Bucket Babe: Mia Pretorius

Hard to believe we're in the second month of the new year already and with that we bring to you our first featured model of the year. Today's beauty hails from the fairest Cape and while she considers modeling a side hobby, her main passion is DJing. This young vivacious lass has many achievements to her name already and has set her sights on achieving more throughout her life. Apart from the catchy grooves she spins, she loves spending time in front of the camera, collaborating with local photographers and brands. Anyway, enough from us, here meet...

Mia Pretorius

BIO

My name is Mia, I'm a 20 year old female DJ and music producer living in Cape Town, South Africa. I have traveled to various locations in SA to perform and I'm known as the youngest female tech house producer in South Africa after producing my first song 'Energies' - which is available on all major platforms. My dream is to become a full time DJ and music producer and travel the world. In 2010 I became the youngest girl to successfully climb Mount Kilimanjaro, I was 9 at the time and spent my 10th birthday on the mountain which is another major achievement within my lifetime. I am a full time business student, currently in my final year as well as a part time model who loved to collaborate with local photographers and brands. I have a passion for helping others and I use that when helping out at a NPO called 'Reach for a Dream' in which hope is given to children with life threatening illnesses through fulfilling their dreams. Though my lifestyle is pretty busy, I use my free time to spend time with my friends and family as well as hitting the gym. 

LINKS

Q&A

1. Hot girls and hot cars go hand in hand, what ride would you like to  see yourself in?

• My absolute dream car would be any unique colour Lamborghini Aventador!

2. What sandwich are you most likely to make for me? and will it be toasted or plain?

• Most probably a club sandwich toastie with sweet potato bread (because I'm gluten intolerant - but to be honest I prefer that over regular bread). 

3. Everyone loves popcorn (well I think they do) what is your topping/ sprinkle of choice?

• I'm not fussy when it comes to popcorn flavours but when I'm at the cinema I mix all the flavours together and if I'm in the mood for something sweet I would mix in something like Astros into plain popcorn. 

4. You being a model and a DJ, if you had to choose one profession, which would it be and why?

• Definitely DJing ,modeling is just a side hobby which I do when I have time or if brands or photographers want to collaborate. My dream job would be a profession DJ who travels the world. 

5. So DJ, which would be your dream festival to play at?

• I would love to play at as many major festivals as possible but my dream would be to play at Tomorrowland.  

6. Being SA's youngest female tech producer is quite an achievement, what was your inspiration into getting into this particular genre?

• I used to love commercial house music but as I started listening to more music during my years of DJing my taste in music developed into the tech house genre, I had friends who played that type of music around me and I really took a liking to it. Being the first youngest female in SA to produce this genre came from the fact that I generally just enjoy that style music and I really wanted to be able to to play my own music when I DJ, as well as the fact that I wanted to do something different to what everyone else does. I love standing out and participating in things that others wouldn't generally do and I definitely aspire to inspire females of all ages - this also led to me being the youngest girl to climb Mount Kilimanjaro..

7. Anyone holding that hand yet? or is it available?

• Very much available haha ;) I do however ,have a super busy lifestyle so finding a relationship isn't a priority to me right now.

8. Obviously being a female, fashion would be a big interest to you, do you have a favourite label/ designer?

• Not really, I generally get most of my clothes from Factorie and Cotton On. I also love supporting small local designers.  

9. We know you're a firm lover of tech but what music gets your booty shaking?

• I love almost every other genre- I love deep house, trance, techno, rap, commercial.

10. Which city is your dream party destination?

• I would love to experience the hype created around parties in Ibiza one day!

Pictures by r2fphotography and epixshoots

Monday Choon: Gareth Emery & Standerwick - Saving Light (feat. HALIENE)

If you're a trance addict or just a fan of Gareth Emery, then you would know the painstaking wait for the official release of this track. Debuted last year in June, Saving Light had many asking who made this song? what is it called? when will it be released? Well we soon found out that it was a track by Gareth Emery and Standerwick. Months went on with no official release date up and until early January when the English DJ notified his fans that the track would be released on the 27th of January along with the official music video. The song is a another fine production by Emery, seriously good trance vibes and something that has been lacking for some time in the industry, Standerwick adds his own uniqueness to the track and the vocals just ices the cake for me. The music video is brilliant as well, highlighting the importance of bullying which is affecting a lot of kids out there. Overall, Saving Light was definitely worth the long wait!

Monday Choon: Hardwell feat. Jay Sean - Thinking About You

Jay Sean, the British pop singer debuted in the early 2000's and his major rise to fame happened a little while after that, but for the past 5 years or so he's been relatively quiet and quite frankly many forgot about him. Not sure if Hardwell was in the UK and bumped into Jay doing ballad's at a bar or something but the two of them teamed up for this week's featured track. "Thinking About You" has been out since late October and I've watch the video a few times now, I really like the track. It's something different from bought artist, with Hardwell known for his hard style trance and Jay more of the RnB pop variety so for the two of them it must have been a bit of adjustment but they sort of found a nice middle ground for the track. It's quite catch and has a great music video. 

Monday Choon - Ultra Countdown: Zedd - Papercut ft. Troye Sivan

In just about 3 weeks, South Africa will be taken over by some of the worlds biggest names in electronic music. We continue our Ultra South Africa Countdown this week with another superstar DJ that will be headlining the countries premier dance music festival, Zedd. The Russian-German DJ is one of two Grammy award winning DJ's that will be playing at Ultra SA 2016 and it will be his first time in the country. 

