Meet Selektra

Today we’d like to introduce you to Selektra.

Hi Melina, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’m Melina, AKA Selektra. I’m a music lover and DJ based in Columbus, Ohio. I’ve been interested in music for as long as I can remember, whether it was singing, dancing, performing, or listening. I’ve been curating playlists and seeking out new music for a long time and had always had an interest in picking up DJing, but didn’t get around to it until the pandemic hit. In the fall of 2020, I bought my first deck and my mixing software, and the rest is history! Once I moved back to Columbus in 2021, I began to explore the Columbus scene, and began to play live at small house parties. Now, I play sets in the Columbus area and record mixes for SoundCloud.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Beginning my DJ career in quarantine had some benefits, but it made it really difficult to see a future for myself. I think back to that time of my life a lot and how I could never picture myself doing what I do as a DJ today. I wasn’t able to start performing for audiences until over a year into my mixing career, which made the transition into doing so very jarring and awkward. I had no mentors or people to guide me, and I had to figure pretty much everything out for myself, and I am still learning. I remember getting extreme waves of anxiety and fear at the beginning of every set and dreading listening back to my recordings to hear the mistakes I had made. Without a community of others invested in DJing and music around me, it was a slow progression into breaking out into the Columbus music scene. Both at the beginning of my career and in the present, I have dealt with a lot of imposter syndrome, feeling as though I’m not qualified or good enough to be performing where I am. 

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
As a DJ, I always like to say that my number one priority is to ensure that people are dancing. I began my career focused on house and drum and bass music and have since evolved into a genre-bending space that I always struggle to put a name to. Some of my favorite subgenres  include garage, jungle, trance, juke, acid, and jersey club, just to name a few, and I pride myself in my ability to constantly source unique tracks and mix them together in a way that excites, invigorates, and surprises audiences. One of my favorite parts about mixing and finding tracks is the beauty of the remix, meaning that I can play a track that matches the energy of my performance that samples from a song I love but isn’t something I would play on its own in a set. This allows me to constantly plant gems in my sets that I love, from genres like rap, jazz, rnb, indie, and more, giving my mixes even more depth and character. I enjoy mixing freestyle, meaning that my live performances are organic and only confined to a playlist of songs that I’ve picked out, allowing me to truly connect with my audience emotionally. 

What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
I think the most important lesson that I’ve learned is that music holds an infinite amount of emotional power. It can bring a group of strangers close together in a way that they never could have imagined. It can express a feeling or emotion that you might not be able to explain with words. It can serve as a time capsule, for a memory, a period of your life, or a distinct emotion. Music is one of the most beautiful parts of life, and the more I mix, the more I feel that to be true. I think that one of my favorite songs, Luv(sic) Part 3, by the incredibly talented late musician and DJ Nujabes, captures these feelings perfectly: “It’s funny how the music put times in perspective, add a soundtrack to your life and perfect it.” 

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.secure.instagram.com/s3lektra/
• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/s3lektra

Image Credits
@svintxclaire
@writinginacrowdedroom
@adottjohn