Green Synergy’s first female deejay wows Vieux Fort crowd

Rickel Mentor, known by most as DJ Lovely is an absolute breath of fresh air. At 19 she still holds on to the silliness of being a teenager, but at the same time she’s smart, determined and passionate about everything she loves, particularly music and football.
It’s not a new thing internationally to have women MCs or disc jockeys, or even to have women competing in DJ competitions or things of the like—but it sure is something new on St Lucian shores. But DJ Lovely is determined to open the gateway for more women to take part in the competition, and as she told the STAR, make young women realize that they really do run the world!
This week the STAR met up with the first female competitor to hit the Heineken Green Synergy stage in her Vieux Fort home town and it was impossible not to be drawn in by her humorous nature and fun filled personality. Rickel revealed she’d started getting into music when she was only six years old, mixing records with her stepfather DJ Top Secret.”
“So far the competition has been going great,” she said. “I have a lot of supporters. Although I was nervous at first seeing I’m the only girl and it would be hard on me I got the hang of it from Pigeon Island, and Vieux Fort was mad! My presentation and everything was on point.”
In this year’s competition, the whole issue of Virtual DJ versus Serato software has been a recurring topic of discussion, with some feeling Virtual DJ was easier to use, and therefore DJs using that software should be separated from those using Serato. The entire debate is something DJ Lovely feels is a non-issue, particularly as DJs over the years of the competition have been free to use whichever they were comfortable with.
“It’s not the software that makes you a DJ,” she says. “I can use anything that comes in my hands but I’m not very familiar with Serato yet so I didn’t want to use it in the competition so I used what I’m familiar with.”
“I love the competition, but I’m not here to win,” she continues. “I’m here to have fun. If I win great, but it’s more to make my name. The other male DJs would give me a hard time, not take me seriously—they would think she’s a girl, I can kill her easy.”
Despite her laid back attitude, from all accounts DJ Lovely is a serious contender for the crown. She’s surely proved her worth thus far in the competition, battling against DJ Alsnow in the Vieux Fort semi-finals and winning the crowd’s favour with her music selections.
“He thought I would just come and play little tunes for him but I had a better crowd response,” she says. “Vieux Fort is my home town. People know me as a girl, but I play like a guy.”
“I like the feeling of being onstage, but I get nervous,” she told the STAR. “On Sunday I was sweating without moving! It was semi finals and I was nervous. I like entertaining the crowd; a lot of DJs don’t know how to do that. When I hold a session no one wants me to leave.”
“My expectations are big for the finals,” she continued. “I might not win but I will surely give a fight. At the end of it all people will know who I am and I’ll make the male DJs give us females respect. I want young ladies now to push themselves up. I want them to see a young lady like me going up there doing something good, so
they have to change their lifestyles. It doesn’t have to be deejaying, girls run the world.”
Sure, music was her passion, but what was she really about off the Green Synergy stage?
“I love cartoons, Garfield the Cat, Scooby Doo, Battle Force Five, El Chavo, Tom and Jerry, basically anything playing on Cartoon Network,” she says trying to keep a straight face and failing miserably.
“I love playing the drums, playing with dogs; I love animals. I’m also a footballer on the Women’s National Team Under 20; the goalkeeper. Apart from that I play video games, watch TV and sleep.”
“Mommy don’t do me that,” she says jokingly when her mother tries shying away from commenting on her daughter’s success. Not being able to say no to her only daughter her mother Rumalia Mentor obliges, expressing how incredibly proud she is of her teenage daughter who’s making some serious waves in the Green Synergy competition this year.
“I’m very proud of her,” her mother expressed. “I wasn’t expecting so much since it’s her first time and she’s mixing with so many young men. I’m surprised at her performance so far and I hope she does better in the finals and is crowned the new green synergy queen for this year. I’ve been following her from the start of the show, losing my sleep, up until the most recent competition in Vieux Fort over the weekend. I’m supporting her to the fullest.
“From a young child going to school I always used to get upset and tell her
go in her school books,
that’s not time for that, there’s more important things than deejaying,” her mother went on. “She’s reached so far now and I feel so proud about it. She’s one of the only female DJs on the island and she’s so young.”