Rising from the underground, Cosmicat is a DJ & producer from Saudi Arabia. Growing up she always had a strong passion for music in a place where music was frowned upon. The recent changes in her country gave her the first real platform – MDLBEAST‘s Soundstorm, the largest music, arts & culture festival in the Middle East and the first in Saudi Arabia. She shared the stage with dance heavyweights such as Steve Aoki, R3HAB, David Guetta, and Martin Garrix along with her personal favorites Solomun, Peggy Gou, and Jamie Jones. She was subsequently crowned ‘Saudi Arabia’s leading female DJ’. We had the pleasure of speaking with her about the growing dance music scene in Saudi Arabia, MDLBeast, and more.
Hey Cosmicat. Thanks very much for taking the time to speak with me. How are you doing?
I’m doing great, super hyped. I just finished my set on the underground 1 stage and man it’s been crazy.
The vibe at this festival is very, very good. There’s sort of something in the air. Is there any way you would describe it?
I guess people have been waiting for this for two years. The last MDLBeast festival we had was back in 2019. So it just feels so good to have everything back normally, we’re back to the dance floor. We’re doing all the things that we love. Music brings people together like nothing else.
This music scene is really starting to grow a lot in Saudi Arabia. How does it feel for you to be a big part of it?
It’s a privilege and it’s an honor. I started as a music collector and I never never thought that I will be a part of this, playing the music that I love. I used to play for myself in the car and in my bedroom. And now I’m able to share it with 1000s of people. And for so long, like people who were into electronic music here in the region, we were just divided into small scenes and to just come together and this one big festival and just to look around and see everyone sharing your passion with you is so exciting. It feels like a dream
This is my first time on MLDBeast and I’ve honestly been blown away with it. How would you describe the vibe and what’s going on to someone who hasn’t been?
Well, all of this movement of change here in Saudi Arabia is something very recent, very new to us. But also something that we’ve been waiting for since ever. Saudi people love to dance, love to celebrate, but I guess circumstances didn’t help us back in the day. And it’s just super great to see this change. Happening super rapidly and going from zero to like 200 and like a year and a half, two years probably crazy.
You released a song earlier this year that has just been added to the MDLBeast album that just came out and it closes your year. How has this year been for you as an artist?
I feel like this year was all about building up and trying to get back to the previous routine that I had, was still recovering after the pandemic and that affected everything in our lives. And releasing music is just something – sorry, I’m just a bit overwhelmed – releasing music has always been my dream. I came from a very different background. I’m originally a dentist, I never studied music. we never had even music stores back in the day, we used to like find everything of the internet, you know and just to be able to produce something that I did, it feels like a superpower. Like making music, the thing that I’m passionate about the most, I’m still in disbelief sometimes when I get my masters back and I hear my mix ready and I cry. I cried on stage like twice today. Hearing people screaming my name and just playing my music out loud. It’s just something that I never thought I would love to see.
I can hear the passion and I can see the passion when you’re on stage. Looking now to next year, do you have any plans for 2022?
Obviously more music. I want to dedicate more time in my studio to make more tracks and just share my sound and my feelings and the way that I’m comfortable with maybe like I’m just focused on music like 200% now and my obsession and focus on production grows every day more. I started off as a DJ, learning music production is something new to me. So I see myself doing more of that in the future.
