Jenny Cara: Punchy, Sassy, Unhinged
- Filip
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
“Punchy, sassy, unhinged.” That’s how Jenny Cara sums up her sets, and honestly, it’s the perfect trailer for the world she’s building. The Lucerne-born, Berlin-based DJ didn’t plan on being here. “I never planned to build a career like this. I always preferred working behind the scenes and being in the spotlight is something I still don’t fully love,” she admits. But then came the surreal booking that changed everything: Panorama Bar. From that moment, she leaned all the way in.
“Some people get confused when they can't immediately put you in a box. But to me, being able to play so diversely is a real strength.”
Since then, Jenny has been carving out a sound and a presence that refuses boxes. “Some people get confused when they can't immediately put you in a box. But to me, being able to play so diversely is a real strength.” Whether she’s running her NTS show Situationship (born out of desperation for a name, turned into its own micro-universe) or reflecting on the end of her community project eXchange, Jenny’s vision of club culture is one rooted in empathy, honesty, and just the right amount of cringe.
There’s also the sense that Jenny thrives in contradiction: the DJ who doesn’t love the spotlight, the activist who had to step back to protect herself, the artist who jokes about becoming a gym bro while playing one of the most emotional queer club moments of the year. She’ll tell you herself:
“I’ve learned to take things one step at a time, and right now I’m focused on finishing my first EP. But for now, the best way to find out is to just tune in, come along for the ride, and see where it takes us.”
Below, Jenny opens up about happy accidents, genre freedom, community work, situationships (the NTS kind and the real-life kind), and why the best dancefloor moments are always just a little bit cringe.
Q&A with Jenny Cara
You've had quite a journey—from discovering club music in Lucerne to running things at Zukunft and now playing across Europe. Looking back, was it ever a conscious decision from your side to pursue a career in music? What do you think shaped your sense of what a club is and space should be?
That’s a tough one, it was definitely a happy accident. I know it might sound unfair, but I never planned to build a career like this. I always preferred working behind the scenes and being in the spotlight is something I still don’t fully love.
It wasn’t until I got the booking request to play Panorama Bar that I made a conscious decision to really go for it. It just felt so absurd and surreal at the time, and that was the moment I realised I wanted to commit and see where this path could take me.
But I’ve completely fallen in love with DJing, and knowing what I know now, I’d choose this path again and again. I think it comes down to the countless nights I spent at Zukunft Club (RIP), soaking in all kinds of sets and energies. Over time, that gave me a strong sense of how a space can feel and function.
I think my sensitivity and empathy for both, spaces and people, really shaped how I understand what a club experience should be or can be.
Your NTS show Situationship has become its own little universe. Can you walk us through how the concept started—from an Instagram game to a fully developed series—and what that word means to you now? Has it taken on new layers since you began?
Okay, I’ll be super, super honest – I was totally desperate to find a name.
One thing was clear: there was no way I was going to call the show after my artist name. So I started brainstorming with my friend DJ Frank.
I mean, come on… who wouldn’t want a situationship with NTS? Sounds pretty ideal to me.
We were chatting about the whole setup with NTS, and at some point she just went, “This kind of sounds like a situationship.” And it just clicked. That was it – the word felt right. The whole concept around it actually came later.
I still think situationships are kind of cute, as long as there’s decent communication, obviously. I mean, come on… who wouldn’t want a situationship with NTS? Sounds pretty ideal to me.
Not being easily defined can definitely be both a curse and a blessing.
You’ve said you don’t want to be put in a box, and your sets reflect that. How do you think about navigating identity, genre, and expectation in a scene that often loves to label things?
For me, it was never exciting to commit to a specific genre or identity, neither musically nor personally. Labels can be helpful at times, but often they just shrink things down or make them feel restrictive. In my sets, I try to do the opposite. I play what feels right in the moment, what builds or breaks tension, what surprises or creates connection.
Not being easily defined can definitely be both a curse and a blessing. Some people get confused when they can't immediately put you in a box. But to me, being able to play so diversely is a real strength, it gives me freedom and opens up spaces, rather than closing them off.
My sets are my space to intentionally challenge expectations, genre-blurring, sometimes even contradictory. I see not having to commit to one thing as a strength, even though it’s not always easy.
Sander from Doppelgang once told me, when we first met, that he admired how I just do my own thing. That really stuck with me, because you never truly know if what you're doing is any good. And it was just so nice to hear that from someone outside my own bubble.
Your project eXchange is all about access and breaking down barriers in the music scene. What are some ways you’ve seen that change actually take root—or maybe where it still feels like there's work to be done?
Unfortunately, eXchange doesn’t exist anymore. Belia Winnewisser and I were both co-founders of the project, and we’re still doing a lot of community work individually, but in our own time and on our own terms.
With eXchange, we committed to a full year of supporting a group of FLINTA* people over six months through different modules like DJing, how to create a press kit, empowerment workshops, music production, the history of electronic music and more. It was incredible to see participants gain confidence, build networks, and start their own projects during and after the program.
At some point, we realized that we were investing more into the community than into our careers. So we made the mutual decision to put the project on hold for now. That doesn’t mean my activist work stopped with the end of eXchange. I’ve just found different ways to integrate it into my career, in a way that also allows me to focus on myself and my career in a healthier way.
As a kind of ending highlight, we got the opportunity to do a real exchange with Sirän in Istanbul, a project co-founded by Nene H and Y.unan, which was such a meaningful way to connect scenes and build bridges across cultural communities.
Winter is coming, where will we find you, and what kind of winter identity will you embody this year?
I’m going on tour in Asia and Australia, and I swear I’m as excited as a little kid! And since it’ll be summer there, I’m continuing my 2025 summer identity: how to be a gym bro.
It felt like the floor opened up and wrapped its arms around me.
What’s a moment on the dancefloor that’s really stayed with you lately?
At the last Queerpool in Hamburg, I played right after fka.m4a. My last track was “Enjoy Your Life” by Romy. The whole show was amazing, but in that moment, everything just clicked. It felt like the floor opened up and wrapped its arms around me.
It’s the kind of track you can only really play and have it truly understood in queer spaces. I know it sounds a bit cringe, but everyone who knows me knows I kind of love a bit of cringe. Those are the moments that remind me why I love doing this.
Okay, crystal ball time. You’ve been orbiting around the word “situationship” for a while now—where are we heading next, and how can we find out?
If I’ve learned anything from situationships, it’s that you never really know where they’re heading. That's kind of the fun part. I’ve learned to take things one step at a time, and right now I’m focused on finishing my first EP. I’m also really looking forward to my B2B shows at ADE with Papa Nugs and BELLA.
But for now, the best way to find out is to just tune in, come along for the ride, and see where it takes us.