DJ Aaron Wu, a Pomona senior, is a prolific name in 5C DJ scene. He has DJed around 30 parties, including the Wedding Party, the Yule Ball, and Snow Globe. Outside the Claremont colleges, he has taken the stage at the Fox Theater with a DJ collective and a music festival at Silver Lakes. We sat down with Aaron to discuss his journey into DJing, the artistry behind his performances, memorable sets, and what separates a good DJ from a great one.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Feedbacker: How did you get your start as a DJ?
DJ Aaron Wu: In middle school, I got introduced to Kygo, and then I started watching him play sets on YouTube. I was inspired to get a DJ board—actually, the same one I have right now. The more I was getting into his music and also just getting into music in general, I actually went more the production route. So I wasn’t really using my DJ board until like 3 years ago.
Feedbacker: How would you explain DJing to someone who has no idea what it is? people sometimes say, “They’re just pressing buttons.”
DJ Aaron Wu: There are a lot of misconceptions about what DJing is. A lot of people think they know what DJs do, but they don’t really. There’s so much to it. I heard this quote from another DJ online: “Being a good DJ is easy, but being a great DJ is really, really hard.” The basics of DJing, like beatmatching and mixing, are actually really easy on a technical level. You don’t even need music theory to DJ—you just need to know music on a very basic level. But taking it to the next level—making transitions, loops, being creative in the moment—that requires a lot of skill and artistry.
Another thing people get confused by: Sometimes DJs get flamed for playing mashups, and people think they made those live. But really, those mashups are usually downloaded from SoundCloud. Producers upload them and DJs use them. It’s not fake, it’s just how things work.
Feedbacker: How do you go beyond that basic level?
DJ Aaron Wu: There are a lot of ways to get creative and take it to another level. Looping is one. Say you’re playing a song and the bridge has a sick guitar riff, you could loop that and layer it over a different song. But then you also need to make sure the EQ is clean, the mix works. That kind of creativity — that’s what makes DJing advanced. There’s honestly so many ways to level it up, it’s hard to list them all.
Feedbacker: What differentiates a great DJ from a good one?
DJ Aaron Wu: It depends what kind of DJ we’re talking about. There’s a big difference between a college DJ and, say, a club DJ in LA. When you go to a club in LA to see your favorite DJ—or, even if you don’t know who the DJ is—you’re not expecting to hear Katy Perry or Dua Lipa or Taylor Swift, right? You’re just expecting to hear… sounds. You’re expecting the DJ to be “good,” to bring something new. But in college, there’s this expectation that when you go to a party, you’re going to hear 2010s hits.
So in college, a good DJ is someone who can really cater to the crowd and whatever the theme is. Like if PEC (Pomona Events Committee) hires me specifically for a 2010s hits party, and I can deliver that—but in a way that makes sense, that keeps people engaged—that’s a good DJ. Because, yeah, you can play 2010s hits back to back, but if it’s all the same vibe for two hours, it gets boring. You need diversity in sound and genre, but also to keep it popular.
Feedbacker: So when you’re DJing, do you sense when the vibe is off and feel like you have to change it up? Is it like a muscle you develop?
DJ Aaron Wu: Yeah, I’d say crowd reading is super, super, super important—especially in college. When DJs have a certain name and people pay to see you, you can play whatever you want. That’s a big difference between college DJs and big-name DJs. Big-name DJs can play whatever and people will still enjoy it. But here, people expect you to play stuff they know.
It’s definitely hard at first. When DJs first start, they’re super nervous, just trying not to mess up transitions. But crowd reading is a muscle—it gets better with experience. The more you do it, the better you get at understanding what the crowd might want.
Feedbacker: Can you give an example of a recent show?
DJ Aaron Wu: I did the Scripps block party last Saturday. But actually, more recently—two days ago—I did the 47 Day gig. I was playing Migos, Atlanta stuff, like Southern rap. Even though it wasn’t a party-party, and people weren’t right in front of me dancing, I could still look around and see people in line for food trucks and stuff. And I could tell—the vibe wasn’t really hitting.
So I looked up from my computer and deck, literally just looked around for a minute, and I thought, maybe West Coast rap might work better. It’s slower, feels more sunny California. So I played “Die Hard” by Kendrick Lamar, and then my friends came up like, “Yo!” That was when I realized, OK, that other vibe wasn’t what people wanted. But the next song hit, and people were vibing.
Feedbacker: How do you balance between playing it safe—playing hits that everyone knows—and throwing in more esoteric stuff you like?
DJ Aaron Wu: Usually, especially for college parties, it’s less about how well-known a song is and more about how new it is. Like, say Playboi Carti just dropped something—people might not know the words yet, but they’ll still vibe. I played one of his songs last weekend, “Rather Lie,” and it hit. But sometimes I’ll play a song I know no one knows just because I want to show them something new. Usually I sandwich it between two popular songs so it still flows.
