Dezelle
Photo credit: CLIQUE
I’m happy I got to discover Dezelle and her story. Happy I got to feature her on my blog for the release of her song “i decided to believe in visions”.
I instantly loved the topic of this song because I believe it’s so important to learn to love yourself. We need empowering records like these. We need more self-love and we need more artists like her. I’m inspired by Dezelle’s music and I’m inspired by her story.
Now go stream “i decided to believe in visions” and support Dezelle :)
Photo credit: CLIQUE
Introduce yourself - what's your story?
I am a singer-songwriter based in Los Angeles. I am originally from Texas, but grew up moving often to different countries including Trinidad, the UK, and various cities in the US. I have moved a lot during my adult life as well, and music and writing have always felt like home to me. Music is what keeps me grounded and songwriting is my life's passion.
How would you define Dezelle, the artist?
Dezelle is a new artist project for me, and I have about 18+ songs in various phases of production right now. These songs involve a lot of cross-genre musical experimentation and were born of co-writes with a variety of artists I admire, who identify as everything from hip hop, electronic, jazz, singer-songwriter, and beyond. Musically, I think the fusion of genres is what differentiates this project from my previous catalogue, which was more classic singer-songwriter. The lyrical content for the new project is also different, and while no two songs are the same, a lot of the stories are about recovery, renewal, empowerment, self-love, elevation, awareness. It's about subjects that fascinate me right now, such as living in the moment and trying to embrace the opportunity we have to constantly evolve and learn and redefine ourselves. A lot of the songs are about giving yourself permission to be who you are and freedom.
You've just released your new single "i decided to believe in visions" - what made you want to release this song as a single?
This song felt powerful to me, and it's a message that I needed to write for myself, and that I think perhaps others may need to hear. It's bold, empowering, spiritual, a song about setting yourself free. I want people to feel uplifted when they hear my music, and I felt like this song set the tone for the new artist project, both sonically and in terms of lyrical content.
What's the story/inspiration behind this song?
The song is about learning to love yourself and letting go of any narratives that keep you from being the truest, most loving, bravest version of yourself. We all struggle with doubts, insecurities, our pasts, anxiety, regrets, fear - it's very human, very much a part of the experience of being alive. I wanted to write a song that invites the listener to envision what their life might be like if they let some of that go, if they made a conscious choice to show up in the world as powerful and with intention. It's a song about asking "what could be" if i decided to believe in myself and my visions. It's something I have to remind myself to be aware of regularly, but life gets better and we become more useful to others when we learn to believe in and trust ourselves.
Who helped you create this single? Could you describe the songwriting/production process? When did you start working on it?
I wrote this song with the producer and composer Tomas Altamirano, who has over 1,000 placements in film and TV. Tomas has been so successful because he excels at creating compositions that evoke emotion in the listener. For this song, he produced a lot of cinematic, suspenseful textures with builds and drops. There was so much movement in the song even in the beginning. I felt compelled to make the lyrical content and melody say something powerful too. We started working on it in the summer of 2019, shortly after we met through mutual friends after one of my shows at Hotel Cafe in Hollywood. It is the first song we wrote together, and we have since written several more. When I first heard the chords he was playing and soundscapes he was using, I thought, "this song could be really powerful." and "this song should be about learning to be your own hero." We had an idea of what we wanted the message to be about, but I sat with the lyrics for a long time. I didn't want to make the lyrics too specific or anything about a relationship to someone else; I wanted to keep it focused on the character's relationship with herself and an awakening that helped her become who she wanted to be.
What did you feel when writing this single?
Writing this song was healing for me. It reminded me of a series battles of I've fought with myself and how I learned to find peace. I thought a lot about what it was like for me growing up as a woman in a world full of pervasive consumerism and advertisements that tell me what I should be. I thought about my feelings about certain societal systems and expectations. I thought and the shame I felt when I failed to live up to all of them all the time. I thought about my battles with addiction and sobriety. I thought about the people who came into my life who inspired me to let go of old narratives, connect to a higher power, something bigger, something deeper, and free myself from some of that underlying fear. I thought about how people are changing and evolving all the time, fighting internal battles and winning. I thought about my grandfather and his spiritual direction about discerning which feelings to listen to for guidance. I thought about how all of us go through life choosing whether to act out of love or fear and the decision we get to make over and over again to choose to act out of love. I thought about how much I have seen people change; how important it is to give them and yourself permission to show up as someone new who has changed and grown, how important it is not to hold ourselves and others to old roles we have outgrown. I thought about all of these things, but I wanted to end result of the lyrics to be open to interpretation. We all have our own battles and journeys, but the point is to keep stepping into your power and recognizing that your time is a gift and you can use it to influence your own reality as well as the realities of those around you, and that's worth doing with intention and vision.
