CHVMELEON joins Shelf

By day, DJ CHVMELEON is a Social Content Strategist at Refinery29’s Unbothered, creating safe, joyful corners of the internet for Black women. By night, she’s behind the decks, helping to redefine what connection feels like on the dance floor. Only two years into DJing, CHVMELEON has already become a name recognizable online and throughout the city. She plays what she loves, and it shows. Her sets beat with genre-bending unpredictability—spiritual Amapiano, nostalgic R&B, and mashups that go viral before you even realize what’s happening. Rooted in community, not clout, she’s launched Dopamine Social Club to build nightlife alternatives that feel less like content and more like good dopamine. Whether you first met her through your algorithm, or in a crowd singing along to a Beyoncé deep-cut, CHVMELEON just might be your next favorite DJ. Read along as she speaks to us about nightlife in New York, the importance of community, and some of the music that inspires her and her sets.

ShelfMAG: What role does community play in your work as a DJ—do you see your sets as a space for connection, escape, or something else entirely?

@DJCHVMELEON: Community plays a huge role in my career as a DJ and my career as a social strategist. And the platform I work for, Refinery 29, Unbothered, specifically for and by black women, is completely community oriented around creating a safe space for black women. So that's always been a tenet of my professional life. Becoming a DJ, that was no different. The only reason I really became a DJ was because I was so inspired by the way the DJs in New York form and curate community. The first time I considered it was moving out here and seeing parties like Everyday People, DJs like Mohogany and Vonnie Mack, who seemed to curate such cool vibes. And I would meet all these great people and I was like, “wow, I want to be a part of this.” So that's the reason I even became a DJ. I just launched a social club called Dopamine Social Club. Under this umbrella I'm going to be throwing parties, but also other events that encourage connection, getting off your phone, and meeting people in real life. I'm hoping to really foster stronger community in Brooklyn. So, it's everything, actually.

ShelfMAG: I love that. it's always those damn phones.

@DJCHVMELEON: It really is the damn phones! I'm telling you, we're all addicted, and we need to get off of that.

ShelfMAG: As someone who has been to, I think three or four of your sets now, I know what my reasons are, but I'd love to hear from you why you think people resonate with your sets and your music so much. Because you haven't been DJing very long, but it's snowballed pretty fast.

@DJCHVMELEON: Yeah, it snowballed really fast. It's been two years since I started playing for people in real life. Two years next month. I started teaching myself about two and a half years ago, so still not very long, but I think it's a few reasons. One, I play music I really love, and I think you can tell when I'm DJing and that makes it more fun. I also think being new, I was glad to start playing for people before really getting a full sense of the type of music I like to play, because I just played what I wanted as opposed to what I thought the crowd wanted. I didn't know what crowds wanted yet, because I was brand new. I would just play whatever I wanted and get feedback that I played a song people hadn't heard in 10 years, or I played a song they love but they never hear out, or something like that. And I really like being the kind of DJ that can still keep the party going without playing the same top Afrobeat songs, the same top hip hop songs. I think that's what people come to expect from my sets. And then also the creative transitions that I go viral for, and some of the mashups. That’s kind of how my social presence blew up so quickly.

ShelfMAG: I’d concur. One of the things I've noticed since moving is how quickly the nightlife scene and culture can change here in New York. I'd love to hear your take and experience with navigating that, first as a party goer, and now being on the other side with your branding, promotion and DJ experience.

@DJCHVMELEON: I was talking to a DJ friend about this literally right before this call. I've been in New York almost five years, so I moved in peak lockdown, September 2020. So I didn't get to experience nightlife until the following summer. And even then, you had to show that you were vaccinated at the door. I think even though I didn't experience it pre-pandemic, from what I've been told and from what I can see experiencing it post-pandemic, I think parties that are ticketed are a lot more prevalent now than they were before. You can't really go anywhere on the weekends unless you got a ticket, which is frustrating. You have to be willing to invest in a party before you get there, and I think that makes it a little hard for the partygoer. For my parties, I try to do slightly cheaper tickets because I get that frustration. But I do think it gets to a point…every time I go out I need to pay 25 just to get in the door, and then I gotta buy drinks? I think it’s really impacting New York nightlife.

