Hannah Wants: 2015's DJ phenomenon

She attributes this to her upbringing, which was good, she says, but unusual. Her parents split when she was young, and her mum remarried her new boyfriend while he was in prison. A good student, Hannah's dedication to football made her something of an outsider. Her fierce, independent streak and her inability to fade into the background seems born of these experiences. "I never wanted to sit at a job and make money for someone else," she says, resolutely. "I always wanted to strive for my own goals." Back in the UK she landed a residency at Birmingham's Rainbow Warehouse, a hub for the Midlands house and bass movement. As she became a key proponent of this slowed-down strain of speed garage she drove around the Midlands and Leeds, playing three or four gigs a night. "That's what nobody sees," she says, exasperated. "Interviews say I've risen in two years, but I've been doing it for ten." Her profile – and her extraordinary loyal fanbase – grew organically, aided by a string of productions, live DJ sets, and her frequent, genre-defying mixtapes distributed at gigs and which she still puts out every two months via her SoundCloud. Returning to her early productions, you can trace the influence of the scene and its mongrelisation of warp bass and fervent, anthemic house – indeed, many of her tracks were co-produced with Chris Lorenzo, a central figure in the scene. However, when the Daft Punk-esque 'Rhymes' broke Top 20 in February this year, it took her completely by surprise. "It was always designed for the dancefloor," she claims, but when Annie Mac picked it up it was game over. While she's grateful, Hannah expresses no interest in writing for the charts in the future. "People ask me, when am I going to release an album? I don't want to go down that route. It's not me as an artist: I'm a DJ. I'll make music for the dancefloor on the side, but I'm not going to put out an album." There are productions on the horizon, and judging by the monstrous, red-eyed stomper 'Just' that's currently appearing in her mixes, these signal a clear development and refinement of her sound. Importantly, from now on she'll be flying solo when it comes to production. "I see it as a new chapter," she says.

Like many driven people, Hannah has a knack for turning negatives into positives and positives into game-changers. She regularly works out, and when she mentions martial arts guru Geoff Thompson as an inspiration, it isn't wholly surprising. When she reveals her favourite motivational quote in the gym where she used to train, it makes perfect sense: 'Do It Now'. However, there's one subject that causes her positivity to falter: haters. "It doesn't matter whether you're Beyoncé, David Guetta, Jamie Jones or me. There are always pricks who'll go out of their way to try and ruin your day," she says. Success, though, is the best response, and her Radio 1 residency is one of the most overt symbols of it. Here she gets the opportunity to push her favourite artists and shore up her own musical identity with a wide-reaching playlist. The transition to radio DJ, however, proved a tough one. "I'd never spoken into a microphone before, and that was one of the most daunting things I'd done in a long time," she says, eyes wide at the memory. "I feel more confident DJing in front of five thousand people than I do sat in a room speaking into a mic." She must've done something right, though: they've just extended her contract.

The rapidly growing What Hannah Wants brand also sees Hannah playing tastemaker. Under this banner she curates killer DJ line-ups and takes them on the road, zoning in on artists who are, like her, DJs first and foremost. It is, she says, an attempt to level a playing field that favours producers over DJs. "Just because you can make a great track, doesn't mean you can kill the crowd," she says, levelly. "So many DJs aren't getting a shot because they aren't making music." Paying her success forward, she's currently running a competition to discover a new generation of DJ talent, with the winner joining the WHW tour as support. The circle, you sense, is complete. Maybe this is why, after the Amnesia set, she almost, almost looks relaxed. Don't be fooled. "It's easy to get to a certain level and think, 'I've made it now, I'm going to take my foot off the pedal," she says. "If anything, I'll put my foot down even more." With that she's off into the night, looking every inch the athlete. Match fit, game face on, ready to take on the world.

Hannah's solo material will be released later this year