Artist Spotlight: Dami Oniru
Shot by @deeds_art
Dami Oniru’s voice is captivating. In her debut project Bri's Lounge, we were introduced to Dami’s breath-taking penmanship and her ability to carve her own lane within the Afro R&B scene. After a couple of years in hiatus, she returned with the single Soft Life, the teaser for her six-track EP, Matter of Time.
There are moments of brilliance in addition to tenderness on this record. On Matter of Time, Dami is serving the smoothest and most sultry vocals of her career. It’s beautiful in its simplicity, opening with gorgeous, delicate vocals, as we follow Dami slowly drifting in and out of each emotion on the following tracks.
I sat down with the Nigerian songstress to discuss the process of creating Matter of Time.
You've also been on hiatus for two years, what have you been up to?
Music wise, just been creating, experimenting with sounds. I’ve been working on the project that's now about to come out. Then outside of music, tech stuff: becoming a software engineer and exploring my interest in tech and seeing the different cool things that I could do with that new skill and knowledge. Now I’m just trying to get back into the music and see how I can bring tech into my music world.
How do you bring those two passions together? Where do you see tech being infused in your music?
Right now, not so much because that's still something I'm trying to figure out. But I know that building music solutions is something that I would love to really get into.
I don’t know too much about what music solutions entails. What would that include?
An example would be a streaming solution, but obviously those already exist, so I don't want to go down that route. But I feel like there's a lot of tools that can be built on the backend that could help artists or artists managers.
Going back to Bri’s Lounge, Brianna is your birth name, can you tell us about your alter ego?
Dami Oniru: she's really talented. She’s probably the one of the most talented people I know if I do say so myself. She's very daring when it comes to music, and she is trying to always outdo herself. I feel like, like everybody else, she's still discovering who she is. On that same coming of age journey that everybody in her age group is. I just feel like she's destined to do great things. I'm talking about myself like somebody else but, I'm just really excited to see what's next for her. I know she's really taken her time to just figure out musically, and just out of life in general, what it is that she wants.
How do your personal experiences inform your songwriting?
I think so much has just happened with everybody over the last couple of years and everybody's shared stories with each other of what's gone on in everyone's lives. So, this project is kind of a mix of that: all the things that I've been through over the last couple of years while creating in general and then creating specifically for this project and things that my friends have told me that they've been through. I thought it was interesting and wanted to incorporate it into the music. Just to give someone else's story that's not necessarily mine, but you can still relate to it just like the next person.
Speaking of the new project, how did you come about the name?
I like just randomly if I think of titles for a project, I just always write it down. So, I've kind of been building a list for the last couple of years of different project names that I think would be cool to explore. And Matter of Time was actually the last name I wrote down. As soon as I wrote it down, I wasn't even done picking the songs for the project, but I just kind of knew. Like it just stood out to me. Because it's such a powerful phrase. Matter of time. When I think of Matter of Time, I think about the concept of time itself and how everything in life is a process and everything happens at a specific time, when you are prepared for it. It was a light bulb moment for me, and I just knew that was it.
Is there anything we can expect to be surprised by?
I think lyrically it's so different from where I was when I made Bri’s Lounge. Then I was just fresh out of uni, innocent, trying to be careful with my words and not speaking about certain things. But now I feel like I've grown so much and there's so much to talk about that people need to hear. I think what people would probably be surprised by, apart from certain topics that I'm speaking about, is the different sounds that I'm exploring now. Obviously, there's going to be R&B. But there's a track where I'm taking it back to eighties and a track where I'm paying homage to the garage sound in the UK. I don't think people would expect that from me.
How would you say the creative process of recording this EP varies from Bri’s Lounge?
Bri’s Lounge took me a couple of weeks. I didn't know what I wanted it to be about, I just went into it saying, I have two weeks I'm dedicating to this project and we're going to go back-to-back and work on it with my producer Remi Baggins and that's what we did. This one was a little bit different because I knew what I wanted in terms of topic, and I actually had a title for the project. It took me two years just working with different producers. I did writing camps here and there just trying to really get the story. The last song I recorded was earlier this year actually, Soft Life. Then I was like the project is done now. I took my time with this one.
