Steve Aoki has made a name for himself among the world of deejaying, becoming a well-known face and celebrated name around the globe. But with a worldwide pandemic at the forefront of our daily lives, workers, families and entertainers like Aoki are now having to make next-level adjustments in their day-to-day routine. A lingering question on the minds of millions is how people will be able to attend concerts or festivals in the near future. In an exclusive interview with PopCulture.com, Aoki expressed just what he feels it will take in order for that next step to take place amid his own biggest struggles in our new way of living.
“It’s already affected us,” Aoki told PopCulture, expressing how he feels the music industry will be impacted as society attempts to move back into a normal way of life. “It’s just a matter of how long this will be a lockdown issue. I think at the end of the day, until we find a vaccine, until we get really good safety protocol measures — like they’re developing now — slowly but surely we’ll be able to go out […].” The California native went on to specify that he doesn’t feel music-goers will be able to jump right back into large, crowded festival and clubs any time soon, but that it could eventually be a thing again if we get something that produces much faster, more immediate results to determine at the door if someone has developed COVID-19.
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As company employees work from home, parents home school their children, and those left without a job try and find peace of mind in the middle of such a crisis, Aoki says the biggest struggle for him has been the sheer “adjustment” of the motions. But he is finding things to keep him busy these days to prevent him from feeling like a couch potato and sitting at home with nothing to do — especially after he’s been so accustomed to touring 250 days out of the year. “It’s been an adjustment, but one thing is you can’t complain about it, it’s just life. You have to take it for what it is and make the most out of it. So it’s about making your days busy and scheduling things.”
He added that if you end up “just being lazy all day” and watching Netflix for hours on end, it’s not going to be beneficial for one’s wellness and mental health. “You’re definitely going to get into a mental slump and then that’s going to really affect you on the days moving forward.” He further adds how he has started a new series called “Mindfulness Marathon” via the Aoki Foundation — a charitable organization geared towards raising funds for research on brain health — where he chats with “different experts in different fields to deal with all the different things that bring us down.”
While he practices healthy ways of living and provides that outlet for fans as well, he’s also gearing up to host a virtual prom for 1,000 high school students who have unfortunately missed out on theirs due to the lockdown. “It’s going to be a virtual prom party, so you could imagine what a prom party is and the way in which people have to do these kinds of events,” he said as he sympathized with the teens on getting hoodwinked out of their special night. “I’ve been doing DJ sets, virtual DJ sets […] it’s just like, this is the new normal, unfortunately. So when this was brought up to me, I was excited to jump aboard.”
Aoki is teaming up with Sour Patch Kids and Chips Ahoy! to host the “Sweetest Prom Ever” to give teens a prom do-over. The virtual prom will be held on May 23 at 9 p.m. ET on Aoki’s YouTube channel and Sour Patch Kids and Chips Ahoy! social media platforms. To enter for a chance to win the virtual prom party, enter at the SweetestPromEver.com. Sweepstakes end on May 16.
