Honey Dijon – ‘Black Girl Magic’ review: an expert demonstration of fierce house music

18 November, 2022

Honey Dijon

Honey Dijon is a wizard when it comes to making feel-good dancefloor symphonies. But then that should be a given since she was born in Chicago, the birthplace of house music.

Enamoured by a culture that was on her doorstep, Dijon later continued her journey in New York where she made a name for herself as a go-to party DJ, fashionista and activist. Despite producing music for over two decades, Dijon’s entertaining debut solo album, ‘The Best Of Both Worlds’, only arrived in 2017, before she then courted the mainstream earlier this year with her contributions to Beyoncé’s house and Ballroom-inspired album ‘Renaissance’.

Having previously shadowed other Chicago DJ greats like Derrick Carter and Mark Farina, their influence is felt in every thumping snare and hypnotic cymbal on Dijon’s second album, ‘Black Girl Magic’. Packed full of fierce and vocal-drenched house anthems that’ll get everyone moving, the record is infused with a real sense of freedom. As a trans woman of colour, Dijon has always celebrated being Black and queer in her work, using house music in particular as a safe space to express herself. ‘Black Girl Magic’ continues to tell this story, as the Hadiya George-featuring ‘Not About You’ sums up perfectly: “It’s not about you, it’s not about me: it’s about us.”

Boasting a packed list of collaborators including Channel Tres, Pabllo Vittar and Sadie Walker, the record’s standout feature comes from Eve on the soulful deep house gem ‘In The Club’. Here, Dijon proves that she is a master at blending a sultry vocal delivery (Eve’s sensual harmonies include the nightclub-ready lyrics: “Searching through the darkness / It’s you that I find”) with staple house tropes: sharp and energetic violins, unapologetic organs and unruly percussion. It’s a truly liberating moment.

Intertwining every aspect of her identity with ‘Black Girl Magic’, Dijon also showcases her passion for fashion. On ‘Everybody’, she provides us with a high-octane track about high fashion that could soundtrack a ’00s runway montage. Featuring flirty xylophones, signature house cymbals and organ chords, clubs are surely soon to be united by the track’s lyrics: “My body’s designer / I’m rich ‘cause it’s mine, mine.”

Now well into her stride as a solo artist, with ‘Black Girl Magic’ Dijon has produced another collection of standout, all-inclusive house classics that’ll dominate dancefloors for years to come.