Dawn Richard – Blackheart

By: Lisa Steinberg

Q) How has the release of your new album Blackheart been propelled since January?

A) I wanted to do something completely visual for this project. We have released seven visuals from January until now and I’m really excited how this project built itself and came to be. Goldenheart was such a critically acclaimed album and there was a lot of pressure to come up with a project that was just as critically acclaimed and just as beautiful, but stood on its own. I think we have done that with Blackheart. It has its own life, structure and visual experience. For an independent artist, especially with no label, no team and really no one behind it except me to put seven visuals out in eight months is really a feat. I managed to do that and we’re really proud how it has shaped up to be an incredible ride for people.

Q) How were you able to shoulder all of that pressure for a follow up?

A) Very large shoulders! That’s how you shoulder it. That’s a great question. You take it day by day. I thought, honestly, I would make innovative and creative pieces of art. I don’t really see anything beyond just giving fans what they have paid for, want and what will make them just as excited as I am. I really love what I do and I hope I can inspire people who think there is only one way to have your success or one way to do this thing. There are plenty of ways to do this and as a woman in the industry it can be very difficult and a woman of color makes it even more difficult, especially trying to bend the genre cliché of it. It is a bit difficult to be in the industry to show people a different way of seeing things, but it is so much more rewarding when you are able to do it. I think it is worth shouldering when you can show somebody you started a new lane in it.

Q) How has social media been an asset to you with putting out your album?

A) It’s a double edged sword. For someone like me, I would rather disappear and have no social media and just be able to put out my project. That’s not realistic. I think, for me, social media has saved me in the sense that I’m someone that is introverted and a bit shy when it comes to her personal life. On the other hand, it is the reason I have been so successful. It’s understanding it and getting used it as a tool that can really help you touch and connect to your fans to make them more like your family. So, social media has been more like a bridge to me for someone who doesn’t have a label and doesn’t have the marketing saturation that you would need as an artist. Social media becomes that third party, that liaison, to help me get my music to my fans.

Q) What kind of feedback from fans have you been receiving on your album?

A) I received an overwhelming amount of support! To be one of Pitchfork’s “Overlooked Albums” and to be on like ten lists as a contender for “Album of the Year” is overwhelming! I didn’t expect that type of response. Even though the album is independent, it is all the right people saying all the right things. You don’t know what to expect and to get that overwhelming positivity and be number one within two hours on the charts and to chart on Billboard as the number two album on the Electronic Charts your first time on Electronic after transferring is just overwhelming.

Q) You have been doing all the ground work yourself, what can you tell us about how you managed the production of the album?

A) I worked with two incredible producers. NoisecastleIII worked with me a lot last year and SwaggR’celious who works with his own company. These are two amazing producers who came together and took a chance on me and we took a chance on each other. We built the sound from scratch and what is great about it is that the first thing people say when describing it is, “You will never hear an R&B album quite like this.” I was reading the Pitchfork review that went up under “The Most Overlooked Album” where they listed me and the first thing I saw that they said, “You will never hear an R&B album quite like this because there is no R&B album like this because it is not really R&B.” It’s funny to hear people try to describe it and I think it has a lot to do with my amazing producers and what we have managed to do with the sound and how we managed to take so many different sounds from my culture, to New Orleans, to trip-hop to Afro-Cuban and really created something that doesn’t have a box. It really stands on its own. The point is not to box it. Just hear it. Don’t try to put a name on it. Just listen to it and try to get your own feelings from it. I think with the production we have managed to create that.

Q) The change in tone to this album is a more intense feeling. Was that something you purposely wanted to switch to or a progression of your sound?

A) I think it was always headed this way and it was always pretty much there, whether it was being in a pop group and already had a pop influence or being in a group like Diddy-Dirty Money that was super innovative with influences from hip-hop to international trip-hop to soul. I think the choices in my music career have lead to this. I think I’ve never made choices where it would not go in this direction. I’ve always wanted to be a part of something innovative. Danity Kane was a first of its kind. Reality TV wasn’t as popular as it was until then. For us to come together randomly and create a pop group was something brand new. It was innovative and different. I was grateful enough to be a part of that and then it was Diddy-Dirty Money where it was something where three different people came from different lifestyles came together to do music that was so different at the time. No one was really doing that style. I made the choice to do that because the sound was so different and so innovative and so challenging to the ear. I think now with my career it will speak to that moment. I’ve always wanted to push limits and not because I want to be different or try hard, but because it makes me feel. It creates a type of feeling, interest and uncomfortability that I like. I’ve always loved that growing up as a kid. It really molded me into the artist I want to be. When people ask me what kind of artist I want to be, I say, “I want to be the artist I would have liked when I was a kid.” I would want to be a fan of me now.” That was what I listened to when I was growing up – The Cranberries, Bjork and Hoobastank. My first concert was Green Day! I have always loved great music that had no color or genre to it. It was just great music.

Q) We discussed all these tie-ins you have for this album. How did “Tide: The Paradox Effect” get pieced together?

A) The point was to create each visual to have its own story. For me, personally, each song had its own story. I thought visually it would be great if they all were very, very different and had an amazing story to it. I wanted to shock people and do something that I have always wanted to do. If people know me, they know from the beginning that Danity Kane even came from a comic book that I drew. So, I’ve always loved animation. This was my a-ha moment, giddy geeky kid moment where I am going to do what I wanted to do. I was lucky enough to start it strong and I thought that was completely beautiful. That just kind of began the video exploration for this album. It’s sonic and cinematic. You cannot use visuals that don’t equal that. The battle for me as an independent artist is to make visuals that match the sound, which is very difficult with an independent budget. If you can figure it out, you have arrived! I think people don’t realize how extremely difficult that is to release that many videos and to have quality behind it. It takes a lot of planning, no sleep and a lot of caffeine. I think the result is, again, something that you have never really scene before. I think coming from an artist like me with my kind of background I can see that people make incredibly innovative videos. They do it every day, but a girl with my background coming from a reality TV show to now is quite surprising to have a kind of tie-in come from a girl like me. I think that is the definition of who I am, someone you would not expect this from. And I really work hard to try to give that beauty.

Q) Blackheart came out on the anniversary of Goldenheart. Was that a coincidence or an anniversary gift to yourself?

A) Honestly, I thought it would be cool to do it. I didn’t really think that hard into it. I just thought it would be cool to do because people would get it and a lot of the time it is a bad idea. This whole thing is trial and error though. This whole thing is, “Let’s see if this works. We’ll cross our fingers and go for it. We’ll jump!”

Q) Is there anything else you want to be sure fans know about your music?

A) All the videos and visuals are available on iTunes and so are the songs. Red Era is up next. There is no release date for the album yet, but there is a single that will be released at the end of summer. We’re really excited about that because we’re coming out with Red Era already! I love the song so much and I think this is a really great way to finish off the entire trilogy. Also, my father was diagnosed with cancer and I chose to be vegan this time around and that had a lot to do with my lifestyle. To be able to change my eating habits has been an interesting thing. If you’re an artist, you know eating chips is a way of life. Chips and junk food are your gasoline. So to be able to have this lifestyle and change your eating habits to work around what I’m doing is rather interesting. I think more artists should try it because it really, really is needed. A clean life makes for a clean lifestyle.