Detroit is undeniably soulful and stunning in so many ways, especially considering all that it has given. Concerning music, I got two words for ya’: Motown and techno, but let’s not forget contributions to blues, jazz, hip-hop, R&B, and even the origins of punk rock. Its citizens, likewise, are a compendium of so many different sources, and when I got the chance to chat with Detroit native, the electric sillygirlcarmen (aka Carmen Johnson), I noticed that much of what I feel makes this city outstanding inherently flows through her. She takes a lot of inspiration from this place she calls home. It’s beautiful. Naturally, just like her music. I’m Bear Swiftly, the Electro Scribe, and let me share some of my favorite cuts from our electric discussion, and you’ll certainly see why she’s an artist that so many in Detroit, and across the globe, have taken a liking to.
We spoke in the aftermath of Detroit’s magnanimous Movement Music Festival, and I began our chat by expressing admiration for her Detroit stage performance. Dancing culture is firmly affixed to Detroit’s soul, and I loved seeing her inclusion of dancers in her set. She did the same with her 2025 performance on the Pyramid stage, and she took this moment to share some insight into how she sees herself as a master of ceremonies and what makes her Movement presentations extra special.
“Coming in as a DJ, I’m very multifaceted in my artistry. When I started DJing, it was never one-dimensional for me. I was a singer and a performer and doing all these other facets of things. Becoming a DJ just made me feel like, oh, I can bring all these elements together. I can be innovative, I can have fun, and that’s what it is for me. I have fun with it. I want to bring dancers on. I want to bring a little bit more show to the experience. It’s really just about inspiring people and doing something different.
“It’s cool because Movement is the perfect place where I can kind of go all out… It’s definitely become kind of like a tradition for me at Movement. I love incorporating other creatives and local talent, so I get to work with my friends. Like, my friend choreographs it, and I’ve got my other friend that’s a dancer. It’s just a way to bring in everything I love around being an artist, and it’s exciting for people.“
This is the kind of energy I appreciate from performers, a desire to share their platform with others. Undoubtedly, sillygirlcarmen is the type of talent that sets a welcoming vibration for folks to gather around and get down. I’ve long thought about music-centric events as a kind of church for the soul. With this notion in mind, I decided to inquire about Carmen’s musical inspirations growing up.
“There’s just something in the culture that exists here in Detroit and our lineage with art and our influence from Motown. It definitely bleeds into everything that comes through House DJs in Detroit. For me, growing up, I loved R&B, soul, and funk, and some of my favorite singers are Donny Hathaway or Frankie Beverly... Soul-based. And yeah, I grew up in a household with a lot of different music. We had Prince, we had Sade, we had the Police, and a wide range of things, things that were influencing me. So I think that’s where I could just say I became a music lover and an artist because I never felt like I was in a box. I had a taste for so many different things. I wanted to create from so many different perspectives.
“Every day still to this day, just being from Detroit, I’m still learning pieces of our culture and music influences where I’m like, wow, I had no clue! There was a house track or a sample I found, and it was from the Clark Sisters, which is a gospel group. And at the time, I just didn’t know the historical reference of their background in relation to Detroit and all this stuff. So it’s like, yeah, the more you dig, you just find all these different things, and it’s like, wow… It’s exciting to be creative in this day and time in Detroit and have so much lineage to refer to in history.”
You can tell how much love and respect Carmen has for the city of Detroit, and how could you not? It’s a stalwart city that I fell in love with after first attending Movement in 2023. I’ve come to see Movement as not just another music festival, but a forum for showcasing philosophy and principle. Of the sonic sort. “Come one, come all, to Detroit’s philosophical sound symposium.” This year, I started saying, “Movement, We’re Meant to Move”, as a way of expressing how in a city and celebration as special as this, people from across the globe are gathering to share the vastness and complexity of themselves with one another through collective frequencies. I asked Carmen if these thoughts of mine were some she agrees with.
