Meet the Artists of Beatport Next’s Class of 2023

Beatport has a proud history of helping grow the careers of up-and-coming dance music artists. First launched in 2021, Beatport’s accelerator program for emerging artists, Beatport Next, has given numerous acts a significant career boost, providing them with the promotional tools they need to amplify their sound and introduce them to audiences worldwide.

Over the course of the next 12 months, Beatport will provide the eight members of its Beatport Next Class of 2023 with homepage features, banners, and eye-catching placement for new releases throughout its store, featured playlists, editorial coverage on Beatportal, live streams, and social media support.

In 2022, Beatport Next selected eight extraordinary acts – 8Kays, AMÉMÉ, Emily Nash, Jaden Thompson, Marina Trench, Nia Archives, Nikki Nair, and Risa Taniguchi – and championed their projects to Beatport’s global DJ and fan community through its diverse features and offerings. Over the 12 months of the 2022 Beatport Next program, its eight artists saw a 353% increase in Beatport store revenue and a 213% increase in Beatport followers.

After completing its extensive selection process, Beatport is thrilled to announce eight new acts hailing from all corners of the globe, all with a broad spectrum of sounds, that will make up the Beatport Next Class of 2023.

Meet the artists below.

ANNĒ

Born and raised in Thessaloniki, ANNĒ is a promising upcoming talent fully dedicated to techno music and developing her career as a DJ & producer. Her love for music grew as she began raving at a young age, eventually inspiring ANNĒ to create music of her own. Now, ANNĒ worthily represents the techno scene in her country with her powerful sets. Pumping with never-ending dynamics, ANNĒ is focused on the perfect interaction with the crowd.

Closet Yi

Closet Yi is a DJ and producer based in Seoul, South Korea. Her career at the Hyundai Card Music Library as a resident DJ and librarian for two years has influenced her to go beyond dance music genres, and to expand her passion further through traditional and modern Korean sounds, otherworldly music and rare archived samples. Closet Yi is the kind of DJ you might find spinning in a dusty record bar in Seoul, or playing to a thousand people on a Funktion-one sound system.

Coco & Breezy

Coco & Breezy are Producers & DJs and the fiercely stylish twins behind their multifaceted brand. Their musical journey was influenced by their family and grew into a deep passion for dance and dance music culture. Fast forward, post moving to New York to launch their eyewear company, C&B submerged themselves into changing the face of dance music and what it means to be a technically accomplished Afro-Latina women DJs and producers: paying homage to the classic but pushing boundaries for the new.

Confidential Recipe

Getting his start in the electronic music scene as an ambassador of rave culture in Maracaibo (Venezuela), Carlos, previously known as DJ Cuyi, has always found his interest extremely close to the dancefloor. After being at the forefront of the Hard Techno scene in his home country for more than a decade, he is now based in Bogota, Colombia. Here, Carlos found comfort in a new sound, a new aesthetic, and a new alias that references the core of his influences as a young raver. Confidential Recipe is the outcome of a lifetime of explorations in the raw sounds of Techno, Jacking, House, and Electro.

HoneyLuv

Hailing from Cleveland, Ohio and now based in Los Angeles, California, HoneyLuv has created a name for herself in the DJ world. After the success of her 2022 tracks “Your Tongue” and “Thr33 6ix 5ive,” the year continued by taking the music scene via storm with “Sway” feat. Dope Earth Alien, which gained a “hottest record” accolade on BBC Radio 1. She has remixed the likes of Seth Troxler, Melle Brown, Annie Mac and Will Clarke, while also touring alongside championed dance music acts such as The Martinez Brothers, Nicole Moudaber, Kevin Saunderson, Maya Jane Coles, Loco Dice, Idris Elba and more. Having also been announced as a Future Star of 2023 on BBC Radio 1 by Danny Howard, HoneyLuv is set to leave her stamp on many of the most notable clubs and festivals worldwide this year.

Junior Simba

Junior Simba is a breakout DJ and producer who’s sound truly draws from the elements of his rich musical background. Originally from Zimbabwe, Junior was brought up surrounded by the sounds of Rhumba, Kwaito and Afro-house. Once exposed to the UK electronic scene when he moved to Leeds in his late teens, his passion for producing and DJing really took flight. These distinctive influences combined create an abundance of inspiration, merging into a sound sitting somewhere between dark, tense Amapiano and cosmic, zero-G Afrobeat, all wrapped with levels and levels of futuristic soul. From Zimbabwe to Leeds UK, Junior Simba is making moves as one of the leading lights in the new wave of house and dance fusionists infiltrating post-lockdown line-ups.

Lens

A devout raver and card-carrying music nerd long before she burst onto the drum & bass scene in 2018, when Lens looks out on the dance floor, she sees herself. Nothing is off-limits when the young Brighton artist is in the mix as she joins dots beyond subgenres with sudden twists into other styles from hip-hop to grime to dubstep. It’s why she’s rocketed up the ranks with such authority, catching the attention of major league D&B brands like Hospitality and Spearhead Records along the way. As a raver and a music nerd, Lens is a DJ who can look a dance floor in the eye and know exactly what they need to hear.

Mala Ika

Born and raised in Guadeloupe, Mala Ika is a French DJ and producer. Her passion for digging electronic music led to her becoming one of the founders of the Media be weird and the label Weirdos Records. Known for being a workaholic and creative, she provides spicy and original music influenced by her love of South African Afro House and Detroit techno. After a few years and an intense lockdown, she is back with a vision, using her geekiness and love of pop culture to hone her new indie dance style.