I saw Remi Baggins produced all of Bri’s Lounge and you mentioned working with new producers. Will there be other producers featured on this project?
In starting again, this project ended up being myself and Remi again. Once you have chemistry, you're like okay, this is working. I think it's easier when you have someone that you have such good musical chemistry with, because you don't have to do too much explaining. It's not like the other songs, um, you know, I worked on with other producers weren't good. They're amazing songs, but they're just not for right now.
Bri’s Lounge was named after the fact most tracks were recorded at your home, where did you do the majority of your recording for this EP?
I recorded some of Matter of Time at Yasmin's house, my manager's house. I recorded some at my home studio. I shuffled between those two places; a change of environment sometimes helps with creativity for me.
What are some of your sonic influences?
I think one person that has influenced me from childhood till now and continues to be Brandy. I love music. I’m a big music consumer. I love finding new songs, new artists and learning from them as well. Trying to better my writing and picking up a few vocal tricks here and there with all these new guys.
Who's your best recent find?
Hmm, that's a good question. I listen to a lot of Mariah, the scientist, Savannah Ray: I like her. James Victory. Uh, there's this girl called Sharna Bass. I've been finding a lot of people recently.
Can you tell us a bit more about Soft Life, particularly the term?
In the simplest terms, ‘soft life’ just means enjoyment. Like anything that feels good, that brings you peace. So, it can range from taking a day for yourself if you want to spend it in bed. To some people that's a soft life. Just staying away from negative energy, doing what serves you. Going to a spa, going on a vacation, taking a quick trip, going to the club. Literally anything that brings you peace, happiness, joy,
On Matter of Time, what's the overall message that you're trying to get across?
Just for people not to rush their process. I know the world is going super-fast and everybody's in different spaces at the moment where it seems like some things are going great for some people and not so great for other people. But just really trusting that in due time everything is going to be okay and just learning to enjoy the process of things. There are seasons for everything.
Do you have a particular track that was the most enjoyable to record?
The most enjoyable one to record is called Know My Name. I think because it's probably the most playful song I've done yet. That's the one I previously said, is paying homage to the garage sound from the UK scene. It wasn't too serious; we were just all vibing in the studio.
What in the whole process of recording this EP, did you find most difficult?
Because of how spaced out everything was, I'd say my mindset kept shifting. So when I wrote certain songs, I was in a different place. Sometimes there is no need for that cohesiveness. I'm a bit of a perfectionist but that wasn't the case with this process. I was literally just going wherever the wind blew me. And I think that's why I like this project so much. I kind of let myself take a step back from being that perfectionist that I'm so used to being.
What does a typical day in your life look like?
I am a very big homebody. I like to stay indoors a lot, so I'm either in my room, catching up on shows, or chilling in my studio. I'm a big gamer as well. Other than that, just catching up with friends, spending time with family, going for lunch. I love quality time, so I make sure I spend a lot of time with my friends and family. That's a huge part of my life.
How does family and how you grew up influence your music?
I grew up in Lagos. I was born in Atlanta, lived there for a while, then went to uni, and did A levels in the UK. I've kind of been shuffled around a bit. But my family keeps me grounded. In terms of how I was brought up my grandparents really instilled in us just loving each other. I think that topic of love is a huge part of what I write and sing about. Then just being able to have travelled from a young age and experiencing different cultures, different music styles, different artists also influence my style of music and sound today.
What's next on the horizon for you?
Hopefully putting out another project. I want to put out one more EP before I go into album mode. I would love, love, love, love to tour. Whether that's opening act for artists or just even hopefully going on a tour of my own. I just really want to travel and collaborate with other artists as well, specifically more female artists. By meeting people, experiencing even more cultures than I already have. I think right now collaboration is key and that's something I really want to press into.
Listen to Matter of Time below: