Sexism in the EDM World Is a Real Problem — DJ Eva Shaw Wants to Change That

The electronic dance music world is dominated by big names including Calvin Harris, Tiesto, Skrillex, and Avicii. Besides being award-winning DJs and producers, these names have one thing in common: they are all men. Every year, DJ Magazine releases its Top 100 DJs list and of last year’s chosen ones, just three female acts made the list, including Nervo, Krewella, and Miss K8. Fortunately for the genre, females like DJ Eva Shaw are stepping up to prove that women can be just as talented behind the podium as their male counterparts.

After getting her start as an international fashion model, Shaw made a career switch to spinning and creating music. The Dutch Canadian stunner began performing sets in clubs around New York City where she quickly made a name for herself and has since performed on the main stages of festivals across North America and has held residencies at esteemed nightclubs like Hakkasan in Vegas. She recently collaborated with Poo Bear, the mastermind behind many of Justin Bieber’s chart-topping hits, and has written songs for both Calvin Harris and Afrojack’s personal label imprints.

With the release of her latest single “Rise N Shine,” which is available exclusively on her personal Spotify Playlist, Shaw discusses being a girl in the boy’s club, her passion for bringing a crowd to its feet, and why the stereotypes about female DJs are absolutely not true.

Yahoo Style: What initially spurred your interest in DJing?

DJ Eva Shaw: I’ve been writing songs since I was a really little kid, writing melodies and singing and dancing. My dad was a jazz musician so I wanted to do something in music. I took piano lessons and violin and guitar. And then I started trying turntables out and trying mixing. I also started making my own songs.

You first came into prominence as an international model. How did you make the leap into full time DJ?

Before I was modeling, I was doing music. I was working in Canada modeling and then that’s when I started doing the DJ and production stuff so it was kind of around the same time that I started both. I moved to New York and a friend of mine knew a few club owners. He knew I knew how to DJ so he wanted me to start playing because DJs were getting popular. So then I started DJing at some small clubs in New York and through word of mouth, I kept playing more and more. And then modeling left because I didn’t have time anymore to do both.

How would you describe your musical style as a DJ?

I just say party music now because I play pretty hard stuff but I also play a little bit of hip-hop, a little bit of dubstep, a little bit of electro. I just kind of mix it up a little but in general I would call it big room stuff. I like playing bigger venues. I don’t play as many small venues because you can’t play that hard in a small venue. I prefer festivals and bigger venues.

What’s it like being a successful female in such a male-driven industry?

I don’t really think about it. There are not that many black EDM DJs either but it doesn’t matter at that point. I think what happens is if there is one person that is really successful and famous, then the next generation gets respected and they want to do the same thing. So if there is another female DJ/producer coming out, there are going to be more young girls following in their footsteps. I think it’s just a matter of being inspired or thinking of the idea that could be your job and doing it. Sometimes you just don’t even think about it. Sometimes you need a role model to trigger that. Because when you’re a kid, that’s when you’re looking up to people. If you want to be an artist and you’re seeing singers and female dancers but you don’t see any female DJs, then maybe it just doesn’t go in your head that that is something that you can do. I have noticed young girls sending me messages when they are learning how to DJ, they are mixing, or they are trying out a music program like Ableton and Logic. I think it’s pretty cool. I’ve seen some that are really young, even 8-year-olds and I’m like, “Maybe I am a role model and I don’t really realize it.”

Why do you think there are so few female DJs?

I think it’s just a matter of having one person start it. I think people just naturally, especially women since they’ve been oppressed for so long, have certain jobs they haven’t really been doing. I think it’s just a matter of time that more women get into it and it will just start going from there.

How do you describe your on stage style?

I normally dress pretty casual. I like tank tops. I’m usually jumping around a lot so I wear sneakers all the time. I like leggings and track pants and that kind of thing, anything comfortable that looks sort of cool.

When you first started DJing, you used to wear a baseball cap. Was that a safety blanket for you?

