A taste for music

WHILE the name Juicy M may not ring any bells, fast-forward to that mind-blowing YouTube video of a young deejay mixing on not one, but four CDJs (CD-playing devices) at one go – and without headphones – and you might go wow.
Deejays generally use headphones while on set for better cueing to match the tempo and the beats of an incoming song to the current one that's blasting out on the speakers, ultimately creating a live mix of the two that sounds good.
Marta Martus, better known by her stage name Juicy M, rose to fame following the release of that video on YouTube in 2013, but the 24-year-old had already been deejaying way back in 2007, playing hip hop on vinyl, on turntables.
Starting from scratch without any support from big labels or publishers, the young deejay from Kiev, Ukraine, managed to start her own record label, Jummp Records, and release a few collaboration tracks with young producers like herself.
She is currently placed among the top 100 deejays on the planet by DJ Mag Poll and is signed with Armada Music, whose artiste portfolio includes big names like Armin van Buuren, Dash Berlin and W&W.
Her clever and on-point mash-ups have a way of summoning any EDM (electronic dance music) enthusiast onto the dance floor.

theSun managed to catch the enthusiastic deejay before her live set at Prime Touch Luxury boutique club in Kuala Lumpur recently.
Tell us why you don't need headphones when you're live.
"I do, but I've trained at home without them for so many years, it feels more natural not using them.
"Also I know the tracks and always prepare my record books before I go [on] stage. It's more comfortable [without] them, but I take them with me just in case."
How has your journey been since that YouTube video?
"That was the first time I tried EDM and from then, a lot of things have changed.
"My fan base has really grown, social media is good now, so I can talk to my fans.
"I started my own label which I'm going to restart again in April, the podcast is also growing … and the main thing of course, we'll start writing our own music.
"There are so many new tracks coming out on Armada and we're going to shoot videos for every track.
"[It's] a big journey and it's just the beginning for me, because I have such big plans for the future."
What do you find most challenging about being a woman in a male-dominated EDM scene?
"I do what I love and I don't think that deejaying is something hard for a girl to do. It's just music and we're all artistes, [no] matter if you're female or male."
What inspires you?
"I think that my live performances inspire me the most. The people, the crowd, their reactions … they change my set and my style of music because I [improvise].
"I also record the live performances and watch them after. They inspire me because I want to perform again and again to feel it again and again."
In terms of writing your music, what inspires you?
"This is all about my personal life for sure because the last track I wrote, I was crying like crazy sitting in my hotel because I had a little baby [now a year-old son], and I just missed him so much.
"So I wrote a song for him, which is going to be the main song for my album. I hope [when they hear it], people are going to feel the same [way] I felt when I wrote it."
Do you think it's possible to have both motherhood and a deejay career in equal measure?
"It's the hardest. This is the biggest challenge I have actually, for sure. The balance is the main thing in life. If something takes up more time, then everything else will be affected so you should really work hard."
How do you do it then?
"Work hard. Since I have a baby, I don't sleep much. When I have a minute in the plane I'll sleep, because I don't have much time for that. When he goes to bed, I start working, and then he wakes up."
What do you do during your free time?
"Deejaying is my hobby. It's enough, believe me. It's enough."