Feedbacker: Makes sense. As you’ve gotten more established, you probably have more freedom, right?
DJ Aaron Wu: Yeah… yes and no. Because with more recognition also comes more expectations. There was this one time at [a Desi/Bollywood-themed] party… I played a mashup I found on SoundCloud: Tyla’s “Water” mashed with a Bollywood track. But the crowd couldn’t tell it was a mashup. They just heard the Tyla intro and this girl came up like, “Why are you playing non-Desi music? You should get the fuck out of here.” Another person was mad too. I was really trying to cater to the Desi/Bollywood theme, but people were still upset.
Also, almost every event, there’s at least one person, usually drunk, who comes up like, “Can you play Taylor Swift?” or “Play Kanye West!” Sometimes they’re aggressive, sometimes they’re not.
Feedbacker: Do you ever play their requests?
DJ Aaron Wu: Sometimes, sometimes not. If I’m nervous or if it’s a big gig, probably not. But if I’m more relaxed, I might. It really depends on the moment.
The best flow state happens when both me and the crowd are locked in—when I know I’m playing good stuff, and the crowd is vibing. That energy feeds back into me, and suddenly all my transitions just hit, and it feels seamless.
Feedbacker: Can you talk about your music journey more broadly?
DJ Aaron Wu: I came to Pomona as a declared music major. In high school, I thought about doing physical therapy, pre-med stuff. But I was like, there’s no way. I would actually die. I’ve always been a music nerd—I did choir and band starting in fifth grade. I quit band in high school because it was too intense (Texas band culture is wild). But I stayed in choir all through high school. Took voice lessons. Big choir nerd.
At one point I thought about doing music education because a lot of my friends were going into that, but I didn’t want to. At Pomona, the music major is really general—it’s just “music,” not music education or production.
I have a lot of personal goals—being an artist, producer, singer, DJ—but balancing that with the pressure to find a job is tough. I’m not too worried about the future, though. I think I’ll find a way—maybe teaching music, giving private lessons, DJing, freelancing. Music is definitely my passion. I really couldn’t see myself doing anything else.
Feedbacker: How do you think your production background makes you different from other DJs?
DJ Aaron Wu: There’s this term in production: “having the producer ear.” DJs don’t need music theory, but when you have some kind of deeper musical understanding, it affects your taste. It’s hard to explain, but it shows in the kinds of transitions or blends you think of.
Feedbacker: Can you give an example?
DJ Aaron Wu: Okay, so imagine a DJ who doesn’t care about music—just doing it for clout or money. That person might just go to the house charts, download the top 50 songs, and build a crowd-pleasing playlist. But another DJ might be trying to prioritize artistry or musicality. I don’t want to trash people, but I do kind of judge DJs who only play mainstream stuff with no personal touch.
Feedbacker: So if you hear a DJ do something cool—like a transition or time signature trick—can you tell if they’re seasoned?
DJ Aaron Wu: Yes and no. It’s hard. Sometimes you can tell if someone has real musical understanding, especially if they’re doing more than just beatmatching—like making something creative and musical in the moment.
Feedbacker: How would you define your style compared to other DJs?
DJ Aaron Wu: At the 5Cs, I definitely prioritize diversity in sound. There’s this stigma around house and EDM here. People say white CMC DJs only play EDM or “white people music.” That bugs me because house originated in Black queer clubs in Chicago. It’s Black music. It sucks that now house has become so gentrified and commercialized that POC students think of it as white music. So I love house, but I usually don’t play it at the 5Cs because of that stigma.
Feedbacker: But why not ease people into it? Show them the real roots?
DJ Aaron Wu: Yeah, I want to, but sometimes it’s just easier to play hip hop or afrobeats, especially when I love those genres just as much. So I play a lot of R&B, hip hop, afrobeats, Latino music like bachata, dembow, reggaeton. That’s what differentiates me here—I usually don’t do EDM or mainstream pop. More broadly, I’d say my taste is kind of nerdy. I’ve got an ear for cool production, rhythms, jazz influence, hip hop grooves.
Feedbacker: So when you’re listening to your own music—or any music—and realize, “Oh, these two songs would sound great together,” how does that realization come about?
DJ Aaron Wu: Honestly, I don’t really have that much of my own music to do that with. And I don’t usually listen to music thinking about transitions. I do most of my transitions live—I don’t plan them out ahead of time. It just takes too much time and effort. I prefer to do it on the fly. My DJ software organizes songs by genre, BPM, and key, so I’ll usually just scroll through tracks with similar BPMs. Then I’ll figure out what works together as I go.
Feedbacker: What’s the most stressful moment you’ve had while DJing?
