Get to Know Rising Vietnamese-American House Artist Athena

3 hours ago 2

Rising house artist Athena shares her take on building community, breaking barriers, and what it really means to connect on the dancefloor.

Los Angeles-based DJ and producer Athena has been working hard in Southern California’s dance music scene, steadily making her way on both underground and festival stages. You can usually find her DJing at one of LA’s clubs like Sound, Spotlight, and Academy, underground afters, or bouncing around other places like Mexico City, bringing her selection of minimal, deep tech, and tech house to all of them.

Athena has played festivals like Lightning in a Bottle, HARD Summer, and Day Trip, and performed on the Do LaB stage at Coachella, where she was highlighted as one of the first Vietnamese-American artists to do so. Late last year, she added another chapter to her career by releasing her first official track, “Becky,” a collaboration with BACKCOURT on Intentions Records.

We caught up with Athena to learn more about her journey, what she has been up to so far this year, and she sent over a fire mix. Read on and listen below! You can catch Athena playing at the Afternoon Umbrella Friends Weekender on April 2-6, in Redlands, California.

Stream EDMID Guest Mix 496 || Athena on SoundCloud:

EDM Identity · EDMID Guest Mix 496 || Athena

Hey Athena, hope all is well. We’re excited for you to join us today and share some of what you have been up to. But first, how did you get into dance music? At what point did you want to DJ yourself?

Thank you for having me. I’m really excited to dive deeper into my background and what I’m building this year.

I feel like I was pre-exposed to dance music growing up through radio tracks like “We Like to Party,” “Crazy Frog”, Basshunter, all those iconic ’90s/2000s throwbacks. My first memorable experience with dance music was going to HARD Summer in 2015 and being absolutely obsessed with Jauz. I went to every California rave after that.

Music has always been part of my life, though. I grew up in the church choir, the school choir, and even the Gate choir, but I never seriously thought about becoming a DJ. It actually wasn’t until I was stuck in a parking lot with my girlfriend, who DJs. She heard my house playlist and planted the seed: “You should be a DJ.”

But the real shift came when I stepped into the Do Lab at Coachella in 2022, just months after my friend said that. That experience changed everything. I had this moment where I felt a deep connection and a calling to DJ.

Who has been inspiring you musically lately?

A few artists that I’ve been inspired by musically recently are Rossi, Giorgio Moroder, Jackie Hollander, Rafael, Rooleh, Kidoo, and Ceeds. Decipher that how you will.

For people who might be discovering you here, how would you describe Athena to people? What kinds of grooves, moods, or inspirations are you chasing?

I’d describe my sound as eclectic. My sets are really about connection to the people around me. They’re intentional, communal, a little educational, and nostalgic at times. It’s less about me and more about the shared experience, that give and take with the crowd.

Outside of the music, I aspire to push a bigger narrative by encouraging people to be more expressive and reflective, not just as an artist but even as a listener and consumer. I don’t want to read an IG caption that just says, “Thank you [insert venue], I’m speechless!” I want to hear what set this performance, this venue, this audience, this trip apart from all the rest. Maybe I’m just nosy.

What has been the most exciting moment so far? I know you played Do LaB and Lightning in a Bottle last year.

Last year was a pivotal year for me. It was full of firsts and bucket list check-offs. Do Lab was the place that originally inspired me to really go for DJing, and it was my number one goal to play there. Being there, I really felt that Coachella magic and pushed the boundaries of what I thought was possible for myself. I somehow pulled off having OhGeesy from Shoreline Mafia as my special guest during my Weekend 2 opening set, literally the day after he performed on one of the biggest stages at Coachella.

I also got to play the headliner/closing set alongside Sara Landry, and again coming full circle, performed at HARD Summer, the first EDM festival I attended back in 2015. And lastly, I have to mention playing my first international show in Manila, Philippines, at a new festival called &Friends. It was especially meaningful because the lineup was predominantly Asian artists from around the world, alongside headliners Zedd and Illenium.

Speaking of Coachella, what was it like being one of the first Vietnamese-American artists to play? How did/do you feel about that experience?