I am a big fan of Zedd's previous stuff, his collaborations with artists like Matthew Koma, Hayley Williams, Salena Gomez and Foxes did phenomenally well and which ultimately led to his Grammy Award nomination and win. In his most recent work he still finds himself working with artists from around the spectrum, this week's featured track has the vocals of South Africa's very own Troye Sivan. Troye popular for his starring role in the SA movies Spud, based on the popular noval has been concentrating a lot on his singing of late and it's great to see him team up with Zedd on the track papercut. 

                    

Tomorrowland Movie

Every year I always joke about the length of the Tomorrowland aftermovie, I mean I can handle a 15 minute short video but these guys take it to the extreme and push it beyond 30 minutes. There only so much you can handle watching but this year, they've out done themselves, they went and made an actual movie! No idea how long it is but it will be available for download on the 1st of December this year. The trailer has been released (it's just over 2 minutes, phew) and it looks quite good. I say all this now but I'll probably end up watching the movie, it really is unique festival and one I'd like to attend but damn guys, a movie?!

                     

Monday Choon: Tiësto & KSHMR feat. Vassy - Secrets

Another year and another phenominal Ultra Music Festival in Miami, if you managed to catch any of the streams in the early hours of the morning, you would have witnessed the madness that it was. The best of the best performing to thousands in the rain on Friday night, closing off that day was no one other than the "King" as Damian Pinto calls him, Tiesto. It was an electrufying set which saw him play a very new set compared to his recent tours. One of the songs that featured was todays selected choon, his new song with KSHMR who joined him on staage at Miami, their song called Secrets. It's already on the playlist of some local radio staations and the video was just released the other week. As expected its another epic track by Tiesto, perfect listening to get the working week going. 

                    

Monday Choon: Tritonal - Ginsu

Tritonal, the music duo of producer/ DJ's Chad Cisneros and David Reed from Austin, Texas are no stranger to our Monday Choon segment with various remixes coming from them that have been featured before, most recently was a remix of their song "Anchor". Falling under the Mainstage Music label of W&W, these guys are pumping out the hits today's featured track is indicative of that. Ginsu has been out for just under 3 weeks now and as already being play listed around the globe in festival and chart shows. You can catch the guys podcast Tritonia on the various media streams as well. 

                    

Monday Choon: Martin Garrix feat. Moti - Virus (KSHMR Remix)

With just about 24 days to Ultra SA 2015, we starting our official countdown to the festival with our artist feature Monday Choon segment. We kick off with the young sensation that's taken the world by storm, Martin in the space of 2 years has catapulted himself as a person in the crowd at UMF Miami to one of the worlds biggest DJ's at the moment. He is a success story of note and with him continuing to produce hit after hit, things can only get better for him. I know we already have featured his latest single with Moti previously but this week I thought share the KSHMR Remix. It's wonderfully worked and really gives the track a different sound to it. Catch Martin and a host other headliner international acts at Ultra SA on the 13th and 14th of February, for more info on Ultra SA see below.

                     

Twitter: @UltraSA

Facebook: Ultra South Africa

Website: www.ultrasouthafrica.com
February 13th, Cape Town
February 14th, Johnnesburg
For tickets and pacakages, check the office website: http://www.ultrasouthafrica.com/tickets

Monday Choon: MOTi - Lion (In My Head)

When you're starting out at a career, its always nice to work with and seek guidance from a professional in the industry and when it comes to EDM and Trance, theres not many that are as big as Tiesto. Musical Freedom Records which belongs to Tijs is responsible for most of the up and coming DJ's of recent and they're producing some damn good music. MOTi is one of them, started off with more of his remixes and mashups getting recognition and then his colabs with other DJ's but now we're finally getting to see what his all about, the single Lion shot up to number 3 on the Beatport 100 list and is continuing to do well on the charts. It's awesome track and definitely a December pumper!

                     

Monday Choon: Hardwell & Dyro feat. Bright Lights - Never say goodbye

Well if you haven't heard yet, Hardwell last week announced dates for his upcoming tours via youtube with shows confirmed for Joburg and Cape Town in the fall of 2013. So  basically in December, Electric Music SA, the guys who brought us the likes of Deadmau5, SHM, Afrojack and Steve Aoki will be confirmed the dates and support acts for the shows. There might even be a slight chance that Durban gets a show so stay tuned for more info. For now we celebrate this news with a club thumper form Hardwell and Dyro featuring vocals from Bright Lights, here is "Never Say Goodbye"

Monday Choon: Tiesto ft. Kyler England - Take Me

The King of EDM is back! He's previous releases have been good but his latest offering featuring vocals from Kyler England harks back to his previous material, the song is pretty epic and has been featured on his Club Life episode 318, 319 and 320! My favourite choon at the moment as well!

Monday Choon: One Republic - If I lose myself tonight vs M83 - Midnight City (Dr Pihl mashup)

Mashups are risky to do, there have been many done in the past and most of them end up being terrible and more of an annoyance than a pleasure to listen to. MTV back in the day did some decent ones but apart form that no other really strikes the mind till now. Dr Pihl...no not the TV Psycho...logist as @MishToTheD and @StephanieBe teased me about last week on twitter. Its pronounced "Doctor Peel", has taken probably one of the hottest songs at the moment and mashed it with one of my all time favourite tracks by those French guys M83. The two are extremely awesome songs but the production value of this mashup really stands out, anyone can make a remix but you need skill to make mashup of this quality.