Rae Sada Used To Work For Your Favorite Artists. Now, She’s The Artist.

Rae Sada is both new to this and true to this.

Though the New York-born DJ has only been spinning publicly since New Year’s Eve 2024, those who know her know she’s been DJing on the down low since her days working in International Marketing and Partnerships for Interscope Records. “If you work for a major label, the first thing they ask you in the interview process is, ‘Do you want to be an artist?’ If you do, they're not going to hire you because they're going to think that you just want to be there to put yourself on,” Sada tells NYLON. “So that's why I kept it on the DL. I didn't want Interscope to find out and think that I was trying to be an artist.”

Sada later transitioned into a new Brand Agent role at Roc Nation, and quickly became one of their top agents despite not being passionate about the work. Because Sada’s parents actively discouraged her from pursuing a creative career as a child, working in the music industry afforded her the opportunity to work within the vicinity of what she actually wanted to be doing. So when she and her whole team were laid off from Roc in 2024, it felt like the world was crashing in on her. “I was sobbing, like, ‘What am I going to do now?,’” Sada, 32, recalls. “I finally felt that I had found something in this industry for me, something that I was good at. I spent 13 years building relationships.”

But everything truly does happen for a reason, and the day after she was let go, she got an equally-life-changing request to DJ a friend’s New Year’s Eve party. She accepted the gig as a way to keep herself busy, and from that night on, everything changed. “At first, it was like once or twice a week I would get hit up like, ‘Hey, can you DJ this? Can you DJ this?’ Cut to a year later, I feel like I have completely found my stride again,” says Sada. “For the first time ever in my life, it feels like this is what I was meant to do.”

In the short span of time since going public with her career, Sada has opened for Disclosure, has become Rare Beauty’s go-to talent for events, and even performed at NYLON’s F1 party in Miami just a few weeks ago. The milestones don’t end there: today, Sada dropped her debut single, “1-800-Watch,” a bouncy club hit that marries her signature grooves with UK Garage.

“I spent all of my life helping others, when it's like I really wanted to be the one doing it,” Sada says through choked tears, dabbing her tears away with her T-shirt. “I would sit in the studio with all of these people who I admired, and I was like, ‘This is all I want to be doing.’ It's a really heartwarming story for me because I finally feel like I've found my own in this industry.”

In honor of the new song, we caught up with Sada a few days before its release to talk about the 13-year-long journey to this moment, her favorite career highlights, and more.

How would you describe your sets?

Very energetic and very club-driven. I want things that people can groove to from start to finish. I don't like to ease into my sets. As soon as I get on, I want people dancing, I want people vibing. I'm from New York, so I love a hip-hop breakdown and hip-hop influences in my sets. Expect a lot of Latin House; I'm very into [that] right now. I like to genre blend, but regardless of the genre, the through line is that every track is very bass-forward and club-driven.

What has been the most memorable part of your DJ career so far?

Opening for Disclosure was definitely the most mind-blowing thing of my life. The first year I'm doing this as my full-time career, I got to open for Disclosure in Vegas F1 last November. It changed the game for me, because after sitting through their entire set, I had a new outlook on how I DJ. That set wasn't just running a playlist. They built a story, and they had me hooked the entire time.

There was not one moment in that set where I didn't feel like I was taken out of my body and transformed to some other world. They did such a good job at having their set be a journey that they took you on. And I felt that. I said to myself after that gig, "Wow, I need every single set to emulate this."

Your debut single drops in a few days. How are you feeling?

I'm so excited. I'm obviously emotional. Long story long, it has just been a journey to get here. It's so crazy to say 13 years went in behind this single, but it feels that way to me.

It feels like this was a culmination, because I always have the thought, "Huh, if I release my own music, I wonder what I would release." So the fact that it's actually coming to fruition is huge for me. I always, always, always thought, "What if I was an artist? What if I was an artist? Why can't I do it if all these other people are doing it? Why shouldn't I try?" It does feel very divine, very full circle, very grateful that I even have the opportunity to put something out.

How did you end up making the transition from DJing behind the booth to actually getting into the studio?

When I did the first gig [on New Year’s Eve], I said to myself, "There's so much I want to DJ, but it doesn't exist." I would search through SoundCloud for different edits that I liked, but nothing was hitting. I was like, "I need to just start making my own stuff.” It's really hard to translate your vision into words, and then have another person take that, understand it the same way, and then make exactly what you were imagining. I always knew it wasn't an option for me to do a ghost production situation. I can't articulate what I want my sound to sound like. I just need to do it.

I got into Ableton, and I spent a disgusting amount of hours on the computer, like days, days, days. Keep in mind, I wasn't employed at the time, and it's not like I was popping off with gigs every other week. I just sat in Ableton and got with my producer friends who could teach me things and worked my ass off for the past year, really.

Will there be more music after this?

Yes, of course. It's all coming very quickly after this. Some of the songs to come are my favorites. The single wasn't even my favorite, but it resonated the most with people that I sent the music to. But my favorites are still to come, so I'm excited.

You worked with so many artists before you started DJing on your own. Have you heard from any of them? Have they given you any advice?

With artists, the main thing is it never feels done, what we're working on. So, the best piece of advice that I could get is just put your work out.

What is the wildest gig you've ever played?

I did a gay wedding at the Brooklyn Paramount. It was a gay rave, but it was their wedding. I started out spinning, and then an hour later it turned into hundreds of gays doing their thing [while] I'm spinning Charli xcx. It was the most wild but fun night ever. I'm gay, so I love to do LGBTQ anything.

What's next for you? What are you manifesting?

[Playing] festivals and being booked and busy for the rest of the year. I have really high sights for myself. I see myself taking this all the way to the top. Next is more music and more shows, and just hoping that people connect with the music I'm putting out, and people like it, and people dance to it. I'm so type B. I don't plan, I just do what I think feels right, and then hopefully it'll land me where I feel like I want to take it.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.