That, and the culture around drinking has changed, which is probably for the better. I'm seeing younger people not drink nearly as much. They're still coming out, they still want to come dance, but they're not really drinking as much or doing any types of substances. They're kind of just there to vibe and dance, which I think is really cool. But I think as an event thrower, we need to adjust what the business model is going to be because a lot of these venues have bar minimum requirements and if you don't meet it, you owe the bar that money. That kind of thing is tough to navigate as an event thrower, and it's part of why I launched Dopamine Social Club.

The solution to me is to provide other opportunities to gather that aren't the club. Not saying clubbing is dead—I love the club. I love a good little night out and I'm gonna love that for quite some time, but I think my personal solution was to just try to curate more spaces—and I'm only at the tip of the iceberg, I haven't really done it yet—but that's what I envision Dopamine Social Club growing into. And I think that will help. I think New York nightlife is one of the best in the world. It's very fun to be here. You could throw a rock and find a great party to go to.

ShelfMAG: Who or what would you say are your biggest influences right now? Musically, culturally, or otherwise. And how are they showing up in your current sets or mixes?

@DJCHVMELEON: This isn’t a specific person, but just what the South Africans are doing with music right now. It's just insane. I was interested in DJing before Amapiano really hit New York mainstream, but that was the push I needed to be, like, “I'm doing this now.“ That's what made me start, and then I realized I love playing every genre—hence the name Chvmeleon—but the music coming out of South Africa now, Amapiano, Afro House—3-step is a genre that I think has been around a little bit, but it's hitting mainstream now. Imagine what you would hear on a rooftop in Cape Town in December—just very vibey and a lot of it's very spiritual. And that really resonates with me. Music that really makes you feel something when you hear it.

There's this Afro House DJ who did Descendants a couple months ago, Zakes Bantwini. And I was not an Afro House fan. I actually thought I didn't like it at all. And I had a friend convince me to go to Descendants and the spiritual experience that I had when this man played his own song called “Osama”. To this day, when I hear that song, it's like I'm ascending. But if I had to name a person, I mean, I love Zakes Bantwini, I love that song, “Osama,” Joe Kay and what he's doing with Soulection is amazing. He's putting people onto such incredible music, putting me onto such incredible music.

I think pushing people to diversify the types of things they listen to is really important to me because I get really bored. Once I got more successful as a DJ and started getting headline slots and started kind of feeling the pressure to play the expected songs in that one hour. Because, like, I'm at that peak part of the party where everyone's here and they want to hear XYZ songs, and I feel like I have to play them. That limits me. That's not that fun for me anymore. And I really respect and appreciate DJs who are challenging their audience to listen to other things because that just gives us some more freedom too.

ShelfMAG: What's a song you would defend with your life even though everyone else thinks it might be kind of trash?

@DJCHVMELEON: Probably “Charm” by Rema. The summer that song came out, I was under a spell. I could not stop listening to “Charm”. I know that song inside and out. I like everything about it. He's magic. I think he might have put a little something something in the song.

ShelfMAG: What item on your Shelf is most likely to stay there forever?

@DJCHVMELEON: It says my top genre is Amapiano. That probably will stay. It’ll go between that and R&B probably. Those are the only two genres you'll probably ever see on my Shelf. I really don't ever listen to hip hop on my own. I really don’t listen to any other genres of music on my own. It's it's either R&B, Afrobeats or Amapiano. And if you see a little Hamilton on there every once in a while, don't say nothing to me. It's a great piece of art.

ShelfMAG: Chameleon for real. I concur. “I'm not throwing away my shot”. I get it.

@DJCHVMELEON: I am not, okay! I can rap that whole three hour musical. I actually know almost every word. Maybe that's what I would defend with my life….Just the Hamilton soundtrack in general. Good music. It's not corny.

Curious about what else CHVMELEON is into? Get real-time updates at shelf.im/djchvmeleon