Recognise 119: Paige Tomlinson

Paige Tomlinson estava conseguindo algumas das maiores reservas quando começou a sentir que estava se limitando. Tendo consolidado seu perfil em todo o Reino Unido, tocando sets de house minimalistas para Defected e Moxy Muzik, a DJ nascida em Liverpool estava começando a conseguir horários em cartazes cada vez mais impressionantes.

Nos últimos dois anos, ela cedeu à sua necessidade de velocidade, redirecionando seu som para uma mistura de alta octanagem de hard house, trance e prog de pico.

Em 2026, um set de Paige Tomlinson costuma estar repleto de builds imponentes, tambores estrondosos e flashes de nostalgia rave.

Hinos clássicos se entrelaçam com faixas contemporâneas, unidos em seu desejo comum por euforia.

É um estilo que se dirige diretamente às festas no horário de pico. À medida que ela avança para alcançar pistas de dança cada vez maiores, fica claro que este é exatamente o lugar onde Tomlinson se sente mais confortável.

Quando conversamos com Tomlinson em outubro, ela está no meio do que descreve como seu melhor ano até agora. Por volta da nossa ligação, ela está se preparando para eventos na ADE e sua primeira turnê nos EUA, após uma residência no BBC Radio 1 em setembro.

Uma maratona de festivais de verão, incluindo Awakenings, Creamfields e Tomorrowland, caiu na temporada de clubes sem muita pausa. “É realmente sem parar,” ela diz.

Long before international tours and prestigious radio slots, Tomlinson’s introduction to music came from her mother's record collection. “My mum has always been really into music,” she says.

Tomlinson's early club-going days saw her soaking up all that her hometown had to offer, shaping her future sound before she’d even dreamt of doing what she does today.

At 18, Tomlinson taught herself to DJ. “I loved being on the dancefloor, but I always just used to look at the DJ and think I’d love to be on that other side, making everybody else dance,” she explains.

As primeiras reservas incluíram apresentações regulares no The Attic, um local de Liverpool que agora está fechado, onde ela tocava na maioria dos fins de semana, começando com disco antes de, eventualmente, evoluir para house.

Gradually, she started building a local following, and in 2019 she entered a mix competition to join the roster at Darius Syrossian’s Moxy Music parties. She won, and commenced a residency that would last several years.

At UK clubs like Joshua Brooks in Manchester and The Lofts in Newcastle, and further afield at ZT Hotel Villa Olimpica in Barcelona, she developed a sound rooted in vibe-setting house, buoyed by minimal grooves, rolling basslines and subtle melodic flourishes.

Tomlinson’s next big break came in 2022, when she was selected as one of seven winners in Defected’s Unsung Heroes DJ competition for emerging talent. Through the legendary house label, she ended up playing big-league events like its Eden Ibiza residency and New Year’s Eve at Printworks.

Foi um período empolgante para a DJ em ascensão, mas mesmo assim ela começou a sentir-se atraída por sons com apenas um pouco mais de adrenalina no tanque.

À medida que suas próprias reservas começaram a crescer cada vez mais – 2023 a levou ao The Glade em Glastonbury e a festivais como Hide & Seek, enquanto 2024 incluiu sets marcantes no fabric, Hï Ibiza e Creamfields – seu som também evoluiu.

Peak-time slots invited her to fire on all cylinders, slinging out sets of harder, faster, ravier music than she’d ever had space to play before. “You don’t have to be pigeonholed into one music genre for the rest of your life,” she says.

Listen to a Tomlinson set today, and you’ll hear the clear influence of hard house legends like Tony De Vit and Club Caviar. It’s an energy she channels into her own productions, too.

Em “Take Me Back”, sua colaboração de agosto com KELLAR para TNT, melodias ascendentes e linhas de baixo rolantes se acumulam em torno de um gancho vocal emocionante.

Making her own music took a little longer to click than DJing. Around the time she began playing for Defected, she thought that production could help her progress, but learning the process initially felt daunting.

Gradually, however, she became more confident, and she started to understand production as just another way to express the ideas and feelings behind her selections, she says.

Remixing tracks has given her an outlet to sharpen her production skills and try new things. In 2024, an invitation to remix the party-starting electro-pop duo Confidence Man, whom she had previously referenced as dream collaborators, arrived through her manager.

Her trance-tinted rework of ‘CONTROL’ landed in April 2025, and has gone on to provide the high-point in countless sets in the year since.

Since launching at ADE last year with a sold-out party at Thuishaven, the brand has gone on to launch its own run of football shifts. It returned to Amsterdam earlier this month, hosting its own pop-up at DB55 where Paige plated a triptych of b2b sets.

Eu sempre quis começar algo por mim mesma," ela diz, "para criar festas inclusivas inspiradas nos anos 90 e na cultura de clubes gays. Eu queria criar um espaço onde as pessoas pudessem ser elas mesmas.

Tomlinson is currently laying up plans to launch the Social Pleasure record label, which will serve as a home for her own productions and those of her friends and peers in the hard house and trance sphere.

With her upcoming run of US shows, and early 2027 appearances at events like Pitch Music & Arts, it’s all systems go for Tomlinson at the minute, though as has become perfectly clear, it’s clearly a pace she’s more than happy to match.

As she charges full steam ahead toward the future, there’s no telling where she might go next. “I do always like to take people on a journey, as cringey as that sounds,” she laughs.

Quer mais? Reconheça Shy One, Black Rave Culture, Moopie, Akua, Mira, Isaac Carter e RHR.