Feature: Dachelle

Words by Elul Adoga

“Don’t let other people’s failed dreams make you not believe in yourself”

Dachelle says when asked about what advice she would give her younger self. The singer/songwriter of the hit single “Give Up” wasn’t always interested in being in the music industry. She was a theater kid and looked up to Diana Ross growing up. Watching Diana Ross in “The Wiz” being Black singing on stage with her afro, she saw herself in her. At a young age, she was told to have another plan besides being in the theater world which was very disheartening. She almost became a lawyer before she started taking being an artist and in the music industry seriously. She realized that she had a passion for music even more when she felt her inner child go crazy while doing music homework.

Dachelle was always writing music and performing but didn’t fully start performing her own music until she got to college. She found that her only happy place on campus was when she was writing music in her room. We went on to talk about being a Black queer artist in a prodominatly white institution. Dachelle mentioned the hardship of feeling like she was the one of the only artists on campus that made music for Black women in specific and how she’s always put in a box whenever she works with white male producers, which is who the music industry is led by. White male producers have tried molding Dachelle into  “r&b” box just because of what she looks like. During our interview she mentioned a quote that SZA has said before that she felt also described her, “they wanted me to be like the r&b girl but I like rock.” 

When asked what the key to her success was finding a producer that understood her and her music. That producer being a queer woman who is a person of color. Someone that doesn’t change everything about a song she sends them but instead works together with her to grow as an artist and a person. 

As a Black queer indie artist, growing up Dachelle did not have that many artist to look up to. Even as an adult, she mentions that she feels like she can not dive into her indie side because she sees how artists  like Chloe x Halle, Baby Tate, Victoria Monet, Doechii and many more are still boxed into this “r&b” box even though they make rock music along with r&b. 

As we end our interview, I asked Dachelle about her dreams for this year with her music and for her hit song “Give Up.” She mentioned that she wants to grow core supporters that will support more than just her one song and generating a really strong foundation for her other songs she has coming up. She wants to collaborate with artists and talked about how she wants to make music a unique and specific universe that people could be a part of. She goes into talk about the people that keep her going which is everyone from her family, friends, girlfriend to people on titkok that leave sweet comments. 

And remember:

“Allow yourself to dream, don’t downplay your talent.”