00:00Sometimes she writes things that I want to steal and I'm mad at her.
00:05There's one song that she has that I really wish I wrote it.
00:09Future, my number one spot on the Billboard chart.
00:13Putting it into the existence, it's happening.
00:15Everything he says comes true, so here it is.
00:17Yeah, you know, you gotta manifest.
00:19So no one missed anything yet?
00:21No, I don't think so. No.
00:23Watch us find out.
00:25I probably missed something.
00:30Hey, everybody. It's Rania Niftos with Billboard News,
00:35and I'm so excited to be here today with Damiano David.
00:38Welcome.
00:39Hello.
00:40What an exciting time for you.
00:41I mean, you're gearing up for your next musical era.
00:45You've released three singles so far.
00:47Next Summer, Born with a Broken Heart and Silver Lines.
00:50So tell me a bit about how you're choosing to release these singles
00:55to kind of introduce this musical era for you.
00:59For me, it's literally all about like instinct and feelings.
01:04These were the first three songs I wrote for the record.
01:08Oh.
01:09So it's kind of funny that are actually the singles,
01:11but I didn't know at the beginning,
01:14but I always felt like the songs were strong,
01:17and since the beginning I knew they were going to be part of the record.
01:21And again, there's not much strategy around it.
01:25It's literally like a feeling.
01:27I like this, I release it.
01:28I mean, I love that.
01:29That's the way to go.
01:30Yeah.
01:31Because it keeps it fun for you, too.
01:32Yeah.
01:33And it keeps it authentic.
01:34And speaking of authentic, each of these three singles,
01:38while they are different in a lot of ways,
01:40they still sound like you, but you're clearly exploring.
01:43What was that like getting in the studio and working out different sounds
01:46and kind of introducing Damiano to people?
01:49That was very fun.
01:50It was a new practice for me,
01:53because I was used to kind of know the sound that we wanted with the band,
01:58and we might disagree on how to get it,
02:01but we all wanted to get the same thing.
02:03Well, in this case, I knew what I was capable of,
02:07but I didn't know how I wanted to translate.
02:11So I had the chance to try a bunch of different things
02:14and see what I was most attracted to.
02:18Yeah.
02:19So I think, yeah, there's a lot of variety.
02:21Also in the songs that didn't make the record,
02:23there's a lot of variety, but it was a very fun experiment to do.
02:26A hundred percent.
02:27I mean, you got to work with such cool people.
02:29Silver Lines is produced by Labyrinth,
02:31who is an incredible producer and singer and artist.
02:35What was that like being in the studio with him?
02:37That was a blessing.
02:39I've been following his music for many years.
02:44I remember being in London at the presentation of one of his records,
02:48so it was really a full circle moment.
02:51It was a special.
02:52Your debut album, Funny Little Fears, super personal.
02:55You talked about a little bit on Instagram.
02:57You said, sometimes I'm still scared, but I wrote myself a manual,
03:01and I hope you find it helpful too.
03:03Tell me a bit about what it's capturing for you right now.
03:07The record is really about this moment of my life
03:10where I found myself really blocked by my fears and by my dynamics,
03:17and the album was a way to face them and to get over it.
03:21And so looking back, it's kind of the narration of this whole process for me
03:27through some of my life experiences.
03:30But then on a more general level, it's really like about taking our fears
03:36and taking our negative sides and stop hiding them,
03:42because also together with our positive things are what makes us who we are,
03:47and we should be somehow proud of it, especially when we're able to heal from it and to get over it,
03:53and also looking back at it to kind of smile at it and kind of make them smaller, make them funny,
04:00because it's just a moment of our life that gets us to the next stage.
04:04Speaking of something that could have been fearful for you, you were in a band,
04:08and now you're stepping out as a solo artist and showing people on your own who you are.
04:14How did you get over, I guess, that fear and were able to have that vulnerability
04:19as you're starting to express yourself musically?
04:23I don't think I can really answer in how I did it.
