Kim Turnbull is Moving on Her Own Terms

It’s September 2^nd and the grey skies outside signal the end of London’s summer. Nevertheless, touching back down in the city only a few hours ago, Kim Turnbull appears cheerful and smiling. The 25-year-old DJ has had a good dose of summer, pulling up to festivals in a Defender and sharing memorable music experiences with the adventurous 4×4; she’s been globetrotting and whether it be for work or for leisure, it’s this that makes the artist tick. “I’ve always said travelling, and the people you meet travelling, is my biggest source of inspiration,” Kim explains, “it’s exposed me to things I never would have come across otherwise.”

Despite the ready-made narratives and tabloid headlines that could have defined Kim Turnbull – daughter of major DJ Alex Turnbull and former girlfriend of Romeo Beckham – she has carved out her own space in a crowded, male-dominated musical arena.  “I had really bad imposter syndrome to begin with,” Kim admits, “I grew up around so many amazing DJs, so I never thought about it in a serious way.”

Over the past four years, Kim Turnbull has quietly built up a reputation as a DJ with a globally eclectic taste that enlivens festival stages and fashion parties alike. It was during the pandemic that she mastered the craft of mixing: “I was doing it all day, every day over lockdown,” she tells me, recalling the moment her father (who spins scratch vinyl) surprised her with a set of digital CDJs. In posting the occasional clip of her mixes to Instagram at a time when most of us were chronically online, it wasn’t long before the young artist’s talent got noticed. “Suddenly people just started offering me gigs,” Kim says, seemingly still astonished by the fact her hobby is now her career, “I was like – what? People will actually pay me for this?”.

This August, Kim walked out to the biggest audience of her career at Dua Lipa’s Sunny Hill Festival in Kosovo. Backed by fast-rising club and bass artists Tommy Gold (a childhood friend) and Gjin Lipa (yes, Dua’s brother), her set drew a staggering 30,000 festivalgoers. It was a special moment, not only because of the chemistry that came with playing alongside someone she grew up with, but because everyone was there purely to dance. “There were no phones, none, which is super rare these days,” she remembers, “I really felt like I was interacting with the crowd.”

Kim knows how to get people dancing. It’s why she’s drawn to Afrobeat and Amapiano with their irresistible thumping basslines, melodic vocals, and rolling percussion. “Everyone loves Afrobeat,” the DJ declares, “it doesn’t matter if you don’t know the track, it’s feel-good and you can dance to it.” This versatility suits the range of spaces Kim plays in: one day an intimate fashion store opening, the next a private party in Ibiza, then a muddy UK festival field. It was on a trip to Nigeria that Kim first became obsessed with the South Africa-originating genre Amapiano, she tells me, “hearing it in that environment was insane, the energy and sound were unlike anything I’d ever experienced before.” Little did she know then that in a few years she’d be returning to Lagos to be behind the decks.

Kim’s sound is eclectic, stitched together from the music she discovered while travelling and what she grew up on. With her mum an “old-school raver” and her dad a musician, mixer, and founder of one of the UK’s first hip-hop labels, Ronin Records, there isn’t a moment from her childhood that Kim can recall not being filled with music. As well as having the vinyl set-up at home, family car journeys were listening parties soundtracked by house, R&B, and hip-hop. As a 10-year-old pilfering her dad’s iPod, Kim’s fixation was on A Tribe Called Quest, Biggie and Kendrick Lamar. Later in her teen years, nights spent at London’s Scotch, KOKO, and Fabric gave her an ear for electronic and club music. “I was listening to everything. I’m super appreciative that I had that from a young age; it’s given me an eclectic ear. I think there’s a time and a place for every type of music.”

The DJ has performed in all kinds of settings, from Bali beach clubs to Paris’ Fête de La Musique and private parties in Ibiza. She’s also a favourite of high fashion, frequently playing launch events for the likes of Gucci, Marc Jacobs, and Louis Vuitton. These bookings are affirmative; brands with which Kim Turnbull was at first affiliated as a model have reembraced her as an artist in her own right. “I feel like, especially at the beginning, you’re not really taken seriously if you’re doing both [DJing and Modelling],” she tells me, explaining that she pressed pause on her modelling career for a while, “I wanted to cement myself as a DJ.”

Now with her reputation established, Kim takes on partnerships selectively when it feels authentic to her. “When I do model jobs now, the narrative is more around me as a creative, my music career, which feels more fulfilling to me,” she says. Case in point, Kim Turnbull’s shoot with Defender for this NOTION digital cover. Kim drove to festivals in the Defender this year, enjoying its off-road capabilities and comfortable interiors before stepping behind the decks: “My car is really small, so I had to get used to it, but I loved it,” she laughs, “The Defender is the next thing I’ve got my sights set on, I need it.”

At the festival, Defender wasn’t just there to transport; it was part of the weekend’s rhythm, setting up a luxury camp for Kim among other iconic DJs and talent. Award-winning chef Simon Stallards serenaded the talent, cooking steaks and chicken on big flames whilst spraying scallops with champagne. After a long night of partying, wellness activities like private yoga sessions were on hand to revive and get people ready for another day of raving. A vehicle built for muddy forest tracks and long nights that roll into morning, it’s the perfect festival companion. Matching the energy of the festival, it’s rugged but elevated, ready for anything, helping create lasting memories through adventure.

Looking ahead, Kim has plenty on her horizon. Curious, adventurous, and a go-getter, her artistic identity is still evolving: recently, she’s been delving more into electronic dance music, which she’ll be showcasing later this year, when she hits Europe with club-event label Sugar Rush Sounds. Producing tracks is in the roadmap, she assures me, but she’s determined not to rush into it: “I’ve started a little bit, I’ve been learning for a while, but it’s something I really want to take my time with.”

For now, Kim Turnbull is focusing on keeping the party going into winter: soon she’ll be officially launching her new party series 404. She can’t reveal much about it, but if her song of the summer – Toby Simpson’s edit of Move Your Body (Expansions) – were to prophesise anything, it’s that life is good and anything is possible when you’re moving.

Follow Kim Turnbull here and find out more about Defender here.