drip(mix) presents: We are all deserving of love by Simona Castricum
Simona Castricum is an Australian musician, performer, DJ and architecture academic from Naarm/Melbourne. Recently nominated for the Australian Music Prize and two Music Victoria Awards in 2020, Simona’s unique electronic sound is synonymous with Melbourne’s music scene. Her iconic live festival performances include Golden Plains, BIGSOUND, HYBRID, Something Unlimited, Paradise, and Gaytimes and her third full length studio album, Panic/Desire debuted at #1 on the AIR 100% Independent Album Chart.
With versatility through underground synth wave, techno, house, electro, italo and new beat flavours, Simona has been a regular DJ around Melbourne queer clubs for over 20 years, to major festivals including Strawberry Fields, the Official Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Party, Monsta Gras and is a resident at Australia’s premier fetish club ‘Fantastic’.
Her drip(mix) We Are All Deserving of Love, is hand extended, ready to lift you up when you need it most. It captures the magic of a Simona set – feeling understood on the dancefloor by an artist who knows the importance of healing and connection through music.
We’re honoured to share not only Simona’s playlist, but her words on love, lockdown and self-worth:
I keep telling myself in these lockdowns: “Simona, be your own best friend, be your truest love. Desire yourself”. Every time I serve myself breakfast, lunch or dinner, I set the table, light some candles, as if it’s a date with myself.
It gets me through most nights, This pandemic has taught me how to meet my needs in ways I never knew were possible. I love myself. I think I’m worthy of love. I’m a hot and funny bitch. I think about how I long to meet the needs of someone special. I keep telling myself “my best years lay ahead of me”.
Many days it doesn’t get me through. I’m not coping with this indefinite solitude. Who is? I’m sad. I’m alone. I felt disconnected before this pandemic. Living alone 230+ days in lockdown, its accompanied social restrictions, despite intimate partner allowances and bubble arrangements beyond my admin, I wonder: ‘is the love I’m looking for looking for me?’
Hard truth: I’m not living in a world where the universe will answer this call so easily. Every night, I keep thinking about love, the love(s) I’ve lost, and the loss of feeling the joy of love, of intimacy and sex. I think of how they’re related. I think of how this pandemic has made love and sex feel like an impossibility.
Playlists are my love language. This is for you. While I struggle to keep a lid this despair, I remind myself: I am worthy of love, of desirability—and so are you. Meanwhile, I can set the table again for myself tomorrow. And tonight, I might dream of who lay on the other side—of all of this.