What is your goal for this song?
My only goal is for people to feel less alone, empowered, seen somehow. I hear songs that change the way I see the world all the time. I want this song to help people see themselves as powerful and worthy.
Why did you decide to believe in visions?
Someone asked me the question once "how free do you want to be?" and that really hit me. I think a lot of us keep ourselves stuck by being afraid to question things, to get really honest about what we want, to really expand our idea of what could be and believe it's possible. Fear can be cunning, the way it will convince us that we can't do something because of a circumstance or another person or our own distortions about our worthiness or capabilities - but all of that is really just noise. I decided to believe in visions because I want to live fully alive and unencumbered by those narratives that don't serve anyone. I'd rather be free.
What advice would you give to anyone struggling with self-love?
Get as honest with yourself as possible about why you struggle with self-love. And then ask yourself what would happen if you were able to let that go. What if you could forgive yourself, accept yourself, change your beliefs about yourself - what would that look like? Who would you be then? How would you show up in the world? How would you feel? What would you do differently minute to minute and day to day? And then step into that world. If you make an effort just to act as if you love yourself, your thoughts may begin to follow your actions and it will grow from there. I would also say that you don't have to internalize anything that does not belong to you. What other people think or say about you has more to do with them than it does with you, so don't let someone else's love for your determine how much you love yourself. If they can't see your worth, don't repeat their mistakes. Still see your own. In my life it has turned out that self-love was always the answer to most of my problems. Whenever I face a dilemma or problem, I ask myself, "If I really really loved myself, what would I do?" and then I try to just do that. Sometimes you just have to act as if in the meantime. And it's a practice; it's not always going to be a constant, easy thing. But I believe self-love enables us to love others so much more fully and truly and you are absolutely worthy of making peace with yourself.
What does music mean to you?
Everything. Music is divine to me. It is transcendental and it connects people. It is pure emotion and healing. It's the why behind most of the decisions I have made in my life.
As an artist, what are the biggest struggles?
I think artists struggle the most when they look to anything external to define them or their success. Making art is about making beauty from brokenness, taking your experiences and trying to put them into a medium that makes someone else feel some sort of connection, a little less alone in their own private worlds. Mastering the mystery of how to give people that is all that matters as an artist. It is absolutely what you are signing up for. You will never fully master it. It will always be your master. And you cannot fall into the trap of identifying too much with "successes" or "failures" or it will ruin you. External success is secondary to the craft and connecting to the source that brings you your art. A writer I love Anne Lammot said something about how creative successes will not heal you, but writing will. I think it's important for artists to remember that and it can be a struggle to keep the priorities straight. I struggle with that. The ego traps and self doubt. I think a lot of artists do.
What are your thoughts on today's music industry? If you could change one thing, what would it be?
I am grateful to be born in a time when technology has democratized the music industry and for the tools and platforms I have at my fingertips. My experience of the music scene in LA has been pure community and love. I feel lucky to be a musician during this time in history. If I could change one thing, I would change the fact that people are so concerned with numbers and stats - it's a terrible measuring tool for your success as an artist, and it breeds insecurity among the artists I know. I also look forward to the day when we are living in the Renaissance of live music. I miss live shows during lockdown more than anything else and have recurring dreams about being at them again. Hopefully soon enough!
What have you learned about yourself since the beginning of your career?
I have learned that I am going to have to learn in front of a lot of people and be ok with that. I have learned there is no arrival point, but the people you share music with, and the artistic journey is dizzyingly beautiful.
What do you want to accomplish professionally and personally?
I think there's a certain alchemy where we can choose to turn any experience good or bad into more compassion, and I want to master that alchemy in both my art and personal life.
What biggest life lessons have you learned in 2020?
2020 taught us that we are deeply interconnected. Each action we take as an individual can have an affect on society at large and we have a responsibility to take care of each other.
It taught me that being alone is not as scary as it seems if you are willing to be honest with yourself about what the silence is teaching you. It taught me never to take any simple tiny beautiful thing for granted. The world can change drastically at any moment, and what you care about when it does tells you everything you need to know about how to spend your time here.
What are your goals for 2021?
I'd like to release all of the songs I recorded in 2020 - there are a lot of them so we will see if I am successful, but I think it can be done.
What message do you want to give to the world?
You are never as alone as you think you are and most of us are going through a different version of the same underlying human experiences. Understanding this will help you have compassion for both yourself and others. I hope to share that message through my songs and stories. I hope they give people solace, something they can hold onto, connection, escape, healing, and a whole lotta joy.
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