HNTR’s Remix of “Stephanie” By Cloonee is #1 on Beatport

Beatport just crowned its newest #1: Cloonee, Young M.A, InntRaw - “Stephanie” (HNTR Remix).

Cloonee’s original came out in December of 2024, just as everything was slowing down for the holidays, but the song still managed to make a dent in Clubland, earning millions of on-demand streams. Well, that dent was so deep that now HNTR has remixed the single into a version that leans hard on the “tech” side of tech house.

Where the original applied Cloonee’s hallmark tight grooves as a hotbed for the wavy rhymes of modern rappers Young M.A and InntRaw, HNTR’s take drills down the bassline into a marching rhythm while adding gritty rumbles and more distorted buzz to the breakdown.

Leading off the release of this remix, HNTR debuted HNTRNEXT: IRL, his brand new audiovisual show, at DPRTMNT Toronto. The set celebrated 10 years of his No Neon events, and, in partnership with Beatport, the full set is now available to watch on YouTube. 

In addition, we caught up with HNTR to learn about his immense chart-topping track came to be, and to find out more on what he has in store for us this year. Check out the Beatport livestream and our interview below.

Hey HNTR, congratulations on your latest Beatport #1! How are you feeling about it, and have you had a chance to celebrate yet?

Thanks so much! It’s been quite surreal to achieve so many of my long-term goals in such a short time. I’ve got my head down, working nonstop to keep it going, but my team have definitely been keeping me in the mindset of taking time to make sure I soak it all in and enjoy the journey.

After teasing this track for months, can you tell us how you got linked up with Cloonee and Hellbent Records for this massive remix?

I think it hit Dave’s radar through his tour manager seeing it in a video. One day, he just appeared in my DM’s excited about the remix, and the next night, he was posting videos of it as his set intro. It is truly one of the highest forms of respect you can give another producer. What an absolute legend. The timing was kind of meant to be, as he was in Toronto a week or so later, and we got to meet pretty much right away.

Can you tell us a bit about how you approached the remix process for this track?

I’ve always been really about sampling, so I definitely feel remixing is one of my very strong suits and just feels natural with the way I like to create music. With ‘Stephanie’, I really loved what Cloone and InntRaw had; I was honestly just trying to beef it up a bit as something I would play in my sets since I tend to play a little bit harder than the original. I didn’t have a real plan behind it. It just sort of happened.

You brought your impressive new AV Show to DPRTMNT for a No Neon showcase in your hometown of Toronto a few weeks back, which Beatport had the pleasure of streaming for the world to see. You also called it “the craziest show you’ve ever put together.” Can you tell us more about the lead-up to this gig and how it all came together?

HNTRNET shows (the name of my branded AV Sets) are a pretty big undertaking. For HNTRNET: IRL, the goal was to make it a bit more fun and accessible than a lot of the AV shows I see which tend to be a bit more on the heady side. It was also a HUGE goal for me to be able to just DJ naturally instead of having to hit cues or do things at a certain time to make sure videos hit right.

Shout out to Rob and Ewan (the core team behind it with me) for coming up with the idea that I could control some of the visuals using the mixer and equipment. We all spent 12 weeks developing a bunch of new graphics and live motion AR along with a holo-esque stage design to tie it all together.

What is the origin story behind your No Neon label + events brand? What are your plans for its future?

No Neon was born 10 years ago out of a desire to have a place where I could play whatever I wanted and not have to adhere to whatever commercial values or genre ideals a club may have had. I’ve always wanted it to be a platform for other producers and DJs to do whatever they want sound-wise, and I’ve booked it accordingly based on music alone, never once putting pressure on anyone to bring a crowd. We’ve also been on the cutting edge of dance music being the first play for many artists who have become massive acts.

As a brand we intend to stick to these core values as we spend the next few years developing a global plan. We have a great team in place at this point who have been behind some of your favourite dance labels and events. Really excited about the future.

This is your second Beatport #1 in only a few months, following your last chart-topping hit for Experts Only, “YES B!TCH.” A wildly impressive accomplishment! 2025 is clearly gearing up to be a massive year for you, can you tell us what else we can expect to hear and see from you in the coming months?

Well, up next, we’ve got a collab with my old friend Eli Brown dropping on February 21st! As well as the announcement of releasing a string of songs on my all-time favourite label (gonna have to wait and see on that one), and anyone who follows me knows that I’ve gotten enough IDs to drop more than one song every month for the rest of the year, but that just seems crazy. It’s IDSZN baby, and there’s absolutely no brakes from here on out.

Cloonee, Young M.A, InntRaw - “Stephanie” (HNTR Remix) is out now via Hellbent Records. Purchase it exclusively on Beatport.