“Life has changed drastically”: Kiwi DJ Messie speaks on the aftermath of Fred Again tour

Wellington DJ Tessa ‘Messie’ Hills is now experiencing a huge shift in lifestyle after her whirlwind tour with popular UK DJ ‘Fred Again’ - which also triggered a political controversy after he urged her expired passport be sorted in time.

Messie was chosen by Fred Again to join him on tour just two weeks ago after he arrived in New Zealand on March 22.

That night she played a ‘back-to-back’ with Fred’s close friends, DJ group ‘Joy Anonymous’, which she organised by messaging them via WhatsApp.

Two days later, she saw that Fred posted on Instagram looking for local DJs, put her details in the database, sent in a mix, and the entries were narrowed down.

She was shocked when she found out she had been chosen.

“Eventually I got a DM from Fred, I was in the kebab shop at 10pm and saw it and just dropped to the floor.”

Adding to the chaos was her trip to Perth on the tour, with Fred Again pulling strings via social media messages to get her expired passport renewed in time.

It resulted in Minister Brooke van Velden making inquiries after a senior government official sent him a supportive message about the situation.

Messie says “Fred’s the one that stirred the pot by putting it on Instagram and asking New Zealand parliament to help but honestly it was going to go through anyway. My messages were flooded with politicians!”

Now that the tour has wrapped up, she is navigating the aftermath, going from just 3000 Instagram followers to 16,000.

“It’s just kind of exploded, I’m getting so many messages I haven’t even gotten through them all, there’s probably around 1000, but I’ve tried to just reply to everyone, there’s been so much support.”

Messie is continuing to grow post-tour, talking to people in the industry and picking up as many opportunities as possible.

She will be joining New Zealand DJ duo ‘Lee Mvtthews’ on tour at the start of May and will be in Auckland later this month, planning to play multiple pop-up shows.

Listen: what is next for Messie and how she is coping with this huge shift in lifestyle?