Meet the Winner of The Blessed Madonna & Kylie Minogue’s “Edge of Saturday Night” Global Remix Challenge

Following the release of The Blessed Madonna’s eagerly anticipated debut album, Godspeed, this past October, The Beatport Grouped teamed up with the house sensation and Warner Music to present an immense Global Remix Challenge for the album cut "Edge of Saturday Night" — a track that features none other than the UK pop icon, Kylie Minogue.

After receiving over 1,350 remix submissions for this golden opportunity to win a dream studio prize package worth over $10,000, Beatport, Warner Music, and The Blessed Madonna spent many hours sorting through these impressive reworks and have selected two-runners up, and our grand prize winner.

Congratulations to Copenhagen's Emmil and Denver-based DJ/producer Rezonite for making it to the top three selected tracks and taking home our runners-up prize!

And our Grand Prize Winner is... San Diego-based DJ/producer Miko Aguliar (AKA Qolaj)!

Following the news of his win, we caught up with Qolaj to learn more about his musical journey and his winning remix, which you can listen to below.

Hey Qolaj! Congratulations on winning Beatport's Global Remix Challenge! How are you feeling, and how do you plan to celebrate?

I feel great! It was amazing to wake up to this news! I listened to my remix on repeat while getting ready this morning. I’ll celebrate by trying to play as many songs from The Blessed Madonna’s album as I can at my five-hour set this weekend.

Tell us a bit about your musical background growing up in the Philippines and how things evolved after moving to Southern California.

My musical journey started with grunge and then nu-metal. I was in bands playing bass professionally, touring the Philippines and the rest of Asia. I was aware of electronic music because of Prodigy, The Chemical Brothers and the Spawn soundtrack but I didn’t pay much attention because the electronic community in Manila was not very visible. I got into producing when I started writing music for my spoken word performances and scoring films. When I moved here in 2015, I was introduced to the PLUR community and the underground dance culture. That’s when I decided to hone my production skills and learn to DJ as well. I found Dance Music Initiative, a non-profit that gave free weekly DJ lessons. At the same time, I signed-up for mentoring classes with producers like Versus, Ciszak, Laxx and Lektrique. Now, here I am, playing shows in and around San Diego, and releasing music through different labels, hoping to spread the PLUR energy.

Can you walk us through the production process for your "Edge of Saturday Night" remix?

During the conceptualization stage, I drew inspiration from the lyrics, the music video’s punky rebellious energy and Kylie’s edgy vocal performance while keeping The Blessed Madonna’s sonic aesthetic. I really love the idea of “a hot date with your mistakes,” so I imagined how that would sound like: rowdy, sexy, messy and quick. For reference tracks, I used Born Dirty’s “Crazy” and Fred Again’s remix of Joy Orbison’s ”flight fm.” Kylie’s performance of some of the words was super catchy, so I made sure to exploit them in this remix.

What made you decide on a more bass/club music approach to your remix?

I wanted a track that can be easily mixed with other genres, so more DJs can include it in their sets. My goal for this remix is to introduce new ears to The Blessed Madonna and Kylie Minogue, two legends in the dance music community.

Who are three producers that have helped shape and influence your sound?

Pharrell Williams, Rick Rubin, and Claude Von Stroke are three pillars in my spectrum of musical influences.

Who would you pick if you could collaborate with any artist on a track?

My grunge and rock roots are still very strong. I would love to collaborate with Skin from Skunk Anansie, Chino Moreno from Deftones, or Mike Patton of Faith No More. I think their vocal qualities would fit very well with bass music. Also, some soul from younger artists like Clyde and Gracie Lawrence. I think they are the Hall and Oates of this generation, and being associated with them would be amazing.

Who is your dream B2B partner?

Right now, it would be Kyle Watson or Born Dirty. I love their range as producers and DJs. I feel they have good control of the dance floor and I would love to witness them work up close and learn from them.

With 2024 coming to a close, what do you have on the horizon for next year and what are some of your goals?

I have some releases lined-up for next year and gonna keep making more tracks as my influences expand. Some goals include getting support from other DJs, booking small intimate venues, and the growth of my communities, Angry Dog Collective and Dance Music Initiative. One of my missions is to inject Filipino sensibilities into the dance music scene, so expect more Tagalog-language dance tracks soon!

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Check out Qolaj's music on Beatport or follow him on Mixcloud, Facebook, Instagram or TikTok.