Deja Vu are doing it differently

What I’m about to say is basically a facet of modern existence now — I discovered Deja Vu while scrolling on Instagram. The three-piece, Elle, Ty and Diza, don’t feel like this painfully modern entity, though. As much as they’ve made their name posting videos of themselves dancing everywhere from Tesco to “packed train stations” (“the more boring [the setting], the better”), they’re true to their name. “It’s as if we’ve known each other in another life,” they tell me. When I meet them on set, they’re sweet and exceedingly polite, spending their time between takes filming the kind of content that’s put them on the map. But it doesn’t feel grating — I’m just witnessing what they describe as “making bangers with your best friends”.

That online presence is worth dwelling on because it’s, well, all they’ve got as I’m writing this. They’ve amassed more than 298,000 TikTok followers (and 140,000 on Instagram) without releasing a single song. But while most artists build their following after stepping into the spotlight, Deja Vu have done things backwards. Their first real performance together was on The Voice UK in 2023 — where they managed to get all four judges to turn their chairs — despite having “never even sung together”. How did they get past that wee hurdle? By spending a week “in a caravan park” trying to figure out their sound before the audition.

Clearly something clicked in that caravan — a connection that whole oceans couldn’t break. When Diza had to return to Venezuela for a spell afterwards, she’d “be up at 4am, writing lyrics over FaceTime” while the others were in the studio. Watching them together now, I get it. There’s something magnetic about a group that’s as comfortable breakdancing in the streets around King’s Cross station as they are crafting genre-bending bops worthy of their Noughties heroes.

Amber Rawlings: The question on everyone’s lips — how the hell have you built such a following without releasing a single?

Deja Vu: Social media is one of the most important tools these days, and we’ve seen how powerful it can be for up-and-coming artists. Honestly, one day we just
decided to stop caring what other people thought when it came to content. We found that “aesthetic” TikToks weren’t working and trends could only take us so far — we needed a niche. We started incorporating music video-style visuals alongside our covers and studio vlogs. Social media can make you feel like you need to be someone else, but you don’t. Take it from us — we had no idea how people would react to us breakdancing in King’s Cross, but they liked it because it was real.

AR: With Diza being from Venezuela and Ty and Elle being from the UK, there are lots of influences in your music. How do they show up in your sound?

DV: We always knew Deja Vu had to stand out — not just visually, but musically too. With Diza being from Venezuela, incorporating Spanish into our music just
made sense. She’s always written in Spanish, and it felt like a natural way to bring something unique to the table. And the best part about our music is that you can hear all three of us in it. Our voices are so different from each other, but they work so perfectly together. It’s a reflection of us — our friendship, our journey and the way we push each other every day. Honestly, we’re constantly surprising ourselves with what we create.

AR: On The Voice UK all four judges turned for you — that must have been surreal. What was going through your mind?

DV: We were honestly mind-boggled. We purposely didn’t invite a single family member or friend because we didn’t think we’d make it through. At that time, we were in such a different place — we’d never even sung together. We spent a whole week in a caravan park just trying to figure it out before the audition. And to be honest, deciding to go on the show was a complete impulse thing. When we got through, it was so reassuring. Looking back, being thrown in at the deep end like that was the best thing that could have happened to us. It fast-tracked everything and helped open doors so much quicker than we ever could have planned.

This excerpt was taken from HUNGER Issue 34: Fight Back. Stay tuned for the full story.