Sorry for Being So Sexy / DJ CatMint

An interview with the DJ and multidisciplinary artist

“My image is not a marketing trick or provocation,” says DJ and multidisciplinary artist CatMint when asked about the challenges she faces due to her body being the central part of her artistic practice. CatMint isn’t a stage persona crafted for the crowd but rather a living, bleeding collage of memory, lust and raw sexual energy. Born from war, shaped by exile and reborn beneath club lights and bedroom shadows, her body is a manifesto and her music a love letter to everyone. In this interview, CatMint invites us into a world where femininity is a weapon and pleasure is protest. So take off your armor, step into the heat, embrace your rawest fantasies and let CatMint’s sound touch you like it’s foreplay.

Your body is a constellation of tattoos. Let’s begin the interview there: if you had to introduce yourself through just one of them, which would it be?  

All or nothing. If I had to choose just one tattoo, I’d rather stay naked. My body is already a statement. Tattoos are nothing more than my personal art collection that I carry with me.  

To set the mood: what would be the soundtrack to this conversation on?  

Anetha / Sorry for Being So Sexy  

Let’s go back to the beginnings: what was your occupation before music, how did you start pursuing this path, and how did you choose the name CatMint?  

Before the war in Donbas, I studied fashion and design at university. I thought I’d be creating costumes and couldn’t imagine myself on stage. The war changed everything. My family and I didn’t want to be separated from Ukraine, so I moved to Kyiv. At that time, having a Donetsk registration made it nearly impossible to find a job or housing. I sold perfume in supermarkets, cleaned apartments, and searched for a way to leave the country. That’s how I ended up in China. I got on stage as a go-go dancer for the first time, and Panda was born. Later, I returned to Ukraine but didn’t feel like I belonged — so I moved to Italy, where I worked in strip clubs. It was the hardest experience: that’s where I realized I no longer wanted to be what others needed. I wanted to be myself. Back in Ukraine, I started experimenting with image and performance — bold, nonbinary, raw. I was a shell trying on roles to Lind my true self. After the full-scale war began, I worked a lot in Europe, pushed performance to the edge, and created Masha Volkova Art — more conceptual, with a focus on social and political topics. But even then, something was missing. I was looking for true inner freedom on stage. That’s how music came. I doubted myself for a long time — DJing felt inaccessible. But soon I realized: music changed everything. I searched for an alias for a long time. After breast augmentation surgery, for the first time, I felt a complete union between body and soul. I spent the first month of recovery in Ukraine with my mom and her cat Murka. One day, my mom showed me a weird toy — catnip. Forever-grumpy Murka suddenly became joyful and playful. I looked at her and thought, “That’s me — I’m catnip.” And that’s how CatMint was born.

What are your earliest memories linked to music, and how did they shape the taste that now defines your sound?  

My earliest music memories are my grandfather’s records. He adored music — something was always playing at home. Mostly Pink Floyd. That was my first musical love. Later, my mom gave me her favorite cassette — it was Enigma. I fell in love again. As a teen I listened to rock, pop, hip-hop, blues — I was curious about everything. Linkin Park, Michael Jackson, Eminem, Ray Charles, Rihanna, The Doors… And it’s still the same. I love different music and I play it. I don’t want to limit myself just to meet someone’s expectations. Sure, someone might call me a “DJ-prostitute” just because I don’t follow genre rules. But I don’t care. I play what I feel. That’s my path.

And what about the cities and places that played a key role in your musical development, how did they influence you? 

Cities didn’t influence me much — I’m more of a child of the world, haha. What shaped me were circumstances, people, and my inner state — both emotional and physical. I’m very sensitive, and that sensitivity became my main creative tool. For me, emotion is the key channel through which I express my art.

You’ve created a highly intentional look, especially in your bedroom sets, where you perform in your favourite lingerie or in glass stripper heels, seductively moving over the console. How would you describe your relationship with your body, your style, and your stage persona? What does it mean to you performing from such an intimate place such as the bed? 

I truly love my body — and it’s not about surface-level care, but a healthy lifestyle and deep psychotherapy. For me, self-love is the foundation — without it, you can’t build anything real with anyone else. So I became friends with myself, my body, and mind. Now I build those same healthy, honest connections with my audience. Beautiful lingerie and heels are my favorite 

Sorry for Being So Sexy / CatMint

Credits
Artist: DJ CatMint / @catmint.dj
Photographers: Nadja Fedorova / mmxxi_iii ; Imogen / imogens.jpgs; Nika Krikun / nikakrik; Yaroslav Iliyn / iliynf; Аlex / keepmelit; Lena Ramzani / les__nouilles
Wearing: anoeses.brand / fleetilya / mathe_mathe_mathe /, agentprovocateur / clothesexstaz / jimmychoo / effenberger_couture / skims
Hair Artist: Viktoriia Kostruk / @kostrukhair
Words: Giulia Piceni / @giuliaapiceni
Editor: Anca Macavei / @ancamacavei
Junior Editor: Annalisa Fabbrucci / @annalisa_fabbrucci

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