SEASON 1 FINALE: Dani Bagel- Playing Piano through Panic Attacks, Tapping into your Uniqueness, Art and Music as Healing, Creating External Structure, and Making Music through Generations
JUL 14, 202157 MIN
SEASON 1 FINALE: Dani Bagel- Playing Piano through Panic Attacks, Tapping into your Uniqueness, Art and Music as Healing, Creating External Structure, and Making Music through Generations
JUL 14, 202157 MIN
Description
<p>Dani Bagel: Playing Piano through Panic Attacks, Tapping into your Uniqueness, Art and Music as Healing, Creating External Structure, and Making Music through Generations</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Dani Bagel Bio</strong></p> <p><br /> “I make music for myself”.<br /> With this statement, Cape-Town based artist Dani Bagel announces her debut solo project,<br /> “Magic in Her Hair”. The musician has created an EP that is unapologetically made on her<br /> own terms and produced under her own label.<br /> These songs are less distinct artistic approaches, than a reflection of different parts of the<br /> same person. “They are all just me”, Dani says, “it’s not like I’m acting like somebody else”.<br /> Audiences were first introduced to her sound four years ago, with her features on several<br /> singles. First, came the release of Keagan John Moore’s “Lay it on Tonight” under the alias<br /> Gabrielle, with the Cartel. In 2017, however, she released the first single as Dani Bagel,<br /> ‘Where Did We Go Wrong’. The deeply honest and atmospheric dancefloor sizzler, co-<br /> written with Caleb Williams, introduced the strength of her pen. Since then, her<br /> collaborations include Lebo Lukewarm (Swimming Practice), Omar Morto (Cruise Control)<br /> and Gina Jeans (Smoke and Mirrors, co-written with Jimmy Nevis). With Magic In Her Hair,<br /> however, Dani is stepping directly into the spotlight and into a new era of her career – one<br /> completely driven by a commitment to making the music she wants to create, embracing both<br /> individuality and collaboration.<br /> The classically-trained musician took on co-executive producer role for the project alongside<br /> engineer, Eldon Quirk (Sunset Studios) and Kooldrink – the young producer who has worked<br /> with the likes of Sho Madjozi, Diplo, DJ Maphorisa and Youngsta CPT. Magic in Her Hair<br /> draws together 6 producers between 5 eclectic songs, while paying homage to all of her<br /> coming-of-age 1990s R&B albums. This EP is her version of seeking to create this kind of<br /> work for a new generation.<br /> What draws the different songs together is Dani’s musical DNA as a musician, and clear<br /> creative vision. She describes this project as both an offering to audiences, and a dare<br /> directed at herself, rooted in genuine passion and joy. With her collaborators, she explains<br /> that “there was so much space given to just trying any idea” kind of idea.<br /> The result is an eclectic, yet connected EP that makes space for experimentation, play and the<br /> different moods and moments that reflect the diversity of what it means to exist and<br /> experience life. The strength of her songwriting, commitment to honest lyrics, exploration of<br /> deep feeling, playful extravagance and classical training are the album’s defining elements.<br /> Azul is an interlude that Dani describes as a ‘whirlpool of thoughts’ written during a panic<br /> attack, where she met her piano as a centering force. Okay (Co-written with Caleb Williams)<br /> is a sentimental, emotion-filled conversation, that she explains that could be a way of<br /> ‘singing to yourself or someone else’, as the chorus constantly returns to the repetition of<br /> “I’m ok”. Rooted in deep vulnerability the song finds the artist asking for permission to be<br /> herself. Sturvy turns an insult into an anthem. Dani explains that her social anxiety and naturally inward nature often led to her being labelled and assumed to be “sturvy” by those<br /> who don’t know her. The song is about dealing with and subverting these perceptions, and<br /> while she starts out singing, by the end of it she blasts into bars. The anthemic Testing repeats<br /> the refrain “testing the water”. As the song that builds and grows from its initial impulses, it<br /> could be the motto of the entire project – which is unafraid to experiment and enter new<br /> musical territories.<br /> The album’s inspiration, too, draws from an eclectic set of artists - from Doja Cat’s exciting<br /> experimental approach to Ariana Grande’s layered choral-esque vocal harmonies and HER<br /> and Snoh Aalegra’s modern take on R&B. What connects these influences is their creation of<br /> “women-led music”, as Dani gravitates towards artists who directly express their grit and<br /> effortlessly move between genres and styles.<br /> Magic In Her Hair is an EP that aims to intrigue. On her hopes for the project, Dani says, “A<br /> person who listens to me for the first time will kind of be, I hope, intrigued by the kind of<br /> artist that I can be”. She later definitively adds, “The kind of artist I am”.<br /> For more information and interview requests, please contact [email protected]<br /> Her Latest single “Testing” can be streamed https://lnkfi.re/Danibagel-Testing</p> <p>Testing is a shout-out to loud long lekker nights full of debauchery and bubble. The<br /> Naughty Nineties repurposed and packaged for<br /> our modern ears. The anthem for ‘Remember<br /> that party’. But the music and the vibe is not the<br /> only groove you will witness.<br /> Jimmy Nevis makes his directorial debut in this<br /> music video which combines the drama of drag,<br /> the energy of extravagance and somehow<br /> makes kitsch cool. The story line begins with<br /> trans Drag Queen and make-up artist Maxine<br /> Wild getting ready for a night on stage after we<br /> find Dani Bagel alone in an empty club. She is<br /> powerfully alluring and as the energy builds in<br /> the song we see this reflected in her sense of confidence as it expounds into a<br /> playful and entertaining opportunity to tantalize our ears and eyes with a fun-loving,<br /> lively, exuberant and down right frisky display of a good time. The finale celebrates<br /> diversity and here we are left wanting more while cheering for a nostalgic soul-train<br /> dance tunnel you wished you could be a part of.</p>