As a young kid growing up as a minority, I was always trying to distance myself from my cultural background, eating American food every day, trying to pick up a Latina accent, just trying to fit in. As I got older, I started to realize how privileged I am to come from a Vietnamese background with such strong values: respecting our elders and taking care of them first, never showing up to someone’s house empty-handed. I’m really proud of my family’s heritage and being Vietnamese-American.

I would love to see more Asians in the music scene, sharing their culture through their sound, their art, and what they put out into the world. I’ll do my best to uplift Asian artists and help create more space for us. Sometimes I’ll get approached randomly by someone saying, “Hey, are you that Vietnamese DJ that played Coachella?” and moments like that remind me I’m making an impact.

How would you describe the LA and greater Southern California dance music scene right now?

This is a great question! In my opinion, the LA and SoCal music scene is undergoing a major transition. Framework is expanding with re:frame, similar to the Yuma tent at Coachella. Insomniac is growing into new markets like Denver, Arizona, and Nevada, and Goldenvoice just launched a new festival in Indio and a new venue in SF. On the underground afters side, new parties and collectives are popping up left and right, competing with the club scene with strong local talent, rising headliners, and an intimate, community-driven audience.

With the new California legislation extending last call to 4am instead of 2am, it’s shifting the entire nightlife landscape, affecting both clubs and afters. I’m really interested to see how all these moving pieces play out, but at the same time wondering how everyone has the energy to go out to all these events. [Laughs] This year will pop off and be chaotic, but maybe that’s the cultural expansion we need.

How did your track “Becky” come to be? How was it working with Backcourt?

Backcourt are the boys! Joey and Bowie approached me about a year ago, asking to collab on a track. I think it’s important for artists to collaborate with each other, so we sat down and came up with ideas for a track that would be a dance floor bomb and feel familiar to people. Through our powers combined, we came up with “Becky.” You can listen to it on SoundCloud, and it was one of the tracks I played at Coachella!

Can we expect more music soon?

Yes! I have an upcoming release with Hypnotic Dance Records, a collaborative track with my good friend Marty Wolf. It’s an edit of “Bilingual” by José Núñez that incorporates a UK and percussive twist. I also have a track in the vault, another collaboration with Dukes called “Mean Girls,” that we’re holding onto for a special home.

I’m working behind the scenes on music production this year, and I’m stoked to see how that unfolds. I’m realizing there’s such a large learning curve to production, and I really respect musicians who have worked 5+ years to get to a place where they’re happy with their output. To me, the music and how you present and release it are just as important. I come from an eight-year background in marketing. But yes, expect more music soon!

How do you prepare your sets? Do you plan everything out or go with whatever is happening at the moment during the show?

This is actually something I talk about with my friends a lot. When I’m preparing for a set, I think about the venue, set time, the headliner, sometimes even who’s playing before me, the location, and the audience I’ll be playing to. From there, I’ll build out a rough playlist of tracks I’ve been loving that fit the environment, so I can really match the energy of the space while still putting my own spin on it. I like to incorporate at least one track with breakbeats or a Baile Funk track to get the crowd’s attention, or amp up an already locked-in crowd.

As someone navigating festivals, club residencies, and the pressure of constant output. What have been some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced on the artist journey so far?

This is an important question because it highlights the challenges that artists go through. There are the long nights performing late hours, traveling back-to-back days, spending money to travel, play, and live in another city for a weekend. It’s being your own supporter, manager, agent, graphic designer, photographer, stylist, DJ, and producer. The list goes on. Believing in yourself and showing up consistently, standing up for what you believe in, even when it’s something as small as knowing a song sounds right, it all matters.

If you want to be in music, you have to understand it’s extremely fast-paced and cutthroat. But the outcome is giving someone an experience they’ll never forget, curating a mood, bringing people together, and making an impact through music. Also, I’m 5’1″, so I have to wear thick heels to reach the decks and be visible when networking.

And lastly, anything exciting coming up that you can tell us about?

Collaborations? Music releases? F1? Greece? Stay tuned! Thank you so much for the invite to share my story, and thank you all for reading.