Rope (Stefan Goldmann Remix) - DENA