Interview: Up and Coming Artist Donny Daydream Discusses His Passion for Music, His Recent Single ‘Lovelorn’, and His Upcoming Single ‘Pure Bliss’ Coming at the End of June
By. Alicia Zamora
Alicia’s Studio Sits Down with Artist Donny Daydream to Talk about the Challenges He Faces as an Artist, Upcoming Single, and Future Plans.
A Conversation with Donny Daydream
Alicia: Welcome back to Alicia’s Studio!! We have our ninth special guest
Donny Daydream: Hi my name is Donny Daydream! I’m an artist and I make music; R&B, alternative, and all that stuff!
Alicia: Alright! Diving into the first question Your music journey has been quite eventful. Can you tell me where it all began and what made you choose the path of music?
Donny Daydream: Growing up, my sister really liked listening to super powerhouse women like Mariah Carey, and Leona Lewis, just like super big singers. So I always loved singing. The older she got, she obviously got into heartthrob boy bands like Jesse McCartney so I would listen to all these singers so singing is something that I have always loved.
Donny Daydream: I didn’t think much of it though. I would just go to school and find a job, you know all that stuff. But then I started going to college and I had to move out really early. I moved out at 18 so I had to pay bills and I was working these part-time jobs. I was working two jobs and I was also going to school and I just could not do it so I dropped out of school and started working these jobs and I had like a midlife crisis at 18. I was just like what am I doing with my life? Like why am I here? So I dropped out of school and did these jobs.
Donny Daydream: After that, I was like you know what I have to work hard on something and it might as well be something I really love and I’ve always loved singing. So I was like I might as well try this music stuff. So here we are.
Alicia: So would you say that you took singing seriously at the age of 18 or when did you know that this was going to be something you wanted as a career?
Donny Daydream: Yeah! I think once I decided it was going to be singing, I was like “That’s it we gotta fucking go with it”. I didn’t start dropping music until I was like 21 I think but when it comes down to when I started taking it seriously and taking the steps to become the artist I am today would be at the age of 18.
Alicia: Okay so it’s been a while right?
Donny Daydream: yeah it’s been a good minute
Alicia: We're going to dive into your new release. What is the story behind your recent release ‘lovelorn”?
Donny Daydream: When I first started writing ‘Lovelorn’ well I was on TikTok and I saw this vocab word. I have these tiktoks that pop up and they’re just vocabulary and one of the words was lovelorn and the definition for it was like sadness from unrequited love or some shit like that and I was like that’s hard as fuck *laughs*. So I was like, I’m gonna use that so I used the word and I just started singing a random melody.
Donny Daydream: It literally just came to me and I recorded it on my voice memo app and then I brought it to the studio the next day. I just started writing about.. Well, I didn’t really have anything to write about either but I remember watching a Billie Eilish interview and she said that when she wrote ‘What Was I Made For’ that she didn’t really have anything to write about and the more she wrote it the more she realized she’s talking to herself subconsciously or she related to it the more she wrote it.
Donny Daydream: So I think that’s kind of what it was for ‘Lovelorn’. I didn’t really have anything to about I just had that word and I just wanted to try writing things and so the more I wrote it, the more I felt about it. I remember when I first recorded the chorus I was so emotional and it was so crazy because I wasn’t speaking through any story I had. I was just writing and I just subconsciously was like “Maybe this is what I needed to say” even though I didn’t know it.
Alicia: When writing and recording your music, do you choose a certain style or genre?
Donny Daydream: I definitely know what my sound is now in terms of how I sound but I don’t think that fits into one genre. I feel like I can make pop sound like me and I can make R&B sound like me. I can even make alternative music sound like me. So I think I know how I sound but I don’t think that fits into just one genre.
Alicia: Okay so you wouldn’t necessarily put yourself into a category?
Donny Daydream: Yeah no I don’t think so
Alicia: okay! When you write songs how long does it usually take you and how does the process look like for you?
