Honeyluv wants her music to make you feel like a bad bitch. Hailing from Cleveland, Ohio but now based in German culture-capital Berlin, the international musician and producer is known for her soulful spin on house, cooking up tracks that seamlessly blend sensual energies with upbeat, jovial sound. “It’s sexy, groovy, it’s soulful, it’s deep,” she says; its music for, “a small, dark, underground club. No big festivals, minimal lights.”
Before she became a DJ/producer, HoneyLuv, née Taylor Character, experimented with different career paths. As a kid, she imagined herself as a basketball player. Then, she joined the US Navy in 2016 on a four-year contract at a naval base in Oxnard, California. This was a strategic move in hopes of financing her college tuition. At the time, she was studying criminology at the University of La Verne in Cali. But while working on drones in the Navy, it quickly became apparent that she didn’t want to become another cog in the machine.
Music, and more specifically DJing, became a necessary creative outlet. The musical worlds she built in her own time became more than an escape. Today she occupies space on some of the world’s biggest stages, with a career trajectory that confirms you need not stick to one niche to excel. Instead, it seems the key to success is honing the skill it takes to pivot and reshaping your goals as you move through the world.
HoneyLuv has continuously shifted her focus throughout her life, always looking forward. This is, in part, because she is incessantly hungry for new ways to grow, new means of self-expression. Her stage name, for example, comes from an old, nineties R&B track she first heard in 2009. “I remember I was a freshman in high school,” she says, “and my cousin, who was older than me, was playing a song that I really really liked.”
In that moment of inspiration back, she decided to change her account names across social media to match the phrase. During her freshman year of high school, she was reborn online as “HoneyLuv Tay”. Once she started DJing, she dropped the “Tay,” and solidified the HoneyLuv identity.
When it comes to her creative process, it’s often organically formed. “I’m a child playing with different sounds, figuring out what sounds good, what sticks, what stays, what doesn’t. When I go in, I have no clear objective of what I’m doing.” HoneyLuv thinks it’s necessary to see what comes up during the process. “I’m always experimenting. I don’t really like to go back too much and change things because I feel like once you get it right the first time, you really like the first time, keep that.” It is, she believes, important to trust your gut. “If I don’t feel the music, then how can I expect someone else to feel the music.”
Reflecting on the trajectory of her career, HoneyLuv noted that a big moment for her was collaborating with the inimitable R&B artist, Muni Long, on the track “Don’t Stop”. “I love her songs, I listen to them all the time. To hear [her voice] on something that I produced, it’s still so surreal.”
Throughout the careers of various creatives, there comes a point where many find themselves working with industry heavyweights they’d once admired. “I’m like yo, this is stuff I want to do. I want to work with other artists in different genres and bring them into house music, to be able to bridge those together is really dope because it all originates from the same place.” HoneyLuv reflected on another big moment, “when I DJed with Idris Elba and then did a song with him I was like, okay, this is crazy.”
Community is another central feature of HoneyLuv’s practice. This comes to life with projects like her Label, 4 Tha Luv. Established in 2024, 4 Tha Luv is a celebration of house music and its deep history, rooted in Black and LGBTQ+ sounds. The purpose of the project is to highlight the hard work of those who built the house music we know today while paving a way forward for new talent to enter the industry. HoneyLuv is now laser-focused on the releases of her upcoming singles. “I have my first song that I’m releasing for my label, called ‘Good Measure’. I’m really excited to get that out this summer.”
Not only does she pour into her own musical practice, but she’s also influenced by her surroundings and her environment. “Seeing other people express themselves differently is really inspiring. I don’t want to limit what I express in my music. To see them do the same with their clothes and art, it’s really inspirational.” In HoneyLuv’s eyes, it’s crucial to seek innovation, while holding true to your authentic voice. “We’re constantly evolving, so it’s important to evolve yourself as an artist, but also stay true to the core of it.”
Beyond music, HoneyLuv is a self-described “foodie,” obsessed with trying new flavours and eager to boast about the many chefs in her life. “I have a lot of chef friends that I would love to collaborate with,” she says. She spends much of her time visiting restaurants. When she used to live in London, there were quite a few places she would frequent, that came to know her by name.
Brat in Shoreditch – a Basque-Welsh fusion restaurant housed in a former pub – is one London favourite. And if you’re visiting Berlin, she recommends Ari’s, a Peruvian-inspired luncheonette with “the best pancakes I’ve ever had in my life”. Or November Brasserie, “this really delicious Japanese fusion spot.” Berlin, she estimates, is a “small New York”, a smorgasbord of cultures and people she can ceaselessly explore.
When asked about some of her biggest creative inspirations, Willy Chavarria – the Chicano designer who has won acclaim for his outfits inspired by his queer, Latin and working-class upbringing – came to mind. “I love what he’s doing. It’s just very street. It’s hip hop.” Part of HoneyLuv’s excitement toward this designer and his work comes from the way he seamlessly world-builds. Blending sartorial excellence into experiential runway shows, every detail is considered, down to the “music culture” he highlights.
Reading is another hobby – important for grounding herself against the music industry’s nonstop relent. Recently, she picked up a copy of The Alchemist, Paul Coelho’s seminal fable of a young shepherd boy who ventures to the Pyramids in pursuit of ancient treasure. “This industry can be a lot on mental health because there’s a lot of ups and downs”, she says.
All said, these and many other influences reflect back on HoneyLuv’s practice and much of her work. “In this industry, it’s unlikely that someone’s going to take your hand and bring you into a room. So you have to be willing to believe in yourself, because if you don’t believe in yourself, no one else will.” For aspiring creatives and musicians who want to make it in this industry, HoneyLuv offers a word of advice. “Be willing to take risks. A lot of people are scared to take a risk and they end up being complacent. They’re scared to take the next step.”