Anya Ball: Now Rising
By: Amy Argueta ‘24 (USC Student Life Guest Blogger)
“My first set in New York was really the securing factor of like ‘this is what I want to do’.”
Anya Ball is the next rising DJ you need to check out. From Afro-House to R&B, Ball has the ability to pull from a variety of genres to create a song for whatever mood you are in. Ball, a sophomore in the Media Arts and Practice program at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, has always been creative growing up, exploring realms from photography to fashion to modeling.
After feeling uninspired and unmotivated during her first semester in college where her classes were more draining than fulfilling, Ball turned to DJing as a way to try a new creative outlet and find inspiration again. After buying her first mixer and performing in front of a crowd for the first time, Ball soon realized that she wanted to turn DJing into more than just a hobby.
What made me really want to take [DJing] further was just like how much music made me feel good and seeing in the crowd how excited people would get and once I realized I could get paid off of it, it was something that I was like “I could turn this into my life” and I think my first set in New York was really the securing factor of like this is what I want to do.
Her upbringing in an immigrant household to a Black father and Polish mother continues to shape her music as well. Coming from a multicultural background, Ball pulls genres from various cultures into her music such as Afro beats, Afro House, Lo-fi House, Hip-Hop and is branching out into music outside of the U.S. such as Brazilian funk. While performing, Ball also knows how to curate her music to make sure everyone in the crowd is having a good time.
My genres are so wide now that it's like whoever I’m playing for I kind of just have to gauge and I’ve practiced mixing a lot just so that I know how to transfer from category to category easily. And it also just depends like if I get there and the crowd enjoys hip-hop for ten minutes and then the energy kind of dies, that’s my like signal in my head to switch up the vibe.
Ball has only recently picked up DJing, but within eight months of buying her first mixer, she has already played around 25 venues ranging from house parties to clubs. Looking back, she recalls her performance at El Cid being her favorite.
I DJ with a group of people …and the four of us kind of DJed back to back which means that we just alternated song by song and that was the first time I got to play my own music instead of catering to the crowd and the energy was just so much fun. Everybody that was there just had a good time. And that for sure was one of my favorites.
Looking towards the future, Ball is aiming for bigger stages, stating,
I would like to start producing my own music … I would like to DJ in Europe, Spain would be really really cool, but I do have to finish school in LA right now, so this is where I’m at right now.
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