The first time TOCCORORO DJed a party, she was solving an emergency. She did not yet go by TOCCORORO, and she didn’t really know how to DJ at all.

In 2019, Claudia Fersanch wasn’t yet the internationally recognized DJ and party host dubbed the “queen of the Spanish club scene.” She was simply a young Cuban-Spanish journalist with a dancing background and a love for music, helping her friend with the creative direction of a party he was throwing. “Somebody canceled last minute, and my friend was spiraling,” she remembers. “When you love someone so much, you will do anything [to help].” She begged another friend, a DJ from the local scene in her hometown of Vigo, Galicia, to take the slot; instead, he told her she should do it herself.

“They had to teach me, like, 10 minutes before we did that party,” she laughs. “I didn't know what the hell BPM was, nothing like that. I just downloaded tons of music that felt cunty, and I was mixing by ear for three hours.” Her experience on the decks came so naturally and the response to her set was so positive that it felt inevitable for her to continue practicing; by that summer, she had met her first manager.

“I always tell everybody, especially women, to not be afraid to ask questions. You don’t have to know everything [already]!” she says, remembering how she would watch YouTube tutorials and convince friends to give her lessons on their decks before she could afford her own. “I would do my research, I was nerdy about it. I was trying to understand more about what I'm playing, too, about the countries [of the music’s origin].”Her humble curiosity, resourcefulness, and passion for seeing her own progress would prove instrumental, leading to a meteoric rise.

Today, TOCCORORO has played Barcelona festivals Primavera Sound and Sonar, Amsterdam’s Dekmantel, the iconic Berlin party Herrensauna, and the PAN 15th anniversary show alongside Skrillex and Arca at Berghain. She has headlined her own international tours across 3 continents, and she’s the host of her own party CAOTICA, which staged a Boiler Room takeover in summer 2024. A month later, she returned to Boiler Room to both host and play at Charli xcx’s megaviral Ibiza party, and last fall played for Fred Again’s USB002 tour in Madrid. Engaging the audience in refreshingly interactive ways, she unites her dance and performance background with her wide-ranging eclectic Latin electronic influences, from raptor house, tribal, and acidguaracha to trance, techno, and hardstyle, all under the distinctly brooding and sultry disposition that also defines her personal style.

But don’t be fooled by her striking exterior; TOCCORORO is a sweetheart. “I love, like, giving black cat,” she giggles. “Wearing black and leather and stuff like that, with my wet hair. But really, I am such a fucking golden retriever!” So stylish and intimidatingly beautiful that she was accused early on of being an industry plant plucked from the modeling world, TOCCORORO has the added advantage of looking the part of a star. But while she’s always loved clothes, her relationship to the fashion industry is a measured and cautious one.

Fresh off attending the Courrèges show at Paris Fashion Week, she’s sure to shout out creative director Nicolas de Felice, who just celebrated his fifth-year anniversary at the helm of the brand (and announced a few days after our interview that he would be departing from the label). In an industry known for its intimidating stature, TOCCORORO says he was the first person to take her under his wing, referring to him as her “father in fashion.”

“Courrèges was the first house that really trusted and supported me,” TOCCORORO describes. “They saw things in me that I couldn’t… I love that about fashion, [the ability] to create your partnerships with the people who are going to be part of your universe.” Despite her chaotic schedule — when I ask her where she’s usually based, she answers with “the airport lounge” — she says she’s too loyal to Nico to ever miss an invitation.

After another hectic period of jet-setting between bookings, photoshoots, and working on her next personal project, TOCCORORO is excited to be staying in Europe for the coming weeks, with shows in Barcelona and Valencia. Lately, she’s been settling into the most creatively ambitious version of herself yet, finding new ways to integrate her inspirations from dance to visual media to her sometimes obscure or atypical musical tastes.

“I started off being a little bit of a people pleaser,” she remembers. As many DJs do, especially when playing outside of definitively underground crowds, she would use edits of recognizable songs to ease the audience into her more challenging tracks. “But now, I don't [feel the need to] use an edit of a big artist to prove my sound. As a DJ, you start not knowing yourself that much, and then you develop and develop and improve and start knowing yourself more or what represents you more.” TOCCORORO isn’t afraid to get gritty with it, and she isn’t waiting for anyone’s permission.