ALL EYES ON BLU DETIGER — A BOOK OF MAGAZINE

WORDS BY: JESSE ZAPATERO

INTERVIEW BY: KATARINA LA POLL

PHOTOGRAPHER: KAIO CESAR, FASHION STYLIST: MIRANDA MONROE, MAKE-UP: AUÐUR JÓNSDÓTTIR, HAIR: PETER GRAY, PRODUCER: JESSE ZAPATERO, STYLING ASST: HANNAH STONE, LOCATION: GM STUDIO DTLA

Blu DeTiger's journey into the limelight isn't just a tale of talent—it's about the relentless drive to carve out her unique space in the music industry. Known for her electrifying bass lines and dynamic performances, Blu has always been drawn to music, a passion that started at an early age. She recalls being mesmerized by the bass guitar, an instrument that would later become her signature. Her approach to music is as bold as it is fresh, blending funk, pop, and electronic influences into a sound that's distinctly her own.

In recent years, Blu's presence has grown exponentially, both on social media and in live performances. Her fans are drawn to her authenticity, her ability to merge the modern with the classic, and the way she brings the bass to the forefront of her music. Blu doesn’t just play the bass; she commands it, using it as a tool to connect with her audience on a deeper level.

Her debut album, All I Ever Want Is Everything, a culmination of her unique sound and artistic vision, has only added to her momentum. The project showcases her growth as an artist and features tracks that are already resonating with fans worldwide. As she prepares to hit the road again, Blu's upcoming tour dates in Texas, Arizona, Ohio, Georgia, and more - promise to bring her high-energy performances to even more fans across the country.

Gown: Milla Stone, Gloves: Diana Couture, Shoes: vintage Prada

During her rise, Blu has collaborated with some of the industry’s biggest names, proving that she’s more than just a musician—she’s a force of nature. But what really sets her apart is her ability to stay true to her roots while continuing to evolve as an artist. In her own words, she’s always striving to push the boundaries of what’s possible with her music, exploring new sounds and ideas, but always with the bass as her foundation.

Now, with all eyes on her, Blu DeTiger is ready to take center stage, and it’s clear that she’s not just stepping into the spotlight—she’s owning it. Her energy, charisma, and undeniable talent make her a mainstage act, one that audiences won't soon forget. As she continues to rise, there’s no doubt that Blu De Tiger is destined for greatness, with the spotlight firmly fixed on her.

Hey, Blu!

Hey, what’s up, how's it going?

So it was funny when the mag told me we were interviewing you, I had remembered that a long time ago, like 2017, Ben from The Knocks, my old roommate in New York was dating him, and I actually remember when you started working with him.

Emmy?

Yeah Emmy!

Yes! That is so funny. Ben produced my first few songs that came out.

I remember him talking about you saying she’s this bass prodigy, super sweet, super talented.

Aww! Such a small world.

Top: Victor Puglielli, Earrings: Kyle Chan, Skirt: Ashleigh Renee

Before we get into the album, I saw that you just announced a part two tour.

Yeah, I did a short headline tour right after the album came out in April, end of April. It was great, it was awesome, so we added some more cities so I could get some more places and yeah, just announced that today.

How did you decide which cities?

It kind of depends on what makes most sense. Sometimes if you're doing festivals in the same markets, there are certain rules of what you can play in timeframes and radius clauses and all that, so a lot of it is kind of just logistical, but also I wanted to play in places that I've never played before. There are some cities on this next run, Cleveland and Pittsburgh and Columbus, and places that I've never played headline shows in, so I wanted to hit markets that I've never played in before, and then some places that I played in the past that were always great shows and I wanted to go back there and play the new album for people. So it's a mix of things. I would've wanted to do more shows if it was possible.

Speaking of live shows, I know you did Madison Square Garden and I wanted to hear about your experience because I know that was a big one for you.

