DJ Alden Recaps a Year in Music, Predicts Grammy Winners and Chats about the Holiday Season with Friends & Family
DJ Alden in DIESEL KID
petitePARADE got to sit down and chat with DJ Alden, many of you may recognize him from his awesome, kids dance party at CIRKIZ or from pP Kids Fashion Week where he spun beats for the runway and the New Balance After Party. So we got "JuJu" on this interview and got to chat about what's up for the holidays and 2017!
pP: What are your top three tunes of 2016 that was sure to get your friends on the dance floor?
DJ Alden: There were so many great songs in 2016, it was really awesome getting to DJ for so many great events! My pop music dance floor anthem picks are: "This Is What You Came For" by Calvin Harris ft. Rihanna, "Never Forget You" by Zara Larsson & MNEK & "JuJu On That Beat" by Zay Hilfigerrr & Zayion McCall. My favorite kind of music is Electronic Dance Music (EDM) and I play it as much as I can. My EDM dance floor anthems for 2016 are: Poison by Martin Garrix, No Money by Galantis & Live The Night by W&W, Hardwell & Lil John.
pP: How do you feel about the holiday anthem "All I want for Christmas is you" by Mariah? Any others we should know about?
DJ Alden: I LOVE that song and I love Mariah Carey’s voice, she’s amazing! It puts me in the Christmas spirit right away. My mom is a singer and Mariah Carey is one of her biggest inspirations. I also like "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" by The Jackson 5 and "Underneath The Christmas Tree" by Kelly Clarkson.
pP: How will you spend the holiday season?
DJ Alden: Holidays are when I get to visit family and hang out with my friends and that’s very important to me. I’m always busy with school and my DJ schedule; it’s really great to just chill out. I get to play video games, sleep late and catch up on movies. I also get to listen to music and will be making plans for 2017!
pP: How do you spend New Year's Eve? Do you take over the music?
DJ Alden: This year we will be hanging out with some of my parents friends & their kids. We’ve all grown up together so it’s always really fun. I don’t get to take over the music because many of the grownups are DJs! Us kids love staying up past midnight, hanging out, eating & listening to great music. Next year I’d like to do a daytime kids & families New Years party. I get asked about that a lot!
pP: Grammy Nominations are in! What are your predictions?
DJ Alden: Wow, there was so much great music in 2016. I’m a big fan of Adele & Beyonce -they're so amazing but I hope Justin Bieber, Twenty One Pilots & Mike Posner win. I’m really excited for The Chainsmokers because they’re awesome! They will win Best New Artist, for sure!
pP: 2017 is just around the corner. What can you share with your petitePARADE friends? What are you most excited for?
DJ Alden: 2016 was awesome and I’m really excited about 2017. I love music and I recently got a small home music studio and I've been making music! We've been talking about starting a YouTube channel with my brother Hypeman Jalen, he’s really funny and we get to do a lot of super cool stuff. Of course I will be DJing with CirKiz and all the events that they do. I plan on doing some modeling since not only do I like it, I have many friends that are models. But, music is my top priority.
Follow DJ Alden on IG @DJ_Alden and FB @DJAldenNYC
Also check out Cirkiz.com - Winter Series: Jan. 22, Feb. 12, Mar. 12 at Space Ibiza NYC