Gena – Lead It Up (Kaytranada Remix)

Find “Lead It Up (Kaytranada Remix)” by Gena, Liv.e, Karriem Riggins on plusfm.

Label: Lex Records
© 2026 Lex Records

This is the kind of news that wakes up a newsroom: GENA, the duo formed by singer Liv.e and legendary Detroit drummer Karriem Riggins, has entrusted “Lead It Up” to Kaytranada. The Montreal producer, an icon of contemporary dance music, transforms the original’s honeyed soul into a sleek and futuristic dance track. The result: one of the most irresistible remixes of the year.

For those discovering GENA—short for “God Energy, Naturally Amazing”—the project was born from a natural connection between two musical minds: Liv.e, a Texas-born singer-songwriter based in Los Angeles, with an agile and boundless vocal style, and Karriem Riggins, one of the most respected drummers and beatmakers in contemporary music, whose approach to rhythm permeates both jazz and hip-hop. Their debut album, “The Pleasure Is Yours,” released on Lex Records, playfully explores the boundaries of contemporary soul, R&B, and rap—a record acclaimed everywhere it’s been played, praised by the press, and already featured on numerous lists of the year’s best albums.

Kaytranada Plugs In GENA’s ‘Lead It Up’

“Lead It Up” was one of its standout singles: a smooth groove where Liv.e boasts with smiling confidence about her talent for improving vocals (“If you leave it up to me / I’ll make a fan out of you”), carried by Riggins’ warm textures. All that remained was to breathe new life into it. Kaytranada took on the task, and the Montrealer never does things by halves: under his touch, the track retains its vocal silkiness but gains an unstoppable club groove—bouncy bass, house rhythm, that instantly recognizable groove that has made him the most sought-after remixer of his generation. The promise of the title is fulfilled: everything is elevated.

This reinvention couldn’t have come at a better time for a duo that just keeps going: after a successful American tour and appearances at the Montreal and Newport festivals, GENA crossed the UK, headed to Australia and New Zealand, with stops planned at FORM Arcosanti, the Dutch venue Le Guess Who, and Camp Flog Gnaw in Los Angeles—before ending the year on a high note with a series of concerts at the Blue Note, the temple of jazz, in Los Angeles and New York. Not bad for a group with only one album to its name.

At plusfm, this remix is ​​already getting airplay: it’s exactly the kind of collision that makes an electronic music playlist shine—the soul of an exceptional duo, the expertise of a top-notch producer. Tune in, turn up the volume, and let the energy build—well into the night.