Yeah, totally. So I am born and raised in New York, so Madison Square Garden is kind of the ultimate venue. It's such a staple of pop culture and just one of those venues that has always been my dream to play at. Whenever I was younger and people would ask like, oh, what's your dream venue? I would always say Madison Square Garden. So it was definitely a really big deal just to me to be there and be in that space and play on a stage with such a great history, and yeah, it was awesome. My family was there. It was really cute, just like hometown shit.

Gown: Milla Stone, Gloves: Diana Couture, Shoes: vintage Prada

Were there shows that you had grown up seeing there that were memorable?

Yeah, I've seen, who did I see there? I think I saw Van Halen there. I think that was my first concert ever. Van Halen. I've seen Paul McCartney there, and then I've been to a bunch of Knicks games and Rangers games and stuff like that. Yeah, it's the spot. Just iconic.

How are you finding the experience being on tour as a solo artist now rather than a session musician?

I love it. I think it's been really rewarding. There's always such a big difference. I love both, obviously, but there's clearly a big difference of playing someone else's music and supporting someone else's vision, versus playing your own music and supporting your own vision and expressing your direct self and saying what you want to say in your music. It's definitely really rewarding and really cool to be on that side of it, but I'm also really grateful that I got to be on the other side of it too. I learned a lot and I think that was really important for me to kind of go through the process of being on the session side just to gain the experience of being on stage and gain the experience of touring at different levels and I gained so much knowledge on the ins and outs of tour life and how different artists do it, and how different artists lead their teams and do their show, put together their production and their lighting package. There are so many ins and outs of it that it was really cool to get that experience before I started getting into it on my own.

Were there particular lessons that stood out that you used to create your own tour experience?

Yeah, I mean, some small stuff like how to tour on a tour bus, how to pack, how to live a month on a bus, stuff like that where there's a learning curve to the actual logistics of touring and how to keep your sanity and your physical and mental health at a good spot. So a lot of that. But also just being around other artists that I admired and seeing how they would lead was really cool. Seeing how they treat their team and how they put together their show was really interesting for me to see, just how people do it. It's such a big part of being an artist and being a musician is touring, it’s half the year, so learning how people go about it. There's so many little things. How do you even pick an opener? What makes a good tour manager? Things like that.

What are some things that you always pack?

The way I do it is, I usually have, I try not to bring too much stuff, but I always end up bringing way too much, always, but I always do one suitcase of just show clothes and show stuff and separate that from just daytime chilling off-day stuff, and that usually keeps it pretty organized. Then I always bring noise canceling headphones for the bus and even if you're in a van. I got my travel routine pretty down. Especially for planes. I wear the same thing every time I go on a plane. I have my shades, I have my sweatshirt, I have my comfortable jeans or pants. It's just so constant, so you end up getting into a routine that works for you best.

Corset: Victor Puglielli , Shorts: Ashton Michael, Gloves: Love Khaos

Can you talk about your process behind All I Want is Everything? How did you land on which songs made it in or how you wanted to introduce yourself in this new way?

I started writing this album in 2021, so kind of post-pandemic world a little bit, things were opening back up, and I kind of went through the whirlwind in the pandemic with finding success on TikTok and social media. So it was a big transition period right after that kind of all happened, I was settling into myself and figuring out myself as an artist and where I fit. And I moved from New York to LA and I started touring my own music. It was a lot of change, I guess, that felt like it was happening kind of quickly, even though I've been doing music forever and always was very prepared. It still can kind of feel like a lot in the moment. So part of the album was kind of dealing with that and writing about the ups and downs of life and figuring myself out and trying to enjoy every part of it and every step. In terms of putting together the actual album, in terms of the track list, I wrote so many songs in that period because it took three years almost. They’re songs from the span of two or three years. So I wrote a lot of songs in that period and I think the songs that ended up being on the album were the songs that I personally liked the best and felt like had a cool narrative and were interesting, unique, and were kind of different than I have done in the past and fun. You kind of just know. You're like, okay, these are the ones that I think all go together and tell a good story, but also just that I personally like listening to and feel are cool tracks. That makes sense for me.

It's interesting to know that you wrote a lot of them in LA. I feel like I hear so much of New York in them, like that song Expensive Money you feel that.