Donny Daydream: Well it depends but I would say if I really have a good one and it just flows out I could definitely write it in less than an hour
Alicia: Oo okay that’s not bad
Donny Daydream: Yeah it’s not bad at all
Alicia: What would you say is the hardest part when creating music or recording in the studio?
Donny Daydream: I think the problem I had earlier in my career was deciding what to make because like what I said earlier about the genre thing. I think everything sounds like me now because I have that sound, but I don’t stick to one genre. Before I used to listen to a lot of music.. Well, I still listen to a lot of music. But everything I listen to that I enjoy I was like “I need to make that” and so I would make this and I made a whole bunch of different things.
Donny Daydream: I had a crisis. It got to the point where I questioned what I was trying to do. Like I can’t just make rock music and then go to super sad music and so I think that was a big problem. But I think through experience, I really learned what my sound was.
Alicia: Okay and when you're writing music is it based on personal experiences, or are you inspired by other people's stories?
Donny Daydream: For sure! I think I definitely enjoy writing through personal experience and it doesn’t have to be like one person but it’s definitely a lot of experiences put together or even movies. I love movies. When I’m watching something that I really love it inspires me and I’ll put myself in their shoes like in the character's shoes. I’ll try to write from the character's point of view. But I don’t do that too often. I think I’ve done it like once or twice. But definitely from my personal experiences. I feel like when you want someone to feel how you feel you would definitely want to do something with real emotions.
Alicia: For future work, is there any artist you would like to collaborate with or have on one of your next projects?
Donny Daydream: I think if were just shooting for the stars, I would like to collaborate with all my favorite artists, like Justin Bieber!
Alicia: Okay not bad !! I’m going to dive into the Steep La Block Party which is where I first heard you sing. I posted it on my story and there were a ton of people who told me that I had to interview you. You sounded so amazing so I needed to make it happen. Aside from all this do you see yourself doing more shows in the future?
Donny Daydream: Yeah that was interesting. I liked it! It was a good gig but I think it was the first time I did a gig that wasn’t really a show show. It was more of a gig but I loved it! I think I had to definitely figure out what the balance was in between like just sitting there and singing or like a whole concert vibe of making the crowd dance. I was like what is the middle ground of this? But it was definitely nice. I liked how intimate it was and how they weren’t there to just rage and people were there to actually listen to you. But yeah I’d always be down!
Alicia: Can you explain what your creative process looks like?
Donny Daydream: Yes… It’s hard to explain because I feel like there’s a lot of different ways I make music. But usually in the very beginning, I would just write a song off the top of my head and I would just try to create melodies that I liked. I would literally just sing random stuff until I liked it and I would make a verse and the chorus and well write out a whole song. After that, I bring it to my producer and he would play instruments on top of my voice.
Donny Daydream: So instead of me writing to a beat, he makes a beat to my vocals, so he would build a song around me and that’s how I initially started but right now I write more in the studio. I feel like there’s more inspiration when I hear more sounds so I just told my producer to pick up a guitar and we just jam until I really really like something and then we build off that.
Alicia: How many hours of the week are you in the studio for?
Donny Daydream: Well I would like to do more studio sessions during the weeks but I definitely always have at least one for sure! Sometimes I have to do three and I feel like a session would usually go for five to six hours. Yeah, so like one to three sessions a week, and there five to six hours a session.
Alicia: Regarding goals as an artist, what are your goals for this year and the future?
Donny Daydream: I think as an upcoming artist my goals for this year well I want progress. I want to see some sort of motion of some snowball starting and I’ll be happy. Just baby steps. I feel like it’s always baby steps until a big leap but I just need some sort of motion and I’m happy!
Alicia: No yeah I 100% get that! Moving on to accomplishments. As an upcoming artist what would you say has been your greatest accomplishment so far?
Donny Daydream: I think my greatest accomplishment is finding my sound. I don’t think I have any crazy accomplishments with numbers or anything yet that I could say “I did that”. I’m very proud to be where I am and I´m very grateful to be where I am. But yeah, numbers-wise and awards, nothing crazy is happening yet. So, I really think it´s more personal like finding my sound and finding my look and just the little things that´ll help me grow as an artist.
