Blu DeTiger is the future of bass. And those are not the words of TND's Tyler Roland, who interviewed her. No, this is the name of the award bestowed unto DeTiger this year by Bass Magazine. Along with fellow 2026 winner Laura Lee (Khruangbin), DeTiger smartly weaves the four-string into her punchy pop songs and TikTok-famous covers, while building a reputation for accompanying other artists. Caroline Polachek, Magdalena Bay, and Bleachers are just a few of the acts DeTiger has worked with.

Her new single "Whisper" feels readymade for the top of the charts without a yawn-inducing, root-note bass part. DeTiger and Roland discussed an array of topics, from her Fender signature bass – she's the youngest player ever to have one – to the fly fishing skills DeTiger picked up in Alaska.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Tyler @ TND: I had no idea who you were until I saw you perform at the Bass Magazine Awards. You and Laura Lee from Khruangbin won "Future of Bass" titles. Your styles are worlds apart, but the vibe you bring is just as essential. Tell me more about that night. Was it your first time meeting your fellow winners?

Blu DeTiger: It was really special. So many of the players are my idols in the bass world. Marcus Miller is one of my biggest inspirations. Same with Victor Wooten, who presented an award. There were so many bass players I've looked up to for so long. Without them, I wouldn't be the bass player I am today. Just being in the same room and being recognized in the same sort of capacity and context was really special for me, and kind of surreal. It was cool to meet everyone. Laura I've known for a few years. We're good friends and we text, but a lot of the other players I had never met before. It's cool to be in a room of bass players because it's such an unrecognized instrument. It's a little bit niche, you know?

Did any of the performances from that night influence future writing or anything?

I'm always inspired to see those players play in real life. Marcus is just so amazing live. Like, it's insane. Also seeing Khruangbin live in that context was cool, because that was a pretty small room for them. Same with Green Day – you can't really see them in that small of a room. The last time I saw Khruangbin, it was at Coachella in front of thousands of people, so to see them in that more intimate environment was really cool. You can really hear everyone's tone and really zone in on everyone's playing style.

You do a lot of live work for, and have appeared on recordings of, huge artists in between making the snappy, catchy stuff of your own career. How much does your mindset shift between recording your own material and accompanying others?

When I'm accompanying other artists or recording for someone else's work, the biggest thing is serving the song and serving their artistry, and making sure that the artist is happy with it. For my stuff, the same is true; I always want to make sure I'm serving the song with the parts that I'm playing. But I think with my music, since I'm both the artist and the player, I can take more liberties in the playing and make sure that I'm proud of the writing and the playing. I guess I'm always proud of everything, but you know what I mean? Making sure that the bass parts are up to the standard of what I want to be showcasing, because I'm always trying to push the needle with my playing and always trying to showcase what the instrument can do – bring it to the forefront and show that bass can be the backbone of a song, but it can also be the melody, the harmony, and the lead.

You started DJing as a teenager and you pulled out your bass during your sets. Now, I went to college in Los Angeles, and you couldn't swing a cat there without hitting five aspiring DJs. Obviously, no one I know of does the bass while spinning whatever they're spinning. How naturally did that fusion come to you? Did it feel gimmicky at first?

I started DJing when I was 17. When I started to learn, I thought "okay, there are a lot of DJs here. How can I stand out and be different?" For me and my musical journey, the bass is always the through line. It's always been the grounding thing. I felt it very natural to combine my two passions of DJing and bass. It's all music, so it should all work. The first time I did it, it just kind of clicked. People started to take note of it, and notice me within the New York City nightlife community. That's what I became known for. I think it was cool to have something that made me stand out a bit and gave me an identity.

It's one thing to play a guitar over a track, but bass is so low-frequency, it can be tough, unless you're super high on the neck.

Exactly, yeah, and I have tricks for it now. But I think there's something special about the bass frequencies. It's why I love the bass in general – you can feel it in your chest. And I think the double-bass frequencies in the nightclub setting feel really good. But yeah, sometimes I'll do stuff higher up on the neck or I'll slap so that it cuts through a little bit more. It's nice to be on the dance floor and feel a sort of humanness to the music that maybe you wouldn't get when you're just hearing a DJ play tracks.