Totally about New York, yeah. And I have this really cool, this girl Linux on that song Expensive Money. She's really cool. She’s like a famous It Girl, drag queen from New York. So there was a lot of New York energy, even though I wrote a lot of it in LA and a lot of it was written in between touring. I did a lot of support tours. I opened Sabrina Carpenter, I opened for Jungle. I just opened for so many people and I also did my own headline shows, and I did a Europe tour and I went to Brazil, just a lot of touring. So a lot of these songs were written in between touring and in between playing festivals. A lot of it was made in LA, but since I'm from New York, you're always going to feel that New Yorkness and New York Edge and hustle all of the songs, which I like that you picked up on that because that's the goal.

How did you choose some of those collaborators that ended up on this album? Chappell Roan is on here and a lot of different collaborators.

A lot of them are just my homies, honestly. I think that just happens. You kind of end up working with people that you're friends with and that you enjoy spending time with. Chappell Roan is a good friend of mine, and we did some sessions and wrote Hey You, and it just was very natural and very naturally came together. Same thing like Alexander 23 who produced a song on this record. Same thing. We've been friends for years. I'm a fan of his. It is always just people I'm a fan of and people I'm friends with and hang out with and Uffie, she's written with me in the past a song called Blondes, and I just think she's so iconic and so cool and New York and indie sleaze and all that stuff. So just a fan of her and we've become really good friends.

You met through music or running around New York?

Kind of a mix. We became friends from working on music. I was introduced to her actually through Teddy Geiger who produced that song, Blondes, and then I was like, okay, Uffie’s the dopest. Then we became friends, but everyone who worked on this, Mayer Hawthorne, now he's a good friend, and I played bass on one of the songs on his record. It's stuff like that. It's just homie shit where we're all just fans of each other and what each other's doing and some really good friends like Sizzy Rocket also I've known her forever. My brother, obviously.

What's it like collaborating with a sibling? I have a lot of siblings so it’s fun hearing from artists who work with their siblings.

No, exactly. I mean, it's good in a way that he knows me so well. When I'm writing songs that are vulnerable or personal, he gets it because we've known each other our whole life and we've always been playing music together, so he's going to know me better than any songwriter or producer that I just meet that day. So there's something really nice about that, and we trust each other, and he's always going to be honest with me because he's family, and so there's always that as well.

I love some of the softer tracks, like Imposter Syndrome and the songwriting on that one.

Aw, thank you. Thanks. Yeah, I did that one with Rex. We just know each other so well. So that’s really nice, and he's an amazing drummer, and he played drums on most of the songs, which is cool. So we've just always been playing together, so just all very natural, natural stuff.

Can you talk more about your songwriting approach and what inspired the song Latency?

So that song was kind of inspired by this group called ESG. They're sisters from the Bronx. They were pretty big in the early 1980s I want to say, in New York. And sonically, it was kind of inspired by that kind of gritty New York feeling, dance music almost with some rock tones. So I have been trying to write a song like that for a while, and the producers I was working with, John Hill, had this drumbeat, and I just played that bass line and was like, oh, this groove is dope I could listen to it forever, and when I feel like a groove is really strong and really awesome, that's the key to me. And then that always has to be present in the song. Then, Uffie was like, this is fire. We were writing together that day and it just kind of came out really fast. That song was written really fast. I thought it was cool to go a little bit more rock for that track. I feel like I grew up on a lot of that music and haven't really explored it as much in my own work. So that was cool and that was just so fun to play live, just so much energy and it's so fun.

Who are some of your rock influences?

The first stuff I was listening to when I started getting into bass were the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin, and The Beatles, obviously. The Stones and Zeppelin I was really into, and I was like eight. So I'm into all the classic rock. Anytime you make a song, there's always going to be hidden influences that are just there because you grew up on it, and it's kind of subconscious almost. So I feel like a lot of my songs, if you know me and my taste and you know what I've been listening to, it's pretty obvious where it's coming from.

