DJ Jon Lands the Hook on Feel Alive, an Old-Skool Piano House Single with Whitney Breanne
An Essex DJ Who Pressed Vinyl in 1993 Brings the Rave Piano Back
The hook arrives before the voice does. Old-skool piano chords, bright and uplifting, ride a 130 BPM house groove. Then Whitney Breanne steps in with a soul vocal and a quirky rap of her own. DJ Jon released Feel Alive on 22 August 2025 through his own label, and the single reached No. 7 on the Music Week Club Pop Chart.
DJ Jon’s Feel Alive, with Whitney Breanne on vocals, now sits in the playlist below with the desk’s other house and dance picks, and his coverage history sits on his artist profile. The single reached this desk through PopHits.Co Music Charts, which verifies independent artists and places their releases across its network of music news sites. Start it playing, then read on.
Piano, voice and a disco house beat. It is one of the oldest formulas in British club music. In fact, DJ Jon has worked with it since he pressed his first records in the early nineties.
Piano House Keeps Coming Back to British Clubs, and Feel Alive Rides the Latest Return
Piano house broke big at the end of the eighties. Black Box topped the UK singles chart for six weeks in 1989 with Ride on Time. It became the country’s best-selling single that year, part of a wave of Italo house hits that ruled the dance scene.
Still, the sound never really went away. In 2020, Joel Corry and MNEK took Head & Heart to No. 1 in the UK, where it stayed for six weeks. By December 2022 it had passed one billion Spotify streams. As a result, a big vocal over a house beat proved it could still top the charts in the streaming era.
That is the tradition Feel Alive belongs to. The piano, the strings and the synth brass come from the nineties playbook. Meanwhile, the single runs a tight 2 minutes and 42 seconds, so the hook never has to wait long.
From Nineties Vinyl to His Own Label
DJ Jon’s discography starts in 1993 with Thai Tribe’s Paradise, a 12-inch on Triumph Records. After that, more vinyl followed through the decade. Vibe Nation’s Bella came out on Mega Records in 1995, and Force ’44’s Comin’ Up arrived in 1996. He has not left that era behind either. In 2019 and 2020, he reissued Thai Tribe’s Paradise with new tropical and vocal mixes.
Today he runs WhiteLab Music, his own label, from Essex. His catalogue has passed seven million streams, and his records have charted before. Électronique 2 reached No. 12 on the Music Week dance charts. You and Me (All That I Want), the single before Feel Alive, was a Music Week club chart hit too. Similarly, pairing a track with a featured singer is a habit. Zara McLellan sang on Cruel Summer, George on Don’t Go and Corinna Jane on Isolation.
Where Feel Alive Puts DJ Jon Between Black Box and Joel Corry, With Whitney Breanne Up Front
In other words, Feel Alive sits right between those two records. It has the piano of 1989 and the vocal focus of 2020.
Then there is Whitney Breanne, the other half of the story. The Las Vegas singer blends neo-soul and R&B with hip-hop and rap. In July 2025 she released her own single, Matrimony. She names Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston and Tupac among her influences, which explains the mix. On Feel Alive she brings both sides: a powerful soul vocal and a quirky rap.
The reviews picked up on the same blend. IGGY Magazine called it a summer anthem with warm, danceable sounds. In particular, it pointed to old-school piano chords, silky pads and synth brass stabs. Analyze My Lyrics heard uplifting old-skool piano riffs, strings and a disco house beat. Likewise, Roadie Music noted how played keyboards sit on a programmed backing. Finally, FVMusicBlog praised its energetic beats, intelligent arrangement and exciting production.
So who is it for? First, fans of nineties piano house who still reach for Ride on Time. Second, listeners who found vocal house through Joel Corry and want something with an older soul. Finally, DJs who need a 130 BPM track with a hook that lands in the first few seconds.
From the PopHits.News Curator Team: “The piano does the heavy lifting on Feel Alive, and that is the point. DJ Jon knows exactly where a nineties hook belongs, and Whitney Breanne gives it a voice that sounds like right now.”
Where to Hear Feel Alive and Follow DJ Jon
Start with Feel Alive. Then go back to You and Me (All That I Want) on Bandcamp to hear the record that came before it.
Stream Feel Alive on Spotify or Apple Music, then follow DJ Jon across platforms:
- Stream: Spotify and Apple Music
- Listen: SoundCloud and his DJ mixes on Mixcloud
- Watch: the YouTube channel
- Follow: X
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