- Words Notion Staff
DJ titan Hannah Wants shares her new single “Never Gonna Tell You” and chooses 10 tracks she has on repeat.
Born in Birmingham, Hannah Wants – now the DJ whose tours sold out across the States – started out as a footballer. On the England women’s national football team for over a decade, it was when Hannah Wants, a.k.a Hannah Alicia Smith, started DJing professionally in 2010 that she really found her groove.
In the footsteps of her grandfather who had DJ’d through the parties of the 40s and 50s, Ibiza brought Hannah’s big break when she was asked to fill in as a headliner at the Es Paradis club. Several summers later, and her schedule was jam-packed for 2019.
Playing Pacha and Eden in Ibiza was followed up by headline slots at Leeds Festival, a two-time tour of Australia, a sold-out US tour, and a collab, “Call Me”, with producer Kevin Knapp.
After a quieter 2020, the dynamite DJ is taking things slightly slower in 2021, focusing on producing for singles to be released on Ultra Music, Armada, Positiva, and her own imprint Etiquette. Hot on the heels of February’s “Lift Off”, featuring Nathan Nicholson, Hannah Wants serves up “Never Gonna Tell You” with regular releases planned.
Here, Hannah exclusively picks her 10 tracks that she can’t get out of her head. Dive in!
"Know My Rights" by 6LACK ft. Lil Baby
Outside of house/electronic music, downtempo and alternative R&B is my vibe. It’s all I listen to. 6LACK has been my favourite artist since his debut album 'Free 6LACK' back in 2016 and I’ve seen him live numerous times at Coachella in America and Listen Out festival in Australia when I just happened to be playing on the same line-up as him - the stars aligned! An incredible artist and I could list ten favourite tracks of his alone.
"Maria Don't Call Me" by Santino Le Saint
How many Santino Le Saint tracks can I include in here? I'm obsessed. I properly found and dived into his back catalogue when I drove over to Ibiza back in December last year and yeah, he’s a new fave along with 6LACK! Such a talented guy and from London too. "Maria Don’t Call Me" is a full vibe.
"Cigarettes & Alcohol" by Santino Le Saint
Santino and I connected through Instagram after I started posting and supporting his music regularly like the little fan girl I am and just a couple of months later, whilst I was still out in Ibiza, I had the opportunity to remix one of my fave tracks of his. It was just one of those real organic connections and collaborations and I love it when shit like that happens! I'm really proud of the remix.
"Ponte Pa' Mí" by Rauw Alejandro
I moved to Ibiza temporarily from December to May and since January I’ve started to learn Spanish every day. I want to be able to communicate fluently by the summer of 2022 and because of that I started listening to Latin music to help me learn and I actually really love it. "Ponte Pa' Mi" is one of my faves at the moment and listening to it now I'm back in the UK gives me beaut memories of driving around the White Isle.
"SBCNCSLY" by Black Coffee ft. Sabrina Claudio
I'm a huge fan of Black Coffee. He runs his own lane, has his own unique style and his productions are next level solid. "SBCNCSLY" was a stand-out track for me from his latest album and for me it epitomises those sun set/chill kinda vibes.
"Never Gonna Tell You" by Hannah Wants
Can I include my own track here, yeah? "Never Gonna Tell You" is my latest release via Ultra Records and is without doubt my favourite release to date and one I'm really proud of.
"Love from NGC 7318" by Tanerelle
This track is so beautiful! Another one I’ve had on repeat for hours. I'm not even lying. Production and vocal are both so on point.
"By Any Means" by Jorja Smith
From one Midlander to another, I love this and I love her. So talented and the lyrics on this are so deep. I'm really loving "Gone" too from her latest album, another 10/10 from me.
"Unholy" by Santino Le Saint
I did kinda pre warn you that there’d be more than one Santino track in my list. This is the opening track of his latest album and it bangs, as do many of his others to be honest. If you’re feeling this be sure to check out 4AM, Magic, I Know and Cigarettes & Alcohol too! Very patiently waiting for his new album to drop...
"Lo Vas A Olvidar" by Billie Eilish and ROSALÍA
This track is unreal. So emotive and so real and when I first heard it back in January it resonated me with hard because I was going through something similar at the time. I remember going out on my runs and just having it on repeat the entire time. This will forever be a favourite of mine.