In terms of the bass lines or slap bass you add in the covers that you do, I'm curious, what inspires them?

I think for those types of videos, I think what inspires them is kind of just what I think people wouldn't expect almost. I like to educate people about the bass and what it can do, and I think in a lot of those videos, I'm showcasing the instrument in a way that people may have not heard before. Adding slap bass over a hip hop beat is not really common or typical, but it makes sense and sounds cool. So a lot of the inspiration is like, oh, what can I put on this that is a little bit weird and not really common, but actually makes so much sense? I've been doing a series on TikTok called “adding slap bass to songs that don’t need it” and it's always funny because everyone's like…

It actually needs it!

Yeah, they can't unhear it, so just using the instrument in a way that people haven't heard before I think is inspiring and to inspire people to start play bass, so that's kind of where that comes from. Sometimes it's also just that I feel like a song has a full baseline and I just want to put my own spin on it and play it myself, so it’s kind of a mix.

The Kid Laroi one is so good.

Aw thanks girl.

I played the original back, and was like, yeah, no, it’s better with it.

You can't unhear it after you hear it.

You have really helped people see that the bass can be the real star of the show and learn about the instrument in new ways. Are there other things about the bass that you don't think that people know about?

I think people are slowly starting to catch on. But yeah, I think with my music and especially with my live show, I like to show that the bass can be a lead instrument, and it's not just in the background or it is the backbone of music, of course, but it can also be used in more ways than just that. So I think with my live show, with my music, I always try to make the emotional center of the song or of the performance and show different techniques and different sounds on it to make people feel something new that they maybe haven't felt before.

Is there anything that you have been experimenting with recently that you haven't done yet, or you're practicing to work towards?

There's the song Imposter Syndrome on my album. I always thought it was really cool because it’s basically only bass and vocals and a little bit of synth and atmospheric sounds, but all the harmonic information, melodic information, and rhythmic information is coming from the bass, and I always thought that was really cool. I'm trying to do a little bit more like that potentially, at least for live or doing a stripped back performance, I think it's cool to just kind of hear the rawness of just that instrument and vocals. So, maybe I'll get a little bit more into that in the next chapter. But yeah, I don't know, I'm always kind of experimenting. I'm also—not getting back into it, because I've always been into it—but reconnecting with my funk roots and all of the new stuff I've been writing, but the next project, I know the album just came out, but I've already started working on the next stuff. So I'm kind of reconnecting with my roots and what feels the most natural to me to play what I grew up just loving, and that's these funk disco baselines. So I'm revisiting that style of playing a little bit more.

You definitely hear that groove and funk, and I feel funk is, it never went out, but I feel like it's making a hard return at least into more mainstream with everyone loving on the 70s.

Yeah, exactly.

Hearing you talk about how passionate you are about educating people on the bass and what this instrument can do, if you had a masterclass, what would it be called and what you would teach? I mean, maybe it wouldn't even be related to bass.

Yeah, it's funny, I just spoke at the GRAMMY camp yesterday, which is really sick. It's a summer camp for high school kids. You have to apply and get into it, and it's for kids who want to be in the music industry. Some of them are instrumentalists, some of them are songwriters, some of them want to do marketing or business or engineering et cetera. And I went to the camp when I was 16, and then I just got to go back yesterday to give a talk, and it was really inspiring and really cool. I just realized, like, wait, I feel like I have so much to say. I don't think I'm old or anything, but I feel like I've just been doing it for so long that I feel like I have good advice or good wisdom almost. So I'm really into mentorship and music appreciation and just giving the younger generation guidance and inspiration, empowerment to just do their thing and keep going. So I'm really on that wave right now and I was really inspired by the conversation yesterday and these kids are so smart and what they're asking is so intelligent and they're tapped in. It was really fun. But also I think if I did do some sort of masterclass, which I do want to do and I'm actually working on doing something, it’d be about bass and learning bass, trying to do Bass by Blue deTiger type vibe or how if I had to learn the instrument again from scratch, how would I approach it? I think that's what I would try to teach or express to people who are trying to learn.

