Blu DeTiger is Ready to Roar

Blu DeTiger (her real name, you can check her ID) is bold, brash and bass-addicted.

Now 28, she’s been plucking the bass guitar since she was seven years old. Initially inspired by her big brother Rex, who played the drums, she fell in love with her instrument immediately, enrolling in School of Rock, where she enhanced her skillset, ending up embarking on live performances at historic venues like CBGB by her tweenage years. Her family split their time between Manhattan and Ibiza, where she first familiarized herself with life outside the States, before continuing her consumption of all things music during college.

She studied at NYU’s Clive Davis School of Music, before dropping out to tour the world. Since then, she's played with FLETCHER, Caroline Polachek and Bleachers.

The underbelly of DeTiger’s music career is where she shines brightest: the clubs and parties around New York, Ibiza and beyond that she not only attends, but musically directs from behind the decks, bumping bass sans actual strings. Blu hosts her own recurring party, Bounce, which features her nonmusical lifelong passion: ping pong. She blends together table tennis tournaments with disco-inspired dancefloors at clubs around the world. How fabulous?

Back to Blu and her bass. She gained traction on TikTok when her stir-crazy, pandemic self started uploading plucked covers of everyone’s favorite pop songs. Her signature blonde hair and silky, soft vocals solidified her as a pop force to be reckoned with. The internet found itself immediately fond of her.

She released her debut album, All I Ever Want Is Everything, in 2024, which featured collaborations with Mallrat and Magdalena Bay, letting listeners know how in tune she is with the grungy and ethereal sides of pop and rock.

In 2026, Blu is bracing for a new level of stardom. At the top of the year, she was honored with Bass Magazine’s “Future of Bass” award. Her sophomore album in sight, with singles “Whisper” and “Shock!” already gracing the ears of her fans who, like her, cannot get enough of the groove and bass she’s become inseparable with. The former features cooing vocals, Blu beckoning her crush “Can you whisper me something and kiss me some more?” It’s flawless. The groovier latter was released alongside a video directed by Will Kindrick, where Blu’s spotted exercising both her sonic and sporty passions: bass and table tennis.

She’s joining fellow bass legend, Thundercat, for his “Distracted AF” tour across the US this fall.

Blu DeTiger sat down with PAPER to discuss her upcoming album, Marty Supreme, relationship to the New York party scene and her ever-evolving relationship with her instrument.

I want to break the ice before we get into the juicy stuff. I went blonde yesterday. Do you have any advice for my new lifestyle?

Oh my god. Congratulations! Welcome to the club. People say blondes have more fun as a joke, but I think it’s true. The maintenance of it is annoying. I re-up and get highlights sometimes and forget how far in advance I have to book it, then go too long without it. You have to stay on top of it if you want to keep it. Have more fun but be on top of it.

Will do. How’s Europe?

Good! I’m in Ibiza right now. I’m at the pool.

What are you getting up to in Ibiza?

I’m DJing at Pasha next week. I’m doing Purple Disco Machine’s night there. I was just in Morocco DJing, so we came here after. I’m with some friends and my brother. We’re just prepping for this gig on Thursday. I used to come to Ibiza growing up every summer. My parents used to live here, so I know it really well. I haven’t been here for an extended period of time since I was like thirteen. It’s been nice. It’s been cute. I’m exhausted.

How do you think growing up in a creative family- your father is a visual and creative artist, your brother plays instruments- affected your own artistry?

My brother got me playing an instrument in the first place. He was playing the drums. That started everything, and now we work together. Also, my family gets it and supports it. That’s a big blessing. It can be an unstable career, so it was really helpful when I expressed my passions and they told me to follow them. My brother, too. Having each other as a support system is awesome.

Even if I had expressed wanting to be a lawyer or a doctor, they would have been cool with it. Whatever my passion would have been, they would have been happy supporting it. I was lucky enough to find mine so young, when I was seven and started playing. I knew I wanted to do music forever.

How was growing up in New York? How do you think that has affected the music you make?

100%. It’s everything to me. I think I would be such a different person if I didn’t grow up in New York. The hustle energy of it is so specific and inspiring. It’s been ingrained in my whole artistry, as well as the content I write about. There are artists who grew up listening to music in a car, but for me, I did it on the subway on the way to school. When I’m making music, I’m thinking of those contexts. I’m thinking of walking down the street in SoHo. It’s very New York centric.

You stayed in New York for college at NYU. How do you think collegiate music education has affected your views of the music industry? What do you think about peership?

It’s cool, my class at NYU had a bunch of successful people. Maggie Rogers, FLETCHER. I played bass for FLETCHER for a minute before the pandemic. I’m still really good friends with all of them. They’re all peers to me. It’s cool looking back and seeing where we all were and how we all grew into our own and are all doing cool things. That’s always special. I was in songwriting class with Jasper Harris, who’s huge now. It’s awesome seeing where life takes everyone.

That’s so cool. Let’s talk about the new music. Where did the idea for the “Shock!” video come from? I knew pickleball was having a moment, but ping pong?