04:28I think that I was lucky and unlucky at the same time to live a very fast and intense life,
04:36so I experienced many, many things and like on a certain level more things than the people of my age.
04:45So it's weird because I didn't even know that I was like sad or doing the wrong things
04:54and I came to a point where really like my brain and body started suggesting me
04:58and I think that's because I had many experiences and at the end of it all I was able to kind of read the signals.
05:05But I think that in general it's all a matter of experiences and you find yourself understanding,
05:16not even knowing why or when, it just happens.
05:20Yeah, and I guess along those lines do you have any advice for fans that might be going through
05:24kind of that realization right now that something's not right and they want to feel better
05:28or they want to go through that healing process but it seems scary maybe?
05:32I think that we tend to think that we're alone in our pain and in our problems
05:37while it's 90% of the times there's thousands of people with our same problems experiencing our same feelings
05:45and I think that's why we connect with music, art, whatever because it's just like describing that situation
05:52and somehow we're not even able to describe how we're feeling and we have to rely on somebody else's words.
05:58I don't think I have many advices.
06:02Yeah, that's great advice already.
06:04Yeah, just take it easy and take your time.
06:06A hundred percent.
06:07And I mean speaking, I like that you said that a lot of these feelings are universal.
06:11So many people feel these things and I noticed that something that stuck out to me was in your next summer music video.
06:24And the concept behind it of being a prisoner in someone's mind and then coming face to face with that older version of yourself.
06:31Tell me about the concept of that and why it was important to tell that story.
06:35The song comes from an experience that I had where I at the end of it found myself holding on to the memory of it
06:42even if it was not positive for me but it was the last connection I had to that moment of my life
06:48and I kind of didn't want to let go.
06:50I kind of want to stop time and live there.
06:53But then if you do that you eventually come to face what could have been if you were free
06:59and that's what the video is about and that's what the song is about.
07:02It was a way for me to remember that moment of my life and describe it and again look at it like it was a picture to know which mistakes not to repeat.
07:15Absolutely.
07:16It's a reminder.
07:17Holding yourself accountable.
07:18Yeah, it's a reminder.
07:19It's a reminder.
07:20I get it.
07:21And then also you teased the album title in that music video.
07:25Are there Easter eggs that you're continuing to put out that maybe people didn't notice yet or how clever have you been with it?
07:33No, that was my highest clever.
07:36That was your biggest one?
07:37Okay.
07:38So no one missed anything yet?
07:39No, I don't think so.
07:41Watch us find out in a couple weeks he hit something.
07:45I probably missed something.
07:46I probably missed something.
07:47I love that.
07:48Who were some of your inspirations while you were creating it?
07:51I think there's so many.
07:53It's like 26 years of listening to music.
07:56So many of that I'm not even aware of where I stole from.
08:01But I don't know what we were writing.
08:04It's more from the songwriters that were like, this gives me a keen vibe.
08:09Early killers.
08:11I don't know.
08:14Strokes.
08:15Love them.
08:16A lot of stuff.
08:18So many good artists that you just named so far.
08:21Good company.
08:22We get from the good ones, of course.
08:24100%.
08:25I mean, you're bringing also the album on the road.
08:27How exciting to tour this material.
08:30I mean, what are you most looking forward to as you head off into live shows for this?
08:35I mean, seeing people face to face while the live reaction, it's always different.
08:42There's no amount of tweets that can match it.
08:46And also, I think it's like the cherry on top of a project.
08:50You know, you do all the writing, the promo, et cetera, et cetera.
08:54But I think that the confirmation of it all comes to life when you tour
08:59and when you play live.
09:00So it's a beautiful moment.
09:02You get to see people that are really willing to spend their time with you, for you.
09:08So it's very special.
09:11It's also beautiful to know that I have the chance to do a world tour and bring my music to so many different cultures.
09:18It's going to be fun.
09:19Is there a song that you're excited to see how people react to it live?
09:23Honestly, all of them.
09:25Yeah.
09:26There's one specific.
09:27It's called Tango, which is like this very, very uptempo, uplifting music.
