The main reason I got into music production in the first place was because I was unable to find any producers at that time in the area that could produce my type of genre so I decided to learn and produce them myself. I was so determined at that point, even recording a full Rock album was my biggest dream. I did eventually fulfill that dream; I released a 12 track debut album titled “I Don Taya” which till today contains most of my personal favorite songs I have recorded. I achieved this “Big Dream” only to realize I had only just clipped the surface of my music career. I was such a novice in the business aspect of music and that caused me a great deal in the way I handled the marketing of the album, to cut long story short. It did not do too well.
Not long after that, I moved to Boston MA, to pursue a degree in music production at The Berklee College of Music. but struggled a bit musically, as my once strong confidence in my music had been tarnished by the disappointments of my first album and just like so many of us musicians today I decided to try more commercial or appealing genres of music that might get a lot of attention from a certain demographic. That’s when I lost myself, the writing from the heart was gone…the passion in my delivery was false but I did gain a larger fan base and audience with songs like “Like This” featuring MI etc. Shostoppah was a really good album but almost all the tracks only showcased my production skills at most. I had to force myself to sing in different styles that were not my person.
After Shostoppah the struggle continued, I released single after single trying really hard to impress people at the same time competing with other musicians who really, this was their style and not mine. After releasing my last single Wine Am Low featuring Sukiyaki, which was a really good song from the commercial afro music perspective, I had a self check moment, I realized how much self doubt I had let myself fall into and how far I had strayed from my original sound and I was not happy about that at all. I really needed a sign and just as I was beginning to lose all hope, I received two phone calls from two friends who do not know each other and both calls coming in, less than 24 hours of each other. They had called to tell me what I had been thinking about. They confirmed that I sounded pretentious and having heard music from my first album, felt I needed to be myself and not try to please everyone. This totally hit the hammer on the nail there and so I went to work.
I felt like a big weight had been lifted off my shoulder and all the pressure was gone, like I had been set free from prison. I then decided to keep it real and be true to myself and make music how I feel it and not bother about what was popular at the moment. After all, most of the great musicians of our time created trends with their music and most tried to imitate. I am writing this personally as a way to encourage anyone who has a vision or dream, the best way to achieve this is by staying true to yourself and not doubting your abilities. The late Steve Jobs once said, “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma –which is living with the result of others. Opinions drown out your own voice, and most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition, they somehow know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary”. So without further ado, I would love to re-introduce myself, my name is Duncan Daniels, I am a Music Producer, Singer and Songwriter and I love to Rock! Here is the Music Video to my first single off my upcoming third Album “iDunkishrock” titled “Blindly in Love”. Enjoy.
“Blindly in love” follows a different approach from the norm, whereas a track is recorded and then released in audio format to be played on radio and based on how popular the record becomes, a music video is created to add visual to the song that is loved by many. This is a music industry standard ploy and it works. “Blindly in love” however is a story in which both music and visual events are very instrumental in portraying the message behind the song, they cannot be fully appreciated one without the other, only as a full package does the message impact the listening viewer. I love to tell stories with my music and this is an example of how I will continue to express myself through my music. This video can be interpreted in so many different ways; however there are no wrong interpretations to it. Whatever metaphorical message you get from this video is yours to keep. We put a lot of work into getting this done so I hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed making it.
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