Born and raised in Santiago, Chile, ICON graduate Gisela Lindhorst, known by the moniker OHMYGi!, has been making waves internationally as a DJ, producer, and vocalist. We sat down with OHMYGi! to learn more about her journey as an artist, time at ICON Collective, and upcoming single “I’m Danger.”
Gisela’s passion for DJing and electronic music began shortly after she attended Lollapalooza Chile in 2012 where she witnessed some of dance music’s finest tear up the stage. Prior to the festival, her involvement in music was limited to dance, but the energy of the DJs sparked a new fire inside of her. Within months Gisela had signed up for a DJ course that she describes as her “Pandora’s box” where she discovered her love of crate digging and curating sets.
Gisela pursued an education in service administration, but used her limited free time to throw parties around the city where she’d book anyone from local talent to industry heavyweights. Booking artists was how she recognized the importance of creating her own music as a DJ.
“I was trying to bring all of these artists to the party to play and at that point it was because I love their music, you know? And it happened. [But] sometimes they were an amazing producer and not a good DJ, or both, or the other way around. After a year of our parties we booked Must Die!—I got him because I love his music.”
Not long after her epiphany, a friend told her about ICON Collective’s Women’s Scholarship and with only 10 days left until the deadline she decided to submit her application.
“I started dreaming…I really don’t think I’ve ever had that feeling before in my life. Like, super intense, imagine if this happened.”
When we asked her about the application video she shared, “You never know who you’re competing with, so that means you’re almost competing with yourself.” Between her mindset, talent, and story she won the scholarship. A year later she moved out to Los Angeles, California and started her first quarter at ICON.
Gisela’s time at ICON was anything but smooth. During her first quarter she broke her knee and was forced to return to Chile for medical care. After months of physical therapy and preparations to move back to the states, the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Although the odds were stacked against her, Gisela spent her time in lockdown studying and creating the music we can now hear under her OHMYGi! alias.
“My first mentor was Matt Bang and he was like, ‘What do you see yourself doing in 5 years?’ And I was like ‘I want to dance, I want to perform, I want to play, I want to sing, I want to do everything on the stage. And then he was like, ‘Okay then do you have a song where you sing?’ And I was like, ‘Nope’ and he was like, ‘Well, I don’t know how you’re going to start [dancing, performing, singing, etc.] if you don’t have a song where you sing.’ From there I started getting into writing and singing what I really enjoyed.”
Gisela won the ICON Collective Student Ambassador award and graduated from the flagship music production program in the summer of 2021. We are honored to premiere OHMYGi!’s promo mix for her first single “I’m Danger,” due out on Friday, November 26th. You can listen to the mix below.
We asked OHMYGi! for any final thoughts she would give someone looking to start a creative career and this is what she shared:
“You’ve gotta learn to enjoy and love yourself because you’ve gotta work and create and bring everything from inside of you. There’s so much inner work, I feel. I have been getting to know myself so well through music—you’ve got to face whatever is around.“
We couldn’t agree more.
To hear more of the interview, enjoy this week’s artist spotlight on OHMYGi! below.