DJ Aaron Wu: Oh man, I have two. The weekend after my very first gig, PEC booked me for Party Rock, a 2010s-themed party. I was the only DJ for the full 2-3 hours. I was so nervous I had to lie down and do breathing exercises before the set. But once I got there, I was super locked in—just focused on picking the next track, thinking about transitions, crowd vibe, all of that.
Second was the Desi Party. I was honestly underprepared. I didn’t know Bollywood music very well, and I should’ve familiarized myself more with the tracks. I downloaded a bunch of songs but forgot how some of them sounded, so I was freaking out trying to remember how to mix them. That was probably my most stressful DJ moment ever.
Feedbacker: How do you get through moments like that?
DJ Aaron Wu: You kind of have to go with the flow. I just trusted that the songs I downloaded were good and that they’d work out. Could’ve done better, but it turned out decent.
Feedbacker: Do DJs experience flow state the way producers or musicians do?
DJ Aaron Wu: Definitely. For me, the producing flow state looks like starting a beat at 10 p.m., getting deep into it, and not realizing it’s 2 a.m. until I check the time. It’s just fun—ideas springing up constantly.
For DJing, it’s more mutual. The best flow state happens when both me and the crowd are locked in—when I know I’m playing good stuff, and the crowd is vibing. That energy feeds back into me, and suddenly all my transitions just hit, and it feels seamless.
But sometimes I get into the zone just on my own…like I’m loving what I’m playing and don’t even think about how others are reacting.
Feedbacker: Do your friends being [with you on the stage] affect your DJing?
DJ Aaron Wu: It’s fun, definitely. But sometimes it can be a bit much. There was one time my friend hyped the crowd at the wrong moment—during a quieter part of the song—and I was like, “Nooo, not right now!” In general though, it’s always nice having friends around. It can get a little claustrophobic if too many people are crowding around.
Feedbacker: Have your tastes in what you play changed over time?
DJ Aaron Wu: I think being on TikTok and seeing other DJs, and also just being part of the DJing community, has shown me a lot. I’ve really come to believe that Black and Brown music runs the world. And even pop music, dance music—it all comes from Black and Latin American and African roots. That’s been a realization that’s come both from classes (like music history) and my own research.
Feedbacker: Can you explain that more?
DJ Aaron Wu: Yeah, so American pop music started with European opera and then minstrelsy, which was built on racist caricatures and blackface. From there, you get ragtime, then blues. Blues was pioneered by Black women—vocalists and guitarists. And then you get jazz, then rock, and you’ve got Elvis, who literally made his career off music written by Black artists. Hound Dog? That was originally by Big Mama Thornton. And then you’ve got disco, which was huge and queer and Black and Latinx, and now you see a lot of pop turning back toward disco vibes. There’s this whole pattern of gentrifying and stealing music from marginalized communities. It keeps repeating.
Feedbacker: If you have song recommendations please share!
DJ Aaron Wu: I was just gonna say, it’s really funny, as a DJ, sharing music. Sometimes I want to gatekeep.
Feedbacker: (laughs) Yeah?
DJ Aaron Wu: Yeah, definitely. As a DJ, it takes a lot of work to find new music—good music. Especially in the beginning when I was building my library and crates, I spent so many hours—like, an insane amount of time—just looking through Brazilian funk, house, dembow, reggaeton, all kinds of genres. I’d be digging for stuff that’s already popular, and also underground tracks that barely anyone knows but still slap.
So yeah, I sometimes gatekeep a bit. But sometimes I don’t. Depends on the day. Depends who’s asking.
The biggest reason I love music is because music is culture. Culture is music. It’s not that culture is just music, but music is a huge part of it.
Feedbacker: Does your music experience improve your DJing?
DJ Aaron Wu: Some people might call me elitist for saying this, but yeah. It’s more about how I apply that experience when I’m actually DJing—that’s when it shows.
Feedbacker: How does music theory come into play?
DJ Aaron Wu: It’s nothing too complicated. Honestly, the most useful parts of music theory for DJing are the basics. Like, everything’s usually in the same time signature—4/4 for dance music. But keys matter. Some DJs don’t recognize key clashes. Like if you play a song in C and transition to a track in B, you’ll hear it clash immediately. The other big thing is phrasing. Structure. Recognizing when a song is hitting the bridge or outro so you know when to bring the next track in.
Structure and phrasing are huge. That’s basically it, honestly, for DJing. But as a producer, theory becomes a lot more important. Personally, I like theory. I’m kind of a nerd that way. I use the stuff I learn all the time when I’m making music. So for me, it’s not like this mythical concept.
Feedbacker: When people ask you why you love music, what do you usually say?
DJ Aaron Wu: Music is amazing. The way it brings people together—that’s beautiful to me. Probably the biggest reason I love music is because music is culture. Culture is music. It’s not that culture is just music, but music is a huge part of it.
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