“Definitely, and I think we see more and more of that every year. I think the Detroit artists that do get the opportunity to showcase and be on those stages, they’re incorporating more than just their DJ moment. They’re including photographs of, like, Detroit natives. I think this year, on the Carl Craig book performance, he had like, a drum line, and he was showcasing images of Detroiters.
“There’s so much representation because there [are] so many newcomers… We want to make it an experience. Movement is a great opportunity for so many people to showcase other facets of our culture that tie into what this music is all about, you know, through dance, through fashion, through imagery, everything… And people come, obviously, for that reason. There’s a lot of love for the history and influence that originated with Detroit and techno and everything. So, yeah, you feel it the whole weekend, for sure.”
I believe artists of sillygirlcarmen’s caliber have a tendency to branch out beyond mixing and producing. Remember earlier when she shared it was never about being one-dimensional? She’s got a vision that sees her showcasing more than just her own tracks, so I asked about the record label she founded, Sun and Sound.
“Maybe it’s been two years now, and this year has been really exciting for the label because we released our first vinyl compilation. [We] have so many great artists on that. Glenn Underground, John Dixon, Kevin Reynolds, both Detroit natives, and Coflo from the Bay. It’s been really cool taking on the task of running a label and working with different artists. So, yeah, I have more releases coming.
“Everything with the vinyl was done here in Detroit with Archer Records, which is an iconic record pressing plant. The person helping me distribute it is Norm Talley with Asylum Records. It’s cool just being in that element of the hustle here in Detroit, you know, the vinyl, 100%. But yeah, I’m working on collaborations all the time. I, like I said, have a couple of records already lined up for the rest of the summer season and then stuff in the works with some other people. So we’ll see what’s next.”
Whenever I speak with an artist, I always like to ask about sources of inspiration outside of music. How does sillygirlcarmen unwind or relax when she’s not in the studio or on stage?
“I like to garden. I get a lot of inspiration from just being in touch with nature and having that free space. I like to go out when I have free time, and I’m not playing on the weekends, to see other DJs and where people are coming from with their musical taste and perspective. I enjoy that. Going to the museum, getting inspiration from visual art, you know, other mediums in art. So yeah, I’m inspired by anything at any given moment. And then in my free time I’m kind of just trying to stay grounded and at peace in life. That’s kind of what I’m balancing.”
Along those lines of staying grounded, I was curious about how sillygirlcarmen keeps herself focused and healthy in an industry that adores late nights and last calls.
“This type of industry, it can become overstimulating… It’s a lot of energy and nightlife and drinking and just, you know, different things that can be very high energy. So for me, just coming back to my anchors in my self-care routine. It’s meditation, it’s yoga, it’s preparing a good home-cooked meal, like just the basic simple pleasures of life… I definitely need that balance because I’m a more sensitive soul. But I have this ambition of a rock star where I’m like, yeah, let’s do it, and let’s play music! But yeah, I like to be at home with my pets and my family and cook a good meal, listen to some chill soul music, or go outside. Those are the things that just reset me and then re-inspire me to be like, I want to do it again!”
Before ending my electric discussion with sillygirlcarmen, I had one final request. For others who are pursuing their own dreams and goals in this world, what are some words of wisdom she would offer up, say, to her younger self?
“The sooner you fall in love with the simple parts of the process more so than the destination you have in mind, the more joy you’re gonna get. The easier it’s gonna become. You don’t have to reach any level. You don’t have to get to any particular destination. It’s already in you. The process is really the gift in itself.”
Check out sillygirlcarmen’s website for media, merch, and more information about her music and record label. Her most recent collaboration with Ryan Sadorus, ‘Wait for You’, is now streaming on Spotify. Follow her on Facebook and Instagram @sillygirlcarmen. She’ll be performing August 14 at Tangent Gallery and August 15 at TV Lounge, lending her talents to the Charivari Detroit Reunion. You can also catch her on September 8 at COCOS HOUSË, Louisville’s first and only house music club.
Be well, be successful. Bear Swiftly.
–Electro Scribe–