Were there any questions that were particularly surprising to you or a piece of advice that you gave that you were excited to share? I can imagine that experience being so special.

It was sick. It was so sick. They were asking some really interesting stuff. Someone was asking, what's the best way to express your vision to your team? And I thought that was really a smart question because I was like, yeah, people don't really talk about that. So there's the artist and then there's say, 20 people that you work with to do your thing. You can't do every single thing yourself, or sometimes people do, but I just thought that was an interesting question of how to express yourself and communicate to your team around you what you want. I said something about figuring out what you want yourself and writing it down and giving the people around you as much information as possible on how to execute, and how they can do a better job of executing if they really know your vision. I said something like that, I forget, but I thought that was a really cool question. Someone also asked, how do you separate your artist self from your personal self. I thought that’s really interesting, high level of thinking for a 16-year-old.

So you did that program when you were younger, was there someone or something that gave you the confidence when you were younger to pursue it at a professional level?

I don't know if there's someone or something. I think I literally just kept going with it. I think I was just following my love and passion for bass and for music in general, and I just didn't really stop and I just kept doing it. Does that make sense? I literally just kept doing it and saying yes to every opportunity and going with the flow and not really worrying so much about what was actually happening in the moment and just doing it and being present, and then things kind of just always fall into place, so you end up going where you're meant to go, kind of. The advice I was giving them yesterday too, I was like, honestly, just do your thing and it's going to happen when it happens and it's going to click when it clicks and there's no timeline for success or there's no timeline or there's no rules of how to do something and there's no clear path, and it's always like zig zag and it is never linear. Time isn't linear, and you can have a song pop off in 10 years and it’s just random. You just never know, life's weird.

Yeah I’ve heard you talk about defining your own version of success and I think that's really important in your industry so it's admirable you're taking on a mentorship role to younger female musicians or just people who want to pick up instruments. I also wanted to ask about the Kiss music video, watching I felt such early 2000s MTV nostalgia.

Yeah, totally. I think with that video and all the videos we did for the album, the main inspo was performance-based where the video is based on me performing with the band, and then in each video there's something chaotic or weird that happens that distracts from the performance almost. So, in Kiss, it was people making out while I'm trying to perform. I just thought it was funny and cute and I had all my friends in it, which is kind of awkward because most of the couples broke up and it's really awkward.

Oh my god, that always happens when you make music videos with your friends.

Dude yeah, literally. I was like, oh, shit. They were like, oh, I can't share the video cause we broke up. I dunno. It was funny, but it was really cute. Everyone was really sweet and it's honestly beautiful. I think it came out really gorgeous and I think it's really nice. It kind of has the nostalgic feel, which the song is a little bit about that too, being nostalgic for past love and wanting to feel that again and reconnect with that person.

Last question, if you were a book, what book would you be? Or if you had to make up a title for your imaginary book?

Oh my god. That’s such a hard question.

Or just as of now, this is not your forever book. This can be your first chapbook.

Well, I am really riding this bass queen thing right now. It was my merch for a while. Just the phrase “bass queen” I had merch t-shirts.

Oh and the undies are so good.

What?

The Bass Queen undies that you’ve been wearing on stage. I love those.

Oh yeah, yeah, exactly. So I recycled all of my old merch. I had a few leftover from tour and worked with this really cool custom designer Kat Typaldos to recycle and make these tour outfits with my old merch, which I thought was really sick and a really cool concept that is kind of referencing punk era just writing shit on your shirt and it's all T-shirt material. I thought it was really cool, so I've been doing this bass queen sequence and on all of my outfits, so I guess my book would be called Bass Queen.

I love that you used the excess merch to make your performance outfits!

Yeah, we recycled merch that I had left over and cut it up and resewed it and made it into a dress and a skirt and the underwear and different T-shirts, different pieces that I could wear on tour.

That's so cool.

Yeah, just environmentally friendly. There's so much left, there's so much extra material. I thought that was a really cool concept, so I've been doing that the past few shows.