Hip-Hop to Pop-Punk, Yung Mijita Knows Her Audience

Yung Mijita at Mohawk (Courtesy of Yung Mijita)

Punk-and-hardcore-focused fest This Is Austin, Not That Great launched its comeback after a three-year hiatus with hip-hop.

Like metal musicians yell and loudly slash instruments, Thursday’s lineup of big-name rappers rejected meticulous rhymes and distorted carefully crafted beats with similar abandon at Mohawk.

Sandwiched between the anime-esque Lil Yawh’s synth-y, hyper set – and Cartier God’s later enlivenment of production team Futuristic’Ideaz, alongside Cold Hart’s viral GothboiClique emo-trap – Yung Mijita knew her audience. Amidst an active thunderstorm, the Austin producer’s 20-minute set sparked moshes and sing-alongs to hip-hop and pop-punk hits. Wearing space buns and jean shorts, she played a mix of crowd-pleasers, from Chief Keef to Panic at the Disco to Blink-182.

A 28-year-old graphic design student, Demi Romero moved to Austin in 2017 and started DJing the following year, making a name for herself as Yung Mijita through work at bars, venues, and – like the other performers at Thursday’s show – online. Amongst the SoundCloud rappers and DJs of the evening, it was undeniably refreshing to see a young woman dance and jockey on a stage that was otherwise flooded with masculinity.

“When I was younger, I would go to hip-hop shows and be like, ‘Why are there no girls onstage?’” she told the Chronicle in a phone interview after the show.

Romero came up through the internet and, like her audience, she heavily listens to SoundCloud rap. Her effortless blends on BAD BiTTY MiX and $adgurlmix inevitably blew up on the platform. Like many musicians with a heavy reliance on streaming, Romero followed suit and adopted “yung” to start her name. DJs undeniably find inspiration from other artists, but she still sticks to her identity, as demonstrated by her curated mixes, DIY outfits, and the latter half of her stage name, “mijita,” a nickname coined by her recently-passed grandmother.

Yung Mijita adds: “There were a lot of people from the punk scene and a lot of younger people who are into SoundCloud rap stuff, so I tried to range my music choices from a variety of genres and ages so that I can please everyone in the crowd, no matter the demographic.”