tailor jae
UK | DJ SET & LIVE
Born in East London to Ghanaian parents, Tailor grew up with her four siblings in a small area of Newham. She never harbored ambitions of a career in the music industry, but after receiving an iPod as a birthday present and discovering Limewire, all that was about to change. Finding tracks and playing them to friends at house parties would soon turn into a secret apprenticeship in DJing on a £50 controller. Although his siblings had dabbled in MCing, Tailor would never have imagined that the pirate radio broadcasts – which his brother listened to in the bedroom they all shared – would somehow come back to be part of his story.
Self-taught with a passion for dark, heavy bass, this has now become her catalyst. She creates experiences where no one knows what she’s going to play, or how she’s going to play it. With a raw approach to mixing, she’s not afraid to experiment at the decks, as she demonstrates with her various tricks on CDJ online. She’s not looking to fit in, but to stand out, without fear of making mistakes. Her motto: “no risk, no reward”. Whatever Tailor undertakes, rest assured it will be exciting. Known for her fast mixes and energetic sets, she defines herself as “genre-less, but very bass-driven”. Her unique approach to DJing has led to her being asked to run various workshops with brands such as Saffron and Keep Hush.
Her career really took off after she beat over 2000 DJs to win a DJ competition organized by Mixmag, which led to a scholarship to Point Blank Music School. She began collaborating and saw her first release signed to LCY’s SZN7N label, alongside duo Traces, and was featured on numerous platforms including: BBC, Rinse FM, Rinse France, Reprezent, Kiss FM, Mixmag Lab, Foundation FM, Pioneer DJ Radio, NTS, Cashmere Radio (Berlin), Selector Radio, Keep Hush, Resident Advisor, Boiler Room, Hor, Complex, Trench, Wonderland Mag and many more.
Naturally, her unique skills caught the attention of veterans such as Toddla T, DJ Target and Nick Bright, with whom she recorded guest mixes on BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra respectively. As her style continued to evolve, she showed her appetite for limitless beats in her mix for Inverted Audio in Berlin, which was subsequently chosen as mix of the day by Resident Advisor, calling it “a journey through history seen through the prism of today”. Tailor then recorded a podcast for RA shortly afterwards, which was praised for its innovative, genre-transgressing approach and fluid character.
She was rightly highlighted in DJ Mag’s selection of talents to watch in 2021 and nominated for the Revelation DJ award, leading to her being sought after for prestigious line-ups including Fabric, Leeds Festival, Boiler Room and many more.
After opening for them in Ibiza, Tailor Jae was specifically chosen by Chase and Status to open their album launch *What Came Before*, to rave reviews at Koko Camden and subsequently at their sell-out event at Outernet. Continuing her trajectory, she recorded several more BBC guest mixes, released her first solo track, supported by Mary Anne Hobbs (BBC 6 Music), receiving the title of “New Music Future Track of the Day”, and enjoying wide airplay on several other BBC Radio 1 shows and other radio networks.
With a spellbinding set for Boiler Room doing the rounds online, Tailor has extended his sound across Europe, playing at notable venues such as Paradiso Amsterdam. With the launch of his brand extension *Heavy On The Bass* (HOTB), Tailor hosts a monthly show on Rinse FM and plans to diversify into merchandising and curation. A DJ who never seems to go unnoticed online, it’s no surprise that she’s considered a London favorite, not only among music brands, but also notable fashion brands such as Armani Exchange, Farfetch, Crenshaw Skate Club and many others.