Alicia: Do you have any hobbies or interests outside of music?
Donny Daydream: Yeah so I actually did Muay Thai since I was 13 years old so I was very heavily into martial arts. I still love doing it from time to time. I played volleyball in Highschool and I’m just a very outdoorsy person. I’m always outside. So I love doing anything that has to do with me being active or outside like sports, martial arts, and all that stuff.
Alicia: As an upcoming artist, what would you like people to think when they hear the name “Donny Daydream”?
Donny Daydream: I read this question when you sent it to me and I was like what am I going to fucking say *laughs*
Alicia: *laughs*
Donny Daydream: I think as an upcoming artist, as someone who's not like super there yet. I think when people hear my name I want them to think “oh he’s going to be that guy” and it’s not because I’m so big shot or anything, but I think it’s because with the shows, and with my personality and with the hard work. I hope that people can see that and say “he’s going to be something”.
Alicia: What's the best advice you can give someone trying to go down the path of being an artist?
Donny Daydream: I think you just need to fucking do it. Honestly, I feel like a lot of people are all talk. Like with me, sometimes I’ll say something but it’s like, I really don’t want it. Like, if I really wanted it, I would have done something about it so I feel like if you really want to do something you don’t have to jump right into but you have to do something you know it’s baby steps. So you just have to do it! It’s very hard but it’s also very simple you just have to take it one step at a time.
Alicia: If you weren’t doing music right now what do you think you’d be doing?
Donny Daydream: I think I’d be fighting right now and I would still be training to be a fighter.
Alicia: Do you ever regret picking the music path?
Donny Daydream: No for sure not because I love what I do and I feel like you can’t do this or anything if you don’t love it and I really really love this and I want this so I’m very happy I chose this path.
Alicia: As an artist, what would you say has been your biggest challenge?
Donny Daydream: My biggest challenge would be comparing. I feel like a lot of people do a lot of comparing and you know obviously when you’re in the scene and most of my friends also do music, so it’s hard for me not to be like “damn, he’s doing this and I’m doing this”. But I think with time and experience, I just realized everyone has a different timeline, and as long as you’re trying your best and you’re doing all you can then you're good. But you can’t really compare because you don’t know what the other people are going through so I think it was a hard thing for me.
Donny Daydream: I was always like “I want to be here” but I know I work hard so I know I’ll get there.
Alicia: Do you still find yourself comparing yourself to others?
Donny Daydream: for sure but I think that you can compare but there's no point anymore. It’s like why compare? I have a lot of friends that do more rapping and harder styles of music and I would go to their concerts and I’m like what the fuck, I want to do this shit. But it’s like why would I say that? I make soft R&B music.
Alicia: Do you have any upcoming projects coming out that you would like to speak about (if you can)
Donny Daydream: Yes! I’m so excited because I’m dropping something at the end of June it’s going to be called ‘Pure Bliss’. My last two to three songs have been super sad but it’s summer so it’s time to bring it up a little bit. I’m so excited to finally drop something fun and dancing again.
Donny Daydream: Although I do love sad music, I just think it’s time to drop something crazy. ‘Pure Bliss’ will make you wanna dance. It’s going to make you want to drive your car into a bridge or something. It’s going to be so lit.
Alicia: Oo okay! I can’t wait to hear it.
Alicia: Do you see yourself dropping an EP or maybe an album soon?
Donny Daydream: Not yet. I did one EP before and it was a good practice for me but I don’t think I want to do another one just yet. I think I just want to explore my sound for now.
Alicia: With the interview ending, I wanted to thank you for letting me interview you! You can feel free to promote your new single or say whatever you’d like!
Donny Daydream: ‘Pure Bliss” is coming at the end of June, please listen! I’m very excited about it and you should be excited too and yeah check me out!