Hey Dani! So excited to be chatting with you! Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I’m excited to be chatting with you, as well! I grew up in Reno, NV, until I moved to Las Vegas when I was 13. Within two years of graduating high school, I moved to Macau, China, to sing at the Venetian Hotel & Casino. Since then, I’ve moved around a lot, from Los Angeles, to Idaho, back to Vegas, again to LA, and now I’m in Nashville, TN, where I finally feel at home and plan on staying for a long time. I think moving around and traveling as much as I have as an adult has given me some really fun and broad life experience. I love the city and always having some new restaurant to try or a bar to make new friends in. At the same time, I love the outdoors, especially hiking and kayaking, or just reading on my porch swing. It’s probably why I love Nashville so much! It has all of my favorite things: a small city vibe with something to do every night, lots of rivers and hikes within two hours, and music everywhere, all the time. (Plus I finally bought my porch swing last summer!)
Where did your love of music come from?
I don’t even remember when music became such a love for me. Some of my first memories are of me watching Shirley Temple movies (I have over 20, including a Sing-and-Dance-A-Long). I thought she was amazing and wanted to be just like her. My parents bought me a little toy tape recorder, and I used to make my childhood best friend record songs with me (she wasn’t as into it). I made my family sit through living room and backyard concerts pretty often. I just always gravitated to it, whether it was country music, pop music, or musical theater. I’ve found out since that two of my great-grandfathers (one on my mom’s side and one on my dad’s) were very musical, as well as my dad’s dad. Maybe it’s just in the blood!
What artists do you look up to right now?
I love Miranda Lambert. I have always admired the way her songs tell a story, that she can have fun or be raw and vulnerable. She seems to never be ashamed of who she is and instead leans into it. I also love Lady Gaga. She is incredibly versatile, so well trained, and has such a beautiful vision of who she is as an artist. I also admire her for her advocacy work. A newer artist I’m really into is Kassi Ashton. Her songwriting ability is amazing and she’s such an individual. She has a sound that I’ve never heard from anyone else, her voice is so rich and full, and her fashion style is so original. (She actually creates and sews most of the clothes she wears!)
You just released your new music video for your single “Dance”! How excited were you to get this project out into the world?!?
I was so excited! I released the song in October, and we filmed the video about a week later so it’s been a long time coming. My videographer, Lexy Burke, is so talented and really understood my vision. Cailin Manning (the choreographer) and the dancers (Getfone Vongkhamchanh and Matumbé) executed beautiful choreography and created the exact emotion I had envisioned. I’m so happy everyone else can share it with me now!
Can you tell us what this song means to you?
This song was inspired by my good friend whose husband had recently passed from sarcoma cancer. My cowriter, Craig Lackey, and I admired the way she kept living her life after his passing. She didn’t give up or break down; she chose to keep dancing, keep going, and keep living with him in mind. She found a list of things he wanted to do, and she did them in his honor. I was able to do some of those things with her, and I am just so proud of her ability to keep going even when it’s difficult and to inspire others to do the same. This song means hope, perseverance, and truly living even through the hardest times.
What do you hope your supporters will think of the new video?
I hope they will be inspired by it. I hope they’ll see the symbolism and maybe find their own symbolism and connection to it. I hope it will bring them peace, hope, and the drive to keep dancing.
What other release plans do you have for 2020?
Well, everything is kind of up in the air with the quarantine right now! I have a couple songs in the works that I’d like to release. I had kind of a summer anthem planned for May or June called ‘Fun to be Had’, but recording has kind of been put on hold. It’s a lot of adjusting right now and hopefully I can still get some new songs out this year!
What do you hope your supporters will think from hearing your new music?
The next few songs I’ll be releasing have more of a blues vibe, and they are very fun. The last few projects I have worked on have been a little more meaningful and serious. These songs are still meaningful and written about my life, but you can definitely groove to them.
What social media platform do you use most to stay connected to your supporters?
I mostly use Instagram @danijackmusic but I am also on Facebook at Twitter using the same handle.
Do you have any last things you want to tell your supporters?
Thank you so much for your support and for sharing the video as much as you have! It means so much to me, and I love hearing what the song and video mean to you!