I’m obsessed with ping pong. I’m super into it. I used to play as a kid, at a spot called Spin in Flatiron. I was really into the sport, but then got into music and stopped playing. Two years ago, when they were filming Marty Supreme, there was an open casting for ping pong player extras. My brother and I both applied. We made a video of us rallying. I got a callback. I thought it would be so sick like, A24, Josh Safdie, Timothée Chalamet. I went to the audition, which was literally just playing ping pong. I learned a specific style that they used in the 50s. I took lessons to learn it and showed up amazingly. I got back into the sport because of this audition process. Then, it turned out the filming dates conflicted with one of my festival dates. So I couldn’t do it. But I started training for ping pong again, and now I take lessons with my coach once a week. It’s niche like bass.

I’m obsessed with the sport. I met so many people in the New York ping pong community, then started this party called Bounce with my brother. It’s an underground table tennis tournament/ dance party. It’s awesome. We do them in New York. We just did one in Vegas. We did one in Paris with Marty Supreme. I’ve been so into it since two years ago.

I wanted to work ping pong into the creative world of the album. So I put it in the “Shock!” video.

I need to go to Bounce. Will you bring it to LA?

Of course. There’s an old ping pong club in LA, it’s super far east in El Monte. It’s called LATTA. We showed up there once and they were super nice, and filmed the video there actually.

You’ve been teasing your sophomore album on Instagram. What can you tell PAPER about it?

It’s the music I’m most proud of so far. It’s the music I feel most connected to, which is really special. I love it. I believe in it. I only worked with three other people on it. My last one had a lot more people involved, this was a super tight-knit group. I was very intentional. I wanted to make sure whatever it ended up being was something that was my taste. It truly is. The sounds and sonics of it reference the music that got me into bass when I first started playing. It’s referential of my musical roots.

How has your relationship to the bass changed over time? Not every artist has an instrument. What are some key moments that you think of between you and the bass?

That’s a good question. In the pandemic, when I started to post videos of me playing online, that was a big moment for me. The bass is how I hear and feel music. It’s my first love before songwriting or singing or producing. Before the TikTok thing, I always felt a certain way about it. I didn’t feel like people recognized the instrument. I couldn’t get it across until I got the response from my online posting. It gave me confidence that people did care about it. The instrument mattered and connected with people. It gave me assurance to keep going. That was a very big moment. It was a turning point to direct me to my truth. That I love this thing and it’ll work if I put myself into it too.

That sounds like a very pivotal moment. What are some of the musical inspirations for the album?

Musically, the songs follow a boogie disco funk soul sound. I’ve been calling this genre “Boogie Sleeze,” like late 70s, early 80s soul funk. With lyrical New York edge. There’s a main characterness to how the songs make you feel. I was listening to Patrice Rushen, Donna Summer and Shalimar. Grace Jones, too. Bernard Edwards is my favorite bass player. This has always been the music I’ve listened to the most. The feeling of the songs I love was what I was going for.

And any non-musical inspirations?

New York itself. Living here, being from here. Nights inspired it. The movement of a night, going place to place or party to party. Movies-wise, Last Days of Disco. With Chloë Sevigny.

Oh my god.

Have you seen that?

Yeah I’ve freaking seen that.

It’s one of my favorites. I love the fashion in it.

It’s literally how I dress. Kinda.

I feel like it’s come back. When I was making this album, I kept saying I swore how that style was coming back. The fashion I’m wearing also reflects the sound of the music. The feeling of trying to get into the club in your 20s and going everywhere and to your job. That’s this album.

I love that movie. They’re such brats, and I’m like, “same.” Rapid fire, three best clubs or parties in New York?

Bounce, my party. I would say the Pasha that just opened in New York. I just DJ’ed there the other night. Maybe I’m biased. And then the third is just wherever the party is. And the time of year.

What’s the best season to be living in New York?

September. Fall is the best, there’s the most stuff going on. But winter is also great. The OGs are there. But really, all times. It’s the best city in the world.

Speaking of cities in the world, you’re joining Thundercat on tour in the fall. What emotions do you have going into a tour like this?

I love touring. I love performing, it’s the best part of the job. Thundercat is so cool. He’s such a bass legend. It feels cool to be recognized by him and his fans. Before tours, I feel like an athlete. I’ll work out and make sure I’m healthy emotionally. I rehearse my ass off and practice and make sure I’m vocally sound. It can be grueling sometimes.

Definitely. Who are some dream collaborators?

Mark Ronson, I’ve been wanting to work with. Nile Rodgers. We're in the midst of that. We chat. And then I’ll do a dead one: Prince. It was such a dream of mine to see him perform and I didn’t.

That’s stacked. If you could go back in time to any past version of yourself and give her one piece of advice, who are you visiting and what are you telling her?

Part of me wants to go back to my youngest self and say “Keep doing your thing!” But I’d rather go to the first year of college, because it’s such a pivotal time. I went to NYU, but dropped out, which was still my home city. It was still such a shift. I’d tell her then, that everything would be okay. To keep going. You always end up where you should be.