The day is grey, but the conversation is not. In a small café just off the hustle and bustle of Shoreditch High street sits a petit, pretty brunette, waiting to unleash her intellectual and insanely intelligent outlook on film, music, storytelling, and of course, politics.
Film fanatic and avid story-teller Di, a singer-songwriter born and raised in London, is a self-titled left-field pop lyricist making waves in the EDM scene. Having only released 6 singles, Di has already worked with big industry names such as Paul Terry and Todd Edwards – “Todd the God!”. Relying on remixes to help build a name in the club rounds, Di’s unashamed pop sentimentality helps to create her self-proclaimed “impressionistic snapshot, opiate like music with swirling whirling dancing matter”. With the aim of building her own niche, Di’s focus is very much on using music to tell stories.
Writing from the age of seven, Di began her storytelling through poems and short stories. Throughout her school years, she desired to be a novelist or poet. She loved studying Shakespeare and Keats. “One time in school, we were acting Shakespeare, and I remember being in awe of how he could formulate such a story… I wanted the power to move people in the best of ways”. Whether it be through laughter or tears, throughout childhood Di longed to be able to captivate an audience through her narratives.
This craving may have been ignited by the idea that the singer has always loved films and mythology – “they are the best mediums for the human condition”. The immediacy, potency and the idea that you can tell a story in three minutes is what drew Di to song writing specifically. “It takes a while to write, read and digest a novel, with music it’s almost instant”.
Listing David Bowie as a major influence, she admits that it wasn’t until later in life that she discovered his brilliance – “as a child I wasn’t really aware of him”. Again admiring how his music is a narrative, “Ashes to Ashes – it’s kind of like a sequel to Space Oddity” she explains. The way he reinvented himself and shaped his music to fit with his character is something Di is envious of and aspiring towards. “Reinvention is the key to being a successful songwriter and storyteller, no one wants to hear the same story twice” she explains.
Instead, as a child Di grew up on Britney Spears (as all teenage girls born in the nineties did), Queen and Michael Jackson, having her Mother to thank for the latter two. With her Father absent, it was her Mother who drew the singer to music. Although not obvious at the time, in hindsight she has realised just how much her Mother’s music has impacted her. Without her Mother, Di may never have turned to music. “If my Mum didn’t play music around the house then I may have stuck to poetry” she admits.
Presently, Di draws upon Scandinavian artists such as Likki Li, Highasakite and Tove Lo – discovering most of them through remixes. As an artist who relies on remixes herself, Di confesses that most of her recent music tendencies are towards remixes. Loving how music can be interpreted by people in different ways, Di finds it fascinating to listen to various remixes of the same track. She has more of a connection with Scandinavian artists as she feels that they take more care over their lyrics, something the singer can relate to.
Despite music being her number one passion, the singer confesses that it was more films and books that influence her music now; “it’s a combination of the people I grew up with and also books, they really influence my lyrics”.
The cinematic and narrative stimulus from childhood is evident in Di’s new single ‘Visualisation’ which she describes as “visualising what you want in life, manifesting what you want”. Admitting she was going through a dark period in her life when she penned the track, the songwriter wrote ‘Visualisation’ as an attempt to see the light – “think good things and hopefully good things will follow”.
A melange of whirring synth keyboards, eerie harmonies, creative and endearing lyrics, and playful instrumentals create the perfect sunshine track. Remixes from the likes of Todd Edwards and Selekio’s In The House turn to track from a pop masterpiece to a club hit, showing the versatility of the creations from the young songwriter. Big room dance music beats are supplemented by attractive pop chorus and clever narrative lyricism. The accompanying video is as creative as the song, using a reoccurring actress named Ursula. In previous track ‘Opium’, the actress was doing “bad things”, followed by ‘Warped Desires’ in which she “flipped the switch”, she became the protagonist. Di explains the thought process behind the ‘Visualisation’ video; “we wanted her to get into the whole Woopie Goldberg in Ghost vibe, you know into crystals just to show the different ways in which people visualise things”. Placing the film of Ursula on top of a short clip of a black swan, everything fell into place – “it’s loud, it’s colourful and really hyperbolic”. Di suggests that she’s always been a bit psychic herself, so the use of crystal balls and tarot cards lie close to home. “I can always tell when something bad is going to happen. I once purposely missed a flight because I had a bad feeling. Turns out the plane had to perform an emergency landing in a random field”. Di’s Mother even started calling her Meg, like Mystic Meg, for a while after that incident.
When discussing her creative process, from an idea to a full-blown track, Di reveals that sometimes she is sent a backing track and places the melody and lyrics on top. “with the melody there is something kind of immediate… so you could come up with a melody in a minute” she explains, continuing with “I’m more meticulous about lyrics”. Working closely with Rob Davis, former member of Mud and co-writer of Kylie Minogue’s smash hit ‘Can’t Get You Out of My Head’, the singer is working on a “less is more” approach to her lyrics as “sometimes I can get a bit too wordy”. An echo of her previous life as a poet and budding novelist maybe. Always writing with the intention of the track in mind, Di states that it’s what you’re trying to say, the message behind the song, that is what drives her musically. Emotions are a great place to start, using feeling to drive herself to pick up a pen and write. But after all, Di admits that she’s gone into music because it makes her happy; “I want to follow my bliss”.
Drawing upon recent political events, Di suggests that popular music is the soundtrack to world events, such as how Latin music has come into the mainstream just as President Donald Trump is talking about putting up walls to stop immigrants coming into America. “it’s as if music is penetrating the wall” the singer explains. The power and the potency of music, making music of the time but also timeless, is what encourages Di to continue writing. She believes that music soundtracks are not only for films, but for life too. “You know when you’re on the tube and that sad song comes on your phone and you feel like you’re in a film? That’s music soundtracking your life”. Music sees us through the worst and best of times, Di urges us to think of an historical event or movement that doesn’t have some sort of music accompanying it. We can’t.
With a clear drive, perfectly polished pop tunes and creatively unique videos, it’s a mystery as to why the musician avoids live performances. “I guess I’m a bit of an ambivert” the singer confesses, “I like writing in solitude but also there is a side to me that does like the attention”. Putting on a show is a lot of pressure, and Di would rather wait until it falls into place naturally, ensuring the right image is presented and the music is exactly where she wants it. “I need to properly think about it and formulate something cool” she suggests.
As for the future, Di is working on a fitting new single named ‘Fake News’, as well as continuing work with Rob Davis and writing for other musicians. Politics is something Di gets deeply involved with, so ‘Fake News’ came naturally for her. The track explores the difficulty of growing up in a world where no one knows what is real and what is fake, whilst maintaining the pop sentimentality that is so important to Di’s appeal.
Growing in confidence and generating a loyal fan base whilst simultaneously expanding her audience is up next of Di’s long to do list. That’s the near future, but in distance Di sees (“at least hopes for!”) a big future for herself and her music. Writing for others is something she would like to try, “I want to bring that Scandinavian lyricism to the UK”.
Where does she see herself in five years’ time though? “Fingers crossed I’ll have a number one!” and, of course, “storytelling, always”.
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