You're the youngest artist in history to have a Fender signature bass. Are you using that bass exclusively for what you're writing now? Have you purchased any new basses that have sparked your creativity a bit?

"Whisper," the single that just came out, was all on my signature bass. A lot of [my latest] bass lines are me playing on the humbucker pickup of my signature. It has this Bernard Edwards sound I was going for. I think that that tone is very singular, and only achievable on the signature bass.

[Note: here, DeTiger discusses flatwound bass strings, as opposed to roundwound, on some upcoming songs. Roundwound strings offer brighter, punchier sounds and are favored in pop and rock, while flatwounds emphasize the lower notes and help produce a "warmer" tone, optimal for jazz and R&B.]

I never play with flatwounds, but there's one song I wrote where I use a [Fender] P Bass with flatwounds and a pick, which I never do. I never play with a pick and I never play with flatwounds, so this was the first time, but I really liked the sound of the pick with the flatwounds. There's another song that has flatwounds on it as well. So there's two – the rest are all my signature bass.

Bass is a low-end instrument, so it's kind of tough to do a bass duet, but it can be done. Just look at Marcus Miller playing with Les Claypool at the Bass Magazine night. If you could feature another bassist on one of your songs, who would you choose?

Ooh, I have a few ideas. I think Thundercat would be really cool if he did chordal stuff, and I was doing single-note stuff. I've wanted to get Verdine White on something for a while. I think it'd be sick if he did stuff higher up on the neck, and I was doing lower stuff. Those two, or Meshell Ndegeocello would be really cool. I would say those three. Thundercat, Verdine, Meshell, and Carol Kaye would be really cool, too.

I went to Victor Wooden and Steve Bailey's bass workshop when I was, like, 14. It was only bass players there, so there were a lot of jam sessions that were multiple bass players. I remember Victor and Steve were like "if you're playing with other bass players, you guys can't occupy the same frequency. If someone's doing something down low, you gotta do something up high, or if someone's doing this sort of rhythm, you can't be on top of each other." You can find pockets that aren't crowding the same space.

I gotta ask, since the peanut butter and chocolate combination is the bassist and the drummer: dream drummer to have on a song of yours?

Probably Questlove. Questlove or Steve Jordan would be insane... but I think I gotta go with Quest. Quest would be my go-to.

What's something about "Whisper" that you've never told anyone else?

"Whisper" took a few different forms. I was working on it for a while. Me and my brother made the demo, and then we went to Alaska to work with our friend, Ralph Castelli. We worked on "Whisper" a bit there. We went fly fishing, and we were catching salmon. I remember I was lowkey really good at it. I'd never done it before, and the first [line] I threw, I caught a giant salmon and we cooked it that night. We were with the salmon, then wrote the second verse of "Whisper." I just thought that was funny. And random – I have the funniest videos and photos of me in Alaska doing this, which is hilarious.

Wow.

I know. Never would have thought, right?

So many non-musicians look at a bass and just say "oh, big guitar," or "guitar with fewer strings." Obviously, I would never see it that way, and I know you sure as hell wouldn't, but I want to know how often you find yourself picking up a guitar.

I love the guitar as an instrument as well. I play some guitar parts on "Whisper," and writing on guitar is fun for me. So, yeah, I pick it up, obviously not as often because bass is my first and true love. I love writing guitar parts for songs, especially the funky, Nile Rodgers-type stuff. That's the type of guitar player I am. I'm not a crazy lead player; I'm more of a rhythm guitarist. I would love to get more into it, and get better for writing and recording purposes.

That makes sense to me, you being a bassist and having more of a rhythmic, percussive guitar style. Any final thoughts?

I would just say: check out "Whisper," stream "Whisper." This is generic, but I'm excited for people to hear this new music. I really, for lack of a better term, locked in. I locked in in the studio for two years, essentially, and [I] was intentional with the production, the writing, the playing, everything. There's been times in the past where I haven't connected with the songs as much. I think a lot of artists feel that, where sometimes you'll put it out and you'll love it, and then a month later be like "wait, what?" But this music I've been sitting on for a while, and I still really love it – usually that's not the case.

Yeah. It's coming.

You heard her. DeTiger is in a new era. Look out for a fresh single arriving in July. In the meantime, check out the video for "Whisper" below.

And check down below foe some exclusive Q&A.