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White Claw Refreshing Sounds: Romy's Pikes ibiza party was a celebration of formative queer clubbing experiences
The club night marked the second party in White Claw's new partnership platforming trailblazing musicians
Pikes Ibiza holds a special place in Romy’s heart. Not only is it where the GRAMMY-nominated electronic artist has danced many nights away with her friends, but it is also where she partied on her honeymoon after she married the photographer Vic Lentaigne – who is also a DJ – in 2021.
This summer, the couple returned to the historic venue on a warm evening in early September, celebrating their third anniversary, as well as the second show of Romy's ‘White Claw Refreshing Sounds’ series, a partnership launched with the drinks brand to platform the work of trailblazing musicians. For her first party, the DJ and producer performed at London's Night Tale's Loft.
Romy is scheduled to come on around 9:PM for the climactic event. The atmosphere around Pikes is relaxed as its tiered garden gradually fills with bobbing heads, clinking cans and the sounds of chatter. Glowing lanterns hidden amongst bouquets of bougainvillaea cast a warm light against the stone walls of the hotel, some of which are painted a striking, fuschia pink to match the flower.
The stage is set up in the club’s iconic courtyard, beneath a large disco ball that sprays thousands of twinkling light beams over the dancefloor. Romy appears dressed in a blue T-shirt tucked into a pair of black jeans held up by a chunky belt. She is playing a live set, singing and dancing while the producer and music director Luca Perry DJs behind her.
Romy traverses songs from her repertoire. ‘Lights Out’ and ‘Strong’ get the crowd jumping up and down with their arms in the air, both stand-out singles that embody the artist’s love for “emotional club music that can tug at your heart strings”, as she previously discussed with Mixmag.
Meanwhile, tracks from her debut solo album, ‘Mid Air’, released last year via Young, evoke the Balearic romance the night is celebrating. Even the coldest of hearts would melt at the sound of Romy’s husky-yet-angelic voice singing her track ‘Loveher’ as the woman its lyrics were written about dances in the crowd beneath her.
Romy mesmerises the crowd in a way that is paradoxically self-effacing; watching her feels as though you're watching someone perform for themselves in the comfort of their own home. There is no sense of ego or theatrics. She is simply singing the songs she loves and, in doing so, invites you to join her in a euphoric, dance-fuelled stupor.
Before playing ‘The Sea’, another track from the album, Romy stops to say that it was inspired by Ibiza, and the special times she’s had here. It has a floaty, nostalgic quality that speaks to Romy’s obsessive “dream of what Ibiza was like back in the 90s”.
“There’s just excitement in the air when I’m in Ibiza,” she says in an interview with White Claw. “A magnetic draw or some sort of release.” And that’s no less true of tonight than it is of any other as Romy demonstrates her masterful ability to create uplifting club-focussed music that evokes the sense of freedom and self-expression that is fostered on the dancefloor, particularly within queer club spaces.
“There’s a unity and togetherness that comes from club culture. It makes me feel connected to a room full of people in a way I couldn’t feel when I felt too shy to dance,” explains Romy. “Queer clubs are really, really special places. They’ve been a huge part of my life, my friendships, my community – that's where I fell in love with DJing.”
When Romy was in her late teens, she used to go out dancing at gay clubs around Soho. She started DJing when she was 17, having been approached by someone who worked at Ghetto, one of the spots she frequented, and asked if she’d like to try it out. Speaking with The Guardian, Romy revealed some of her favourite tracks at the time included Ultra Naté’s ‘Free’ and Corona’s ‘Rhythm of the Night’.
But this was happening at the same time as her career with the indie band The xx was starting to take off, and Romy had increasingly less time for DJing and clubbing. Touring worldwide alongside her bandmates Jamie xx and Oliver Sim, Romy garnered a name for herself as the darkly clad rockstar, playing melancholic acoustic guitar and alternative dream pop – a reputation that felt hard to shake when the musician eventually decided to strike out on her own some years later.
Releasing her debut solo track ‘Lifetime’ in 2020, Romy’s transition into dance music signified a return to those formative early experiences at queer clubs and the sounds she had grown up around. Rediscovering this passion and reconnecting with these spaces was hugely important for Romy in honing a distinct sound as a solo musician.
In her partnership with White Claw, Romy reflects on this journey and how she forged her own ‘Refreshing Sound’. Playing on the night of her anniversary at an institution that means so much to her own love story, Romy’s show is an expression of queer identity, a celebration of dance music culture, and a nostalgic tribute to the scenes that shaped her.
As part of the partnership, Romy’s track ‘Twice’ from ‘Mid Air’ has been refreshed in a remix by the underground DJ and producer Julie Desire, who runs the queer party With Us in Paris. Listen below.
