27 April 2011
In a male dominated dance music industry, most female DJ's are finding it hard to stand out. Melbourne's Havana Brown, however, may have cracked the proverbial code.
“There are some female DJ’s out there now, but when I started there were none,” Havana Brown says down the phone from L.A. “Especially ones that are more than willing to be in a mini skirt and high heels!”
It’s true the 26-year-old’s exotic beauty has done her no harm in regards to gaining attention, but with her latest compilation album,Crave Vol. 5 certified Gold in Australia and a string of support dates for acts like Lady Gaga, Rihanna and Britney Spears under her belt, there is a lot more to her success than that.
After Havana Brown (aka Angelique Meunier)’s UK dance group Fishbowl, disbanded in 2005, she decided to add another guise to what has now become an extremely marketable brand; but she didn’t just fall into DJing, initially having to fight to be taken seriously.
“I think people at first probably had a hard time believing that I was serious about this. There were people that would say ‘oh yeah she’ll be around for a year, there’s no way she is going to survive,’ and I would think, ‘Why won’t I survive? Because I’m wearing a skirt?’”
Having a provocative image both helped and hindered Meunier. Although she had to shop herself by offering to play nightclubs for free, once she proved she could spin with the boys, it wasn’t just her gender and good looks that made her stand out.
“I had to [DJ for free] ‘coz I’m female. They just wouldn’t take me seriously, they’d laugh at me,” she admits. “Then I said ‘look, let me just come in tomorrow and I’ll play for ten minutes and you can throw me off at any time.’
“The next night I actually did rock up and ended up playing for an hour. That’s how I got my first residency in the UK.”
Since then, Meunier has become the first female Australian DJ to land a major record deal. During her time with Universal Music she has played across the globe, from St Tropez to her current 12-month residency at Paris Las Vegas’ Chateau Nightclub and Gardens. Next week she’ll return home to open for Chris Brown on his tour of Australia.
It may seem unusual to have a DJ as a support act, but Meunier says she gets a kick out of playing party-starter for the girls; and lets face it, girls heavily outnumber the guys at pop concerts.
“I’m gonna play the songs that they want played, I’ll play The Pussycat Dolls’ Don’t Cha, because that’s what girls want to hear, they want to hear Dirrty by Christina Aguilera... My impression is that when girls are on the dance floor they want to hear stuff that they know, and party and sing along to it; plus girls love seeing a girl behind the DJ decks.”
The next endeavour for the Havana Brown enterprise is to step out from behind the decks and sing original tracks. Meunier will play the first taste of an upcoming mini-album, titled We Run The Night, during her Chris Brown support set. The mini-album will set the pace for things to come as she plans to release around six tracks at a time in order to keep her mix of R’n’B and dance music fresh.
“It’s so that I can continually change my music and be up to date,” she explains. “Being a DJ, you are surrounded by music all the time and you’re always looking for the next thing,” she says. “I’d love to be able to move with the trends like that. I’m constantly working on it.” This triple threat chameleon certainly has a big year ahead of her, but for now, all she wants to do is play.
“I think the success of ‘Havana Brown’ is down the fact that I play for the girls, and play so that the girls feel sexy.”
“There are some female DJ’s out there now, but when I started there were none,” Havana Brown says down the phone from L.A. “Especially ones that are more than willing to be in a mini skirt and high heels!”
It’s true the 26-year-old’s exotic beauty has done her no harm in regards to gaining attention, but with her latest compilation album,Crave Vol. 5 certified Gold in Australia and a string of support dates for acts like Lady Gaga, Rihanna and Britney Spears under her belt, there is a lot more to her success than that.
After Havana Brown (aka Angelique Meunier)’s UK dance group Fishbowl, disbanded in 2005, she decided to add another guise to what has now become an extremely marketable brand; but she didn’t just fall into DJing, initially having to fight to be taken seriously.
“I think people at first probably had a hard time believing that I was serious about this. There were people that would say ‘oh yeah she’ll be around for a year, there’s no way she is going to survive,’ and I would think, ‘Why won’t I survive? Because I’m wearing a skirt?’”
Having a provocative image both helped and hindered Meunier. Although she had to shop herself by offering to play nightclubs for free, once she proved she could spin with the boys, it wasn’t just her gender and good looks that made her stand out.
“I had to [DJ for free] ‘coz I’m female. They just wouldn’t take me seriously, they’d laugh at me,” she admits. “Then I said ‘look, let me just come in tomorrow and I’ll play for ten minutes and you can throw me off at any time.’
“The next night I actually did rock up and ended up playing for an hour. That’s how I got my first residency in the UK.”
Since then, Meunier has become the first female Australian DJ to land a major record deal. During her time with Universal Music she has played across the globe, from St Tropez to her current 12-month residency at Paris Las Vegas’ Chateau Nightclub and Gardens. Next week she’ll return home to open for Chris Brown on his tour of Australia.
It may seem unusual to have a DJ as a support act, but Meunier says she gets a kick out of playing party-starter for the girls; and lets face it, girls heavily outnumber the guys at pop concerts.
“I’m gonna play the songs that they want played, I’ll play The Pussycat Dolls’ Don’t Cha, because that’s what girls want to hear, they want to hear Dirrty by Christina Aguilera... My impression is that when girls are on the dance floor they want to hear stuff that they know, and party and sing along to it; plus girls love seeing a girl behind the DJ decks.”
The next endeavour for the Havana Brown enterprise is to step out from behind the decks and sing original tracks. Meunier will play the first taste of an upcoming mini-album, titled We Run The Night, during her Chris Brown support set. The mini-album will set the pace for things to come as she plans to release around six tracks at a time in order to keep her mix of R’n’B and dance music fresh.
“It’s so that I can continually change my music and be up to date,” she explains. “Being a DJ, you are surrounded by music all the time and you’re always looking for the next thing,” she says. “I’d love to be able to move with the trends like that. I’m constantly working on it.” This triple threat chameleon certainly has a big year ahead of her, but for now, all she wants to do is play.
“I think the success of ‘Havana Brown’ is down the fact that I play for the girls, and play so that the girls feel sexy.”
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