GrooveOn gets to know Havana Brown!!

The only female DJ to sign a major label recording deal in Australia, Havana Brown is currently one of the hottest DJs in the world. After only five years behind the decks, she has achieved what most fail to in a life time. Her resume reads like a who’s who in pop music, with her supporting the likes of Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, Chris Brown and Rihanna.

In addition to the regular international club tours, weekly international radio shows, a coveted Las Vegas residency and promoting her highly successful Crave compilation series, Havana Brown has reinvented herself as an artists and an entertainer, releasing her debut single We Run The Night, which instantly sky rocketed to the top ten in the ARIA singles charts.

While promoting the new single in Australia, Havana Brown sat down with us for a chat about her career, her music and life in general:

Your new single We Run the Night is doing exceptionally well in the charts; what made you pick this as your debut single?
HB: Well it’s produced by a duo called More Mega. I actually met one half of the duo, Cassie, in Bali in October last year, and we started writing together, and I remember explaining to the producer I was working with exactly what I wanted and was trying to achieve with my music.  She took all of that in and she produced a song with her partner, which was exactly what I wanted! I wanted pop, club, I wanted a drop, I wanted it to be catchy, it was everything I could ask for in a first single!

The video clip just came out and looks amazing! Was it a long time in the making? How did you come up with the concept?
HB: I was working with a production team and they come up with an idea and treatment and we thought about styling and, well it was quite simple really. We wanted it to suit the song and be kind of what people envisioned for the song.

What can we expect from your music? What will the rest of the album be like?
HB: well my plan is to release mini albums. I want to do albums that consist of maybe 5 or 6 songs, but released more regularly, like every 6 months, so I can change it up with what’s happening then and there.  If there is something new happening I can release it then and there without waiting another 2 years. With what I do, DJjing, I am involved with music a lot and I see music evolve and change and I can sense when something is going to change and I see it happening a long time before it actually does and I want to be able to move with the times. And also, this first single is pop and its club, and its exactly what I wanted but with my other stuff, there is going to be more depth to it, there is going to be a bit more emotion to it as well. Its always going to be up tempo club music, well for now at least! Maybe when I get married in 10 years or so I can start making love songs!

You started singing quite some time ago, and you have been working in music for a while, so what made you take up djing?
HB: well it actually happened after I was signed to Polydor records. I was signed as a part of a group. There were 3 guys and me, and we had finished an album and were about to release our first single when the group fell apart. That time for me was the worst time of my life. It felt like I had gotten so far and so close and you know you sign that record deal and you think this is it, its going to happen, and it didn’t!  It was a pretty depressing time for me, and I was poor and it was a difficult time and I think it was the DJing that saved me. It’s what I should have been doing from the very beginning! It was natural to me and I loved it straight away and I am very passionate about it. And now I can do my music and I can live it and breathe it and get paid to walk into a club and DJ! It’s the best thing a girl could ask for! And so the natural progression for me was to go back to my roots and do my music as well.

You have created a new, sexy image for DJing, which is not an easy thing to do! Considering DJing has typically been a male dominated area, was it a challenge for you to get into it and try to make a name for yourself?
HB: well I think at the beginning some people may have not believed that this is something I would be extremely passionate and determined about. But I always looked at the bigger picture and was shooting for the stars. My goals were a lot bigger than getting a residency or getting two residencies in my local neighbourhood or city. I always envisioned it to be bigger and wanted my own music and my own compilation series and I went for it. And it may have been a challenge at the start and there were people that were saying I wouldn’t last in the industry, but they did not know me.  You know just because I like to wear a skirt when I go out, some people think I don’t have a brain, but I do, and I have passion for what I do, and that is why I’m here and that is why I have been able to this and make a career of it and live very well.

You have toured with some of the biggest artists in the world, and have achieved so much in a relatively short time. What is left in your to-do list?
HB: I am aiming so far ahead, you have no idea! And that is the important thing, to keep setting new goals and working towards something new. Branching out and doing my own music was a challenge for me. I like to push myself and this isn’t it. I do appreciate what I have done and I’m proud of it. But there is so much more that I want, and I am no where near what I dream of achieving!

What advice do you give young female DJs with the aspirations to follow your footsteps and achieve the sort of status that you have?
HB: well, looking at the things I have done and the hard work I have put in, it’s not simple. It is a lot of hard work. When you work hard and you are constantly thinking about how you can improve yourself, you will move forward. And you have to be positive as well, and in the music industry it’s hard to make a name for yourself, and as soon as you start becoming negative, that’s when you start taking steps backwards.

Of all the people you have met and/or worked with, who has influenced you most in your career?
HB: Well I think Lady Gaga’s hard work is very inspirational. The girl doesn’t stop! She takes on everything. She does a million interviews; she could be in LA and will take the time out to do a phone interview with Fox. She doesn’t forget about the smaller countries. And even when I was on tour with her, I never saw her out of her spectacular outfits. It seemed like she is working 24/7 and she is extremely dedicated. I think if you can work half as hard as Lady Gaga, then you can make it!

How do you juggle having a residency in Las Vegas, 2 radio shows in Australia, a radio show in France and DJ gigs almost every night, apart from your compilations and now your own music?
HB: well I remember when I first started doing my show here in Australia and it was just one show, but I remember doing it every week, and you have to change it up every week, and there are rules about what you can and cant play, and it was hard, doing it every week and trying to change it up and still be creative with it. But then I added to the load a second show, and I wasn’t sure how I was going to do it, but then you deal with it. And I was travelling on top of that, so I end up working on the plane. I work a lot on my laptop, so I can work any time of the day. Sometimes I do think I don’t know how I do it, but I am so used to it now that I can create shows very quickly. And it helps that I am a morning person. I love waking up at 5.30 in the morning and getting things done. You just have to find the time, and sometimes you don’t need to sleep! !

Favourite track to play at the moment?
HB: Purely cos it’s the biggest song, LMFAO –Party Rock Anthem, is probably my favourite right now because it gets a big reaction, everyone loves it, I love it still and my friend Lauren is in it.

Favourite designer?
HB: Balmain

Pet peeve?
HB: I don’t like hearing people breath. That really grosses me out!

Best advice you have received?
HB: I remember when I was really young my dad said to me that if I wanted to be an entertainer, that this is one of the hardest industries to get into and to get a record deal in the first place is so difficult, that you are going to have to work your arse off. You are going to have to beat everyone else in the country to be number 1 or to be on top. You are going to have to be the one who works the hardest. That was good advice!