I’m pretty shy naturally. I think I wore the hat a lot to hide. Another reason is I didn’t want people making a judgment about my music because I’m a girl. I felt immediately when I started DJing that sometimes there were a lot of judgments and sometimes it was hard to prove myself. That’s kind of why I’ve meant to be a little more covered up. I used to wear hoodies, huge baggy t-shirts. I still do sometimes but I don’t really think about it like that anymore. Before I used to be really conscious of that.

Being a former model, you must get stereotyped at times. Do you feel like it was harder for people to take you seriously as a musician at first?

I just think there are a lot of those kinds of DJs, not necessarily model DJs but female DJs that dress provocatively or half naked just to get bookings. They don’t really have music or they aren’t necessarily really good DJs but they want to DJ so they use that to their advantage so that people at least like looking at them. I didn’t want to be automatically put in that category. And I think when you don’t have a lot of female DJs, people automatically put them together. I just wanted the music to be the focus and if people liked my performance, I wanted to know that they liked my performance for the music and my energy.

So is the baseball cap off now?

No I still wear them sometimes. But I have so much hair now so it’s tough to cover up!

You recently collaborated with G-Star to design a line of clothing. Tell us about the line.

G-Star has done collaborations with people like Skrillex, Afrojack, and Pharrell but they didn’t have any females that they were working with so they were looking for somebody like me I guess. They asked if I could fly over to Amsterdam and meet with them and see if we clicked and we really did. We had the same ideas with being creative and authentic and sort of feminine but in a tomboyish kind of way. I really liked their stuff already and they liked how I dress so it just really worked out. We wanted it to be really authentic to what I wear already. There are 7 pieces in this collection and then next one is coming out in a few months. It is all female clothing; I didn’t design any male collections but some guys have been wearing the hats and the sunglasses. Anthony Kiedis just wore those in the new Chili Peppers video and Shaggy was just wearing them at an event.

What is the biggest misconception about female DJs?

A lot of stuff! I think there is a lot of sexism in the EDM DJ world. I’ve seen a lot of things like if a female is DJing or they post their song, then there will be a lot of comments saying that she didn’t make the song, she slept with somebody to get the song, or she is DJing there because she slept with the club owner. It’s usually very sexist things just assuming that if it is a female, she did something to get there. It’s really unfortunate. I think if there are not a lot of women somewhere and then there are a couple, people look at that and think it’s weird. They’ve never see that and they think they need to make some kind of excuse for it. I think that will just become less and less when more females start DJing.

When female celebs like Paris Hilton hop behind the podium, does that tarnish the reputations of professional female DJs like yourself?

It’s true that there are not a lot of female DJs and the ones that are really famous are like Paris Hilton. It’s kind of frustrating. Also I think that people automatically associate you with someone like that as well. She’s already famous. If she wants to DJ, that’s totally fine. Everyone should be able to do what they want to do. It’s just hard to sometimes separate the two and differentiate. If there was a male model that decided to learn how to DJ one day and he had his shirt off the whole time, I think people would just take it for what it is. There are so many other male DJs that are well respected so it wouldn’t really matter. There are so many that use their appearance. And I don’t think its bad to necessarily want to be attractive. If you want to model as well that’s fine. You should be proud of being a woman and be sexy if you want to be. But I think if that’s the only thing you have, then that’s the problem.

What advice would you give to up and coming female DJs about how to break in and be taken seriously?

I would say if you want to have a really big DJ career like Avicii or Calvin Harris, that kind of level, you should work on making music first and learn how to DJ later. Or do both at the same time because making music takes a really long time. If you’re just starting, work with people who know how to produce and know how to write. If you surround yourself more and more with people who are talented, then you will get better at it. I think also just not really paying attention if people write anything bad about you. You have to just kind of let it go because it will happen. I think women are kind of used to that in general, not just in the DJ world but in any profession. I think most women have had some kind of sexism or some kind of difficulty being taken seriously in some way or another. I think for a female coming into this industry, it’s just a matter of time really if they are talented and a good DJ, good music producer, writer, whatever it is that they do. People will see that. Maybe it takes a little bit longer than it does for a guy but people can tell. And the ones that are just kind of gimmicky will fall off.

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