23 Sep Female DJ Meets World in the Times of Alison Wonderland; EMA’s New Artist of the Year Award Winner

Photo courtesy of Alison Wonderland

Female DJ Meets World in the Times of Alison Wonderland; EMA’s New Artist of the Year Award Winner

By FeFeline

Just a few days ago, September 21, 2017, Alison Wonderland was named New Artist of The Year at the Innagural Electronic Music Awards show live-streamed on Twitter. This is exciting news for all women bursting into the EDM industry. As a newcomer to EDM, it has been exhilarating almost overwhelming discovering new music. It’s like you gotta figure out what styles you like and then determine who is worthy of blaring through your car speakers on the daily. Alison made that list when I saw her at Lolla this year.

Although I’m new to the scene, I still have perceived some pretty obvious old school ways of male domination. It is apparent the road that females must travel to earn success in this branch of music is no different than any other genre of the industry. It’s generally longer, bumpier, and tougher to navigate. Alison’s award comes with perfect timing because I am going to see her tonight in Washington DC at Echostage. Then next week, I’m off to see Rezz, who was nominated as well for New Artist of the Year.

“My dear, here we must run as fast as we can, just to stay in place. And if you wish to go anywhere you must run twice as fast as that.” –Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol

That’s a double dose of back to back girl power in one week! Let’s just say, their influence in this game has sparked a curiosity about the female come up, within the EDM world. Recently, I made acquaintances with Jaquelinne, who goes by Alyce, an amateur DJ and club promoter residing in Washington, DC. She promotes for a group called Glow who is known for hosting local EDM shows. This week Alyce is promoting, Alison Wonderland and Rezz in DC. I took a quick moment to ask Alyce how she copes with being a female fighting for a spot in the EDM industry and these were her thoughts.

Photo courtesy of Sergio Teran Baldizon

What’s it like to be a female DJ?

It’s very hard. Especially in a male-dominated industry. I’ve seen so many female DJs stop pursuing their dreams after a while. It’s like they lose the motivation or the push.

What steps are you taking to become big?

Well, the first thing I’m doing is working on what sets me apart. There’s a sea of DJs out there and while you’re sleeping someone is out there working 10 times harder than you.

I’ve been doing photo shoots for years, me and my photographer will be working on my brand and he will be the one taking the pictures, [in addition] I’ve got a makeup artist… Her name is Lilaine Barrera.

My next steps are pretty much getting better at mixing and possibly mashups. Kapslap is probably one of my favorite mashup masters! So I’m defiantly looking to try and get that good at mashing up. Also marketing myself and getting my brand out there.

Do you find that being a promoter is helping your journey?

Yes! You meet a lot of people, especially in the nightlife. Every day or rather every night it’s someone new. From guys hitting on you to guys going, “You DJ, what?? Let’s work on something”

Photo courtesy of Anthony Torres

What discrimination have you felt or perceived by being female?

The cliché [beliefs] that “You need to sleep with the right person to make it in his business” or “Many females lack the talent in this industry”. It sucks because you could say it is a male-dominated industry but the fact that people throw more wood in the fire with comments like that really makes it worse.

What do you look forward to, and where do you see yourself at in the next year? I guess your New Year’s Resolution?

I honestly look forward to meeting new people and having the courage to just put myself out there a bit more. I know I can do it. It’s just going to take more time and work. I see myself traveling way more! I want to go to more places than just Miami, New York, and Cali! I want to explore the world and spin! The fabulous life really, but it’s going to, of course, take a lot of work, which I’m already doing.

Photo courtesy of Anthony Torres

Bio:

Alyce is a 27-year-old El Salvadoran American DJ and promoter. She has a little sister and a pit bull pup who has her heart and is a geek for art. Her fave artist consists of Salvador Dalí, Roy Lichtenstein and Frida Kahlo amongst others. She began dabbling in the art of DJ’ing at age 14 as a hobby. Currently, she primarily mixes mashups and is looking forward to a possible B2B set with an associate in Miami.

“I believe that in life you need to Make sure that every part of your life is art… Good or bad, make that s— a masterpiece.” -Alyce

Wanna get in contact with Alyce for more information about Glow events in DC, for example, EMA award-winning Alison Wonderland and next week’s performer the EMA award nominated Rezz? Or maybe you’re interested in her skills as a mashup DJ??

If ya wanna be down, contact her via Instagram at Alyce.Whiteee