Inside Boogie Nights: Why Anderson .Paak, Ravyn Lenae & More Love This Dance Party

Over the years, as Grammy-nominated multi-instrumentalist and producer Alissia was growing her career, she started hosting kickbacks at her New York-based studio called The Spaceship. She’d invite artists, musicians and DJs in hopes that they would connect – and maybe even collaborate.

“Organically, I would invite people to come through, and they’d be like, ‘Oh, send me a playlist of this.’ And then they would connect and exchange numbers,” she says. “Nowadays, features happen by sending a track through text or email. We were losing a little bit of that humanness and that magic that happens when you really get to know the person and vibe.”

But last year, her gatherings outgrew The Spaceship; in June 2023, Alissia expanded the series into an exclusive party called Boogie Nights, with its first edition launching at New York’s Virgin Hotel. “There’s a photo booth, there’s little popcorn holders. There’s logos and stickers, and it’s all disco balls. There’s a Le Freak C’est Chic Martini,” she says. “I wanted to make it a cute, elevated experience.”

Inspired by Studio 54, Boogie Nights became the grooviest alternative option for creatives in the music and fashion industries, who were craving something more meaningful than the club scene but still wanted to be outside. Boogie Nights has since become one of the hottest tickets in town, with just five gatherings happening so far, including this February during Los Angeles’ Grammy week (held at the West Hollywood EDITION hotel) and most recently this September for New York Fashion Week (held at the event’s PUBLIC hotel homebase).

“At the last Boogie Nights [during NYFW], Ravyn Lenae sat in and we did a song that’s coming out that we did together,” says Alissia — adding that a goal is to feature new music that recently dropped or is just about to. And prior to that, Alissia’s frequent collaborator Anderson .Paak (who spins vinyl as DJ Pee Wee) had A-list guests like Lucky Daye and Leon Thomas dancing under the 400 disco balls that cover the ceiling of Los Angeles’ Sunset at EDITION during her pre-Grammy party earlier this year.

As for the upcoming Grammys? Alissia confirms she plans to bring Boogie Nights back to LA, previously telling Billboard: “LA is the perfect place, Grammys is the perfect time.”