09:33Fun.
09:34And the lyrics are like extremely dark and sad.
09:36Oh.
09:37Got it.
09:38I'm excited.
09:39Yeah.
09:40I want to see like people realize the lyrics while the vibe and being like dancing and then be like, oh, maybe I shouldn't.
09:46That hit.
09:47Yeah.
09:48Maybe I shouldn't be dancing.
09:49But it's just a funny game.
09:50You dance through the pain.
09:51That's how it works.
09:52It's just a funny game.
09:53I love that.
09:54Yeah.
09:55And I mean, are you planning on having any of your Monaskin band members join you at any point or come to see you?
10:01Why not?
10:02If they want to come.
10:03I think they want time off.
10:04Yeah.
10:05They're tired.
10:06They're like, it's your tour.
10:07You do it.
10:08But if they want to come, of course.
10:09Have you been sharing the music with them at all?
10:11Yeah.
10:12Yeah.
10:13Early stages.
10:14Early, early stages of the music.
10:15It was still demos and not all of it.
10:18But yeah.
10:19I mean, how special to have that support system like as you go through this.
10:23It's people who know you musically and personally and have them, you know, have your back as you go through this.
10:28Sure.
10:29Also like all the experiences that we went through and like we did this job for quite a while together.
10:35So that gave me a lot of a big shield.
10:39Yeah.
10:40I'm more prepared.
10:41I mean, speaking of support too, I mean the wonderful Dove Cameron.
10:44We've had her here.
10:45You guys have been dating.
10:46You're incredible.
10:47And she is a brilliant songwriter and talent.
10:51Very good.
10:52So what's it like kind of going through that process with her?
10:55Because she's working on an album now.
10:57You're working on an album now.
10:58How do you like bounce ideas off each other like that?
11:01We always share ideas.
11:03We always play each other's music.
11:05Especially like it was very fun to have been writing our albums together.
11:12Sometimes she writes things that I want to steal.
11:16Honestly.
11:17And I'm mad at her.
11:18There's one song that she has that I really wish I wrote it.
11:22Little remix on the horizon.
11:24You can do a little duet version.
11:25No.
11:26It's too early.
11:27It's too early.
11:28We gotta get old.
11:29But no, it's beautiful to have someone that really understands the process.
11:34It's also like the way we do it.
11:36It's very similar.
11:37We are both very like instinct based and we put feelings in a very primary spot.
11:46So it's beautiful to have a person that you don't really have to explain anything to.
11:51And she just gets it.
11:53And it's fun.
11:54She's a great musician.
11:55It's beautiful to have her opinion.
11:58We haven't write together yet because we're lazy and we don't wanna influence each other.
12:06But also like we both have this thing that once the album is done we don't really wanna
12:11keep writing music because you gave all of it.
12:14You give burnout.
12:15Yeah.
12:16You gave all of it and it's kind of torturing yourself.
12:19You're forcing something that isn't natural.
12:21Yeah, exactly.
12:22And also I think again you guys are both on instinct.
12:24If the time comes, I'm sure it'll come naturally.
12:26It's something that has to be planned.
12:27Yeah.
12:28You know what I mean?
12:29And I mean on a separate note, already you walked in.
12:32We were all like obviously he came in with the coolest outfit ever because you really
12:37know how to express yourself so beautifully through fashion.
12:40Where do you get that confidence to just I guess wear things that maybe people didn't
12:45think of before?
12:46Oh my God.
12:47I never thought of myself as like this avant-garde fashion.
12:51You are.
12:52I literally just wear what makes me feel good in that moment where I think fits my mind
12:59state in that moment and what I think fits the music.
13:03I think I'm lucky because I have the chance to work with people that really take care of
13:09this for me and with me.
13:11So I'm very helped.
13:12Yeah.
13:13And again, I work with people that I consider my friends.
13:17So I know that every time the job is going to be done especially for me and to make me
13:22feel good and not to, I don't know, do weird stuff.
13:26So I don't know.
13:27For me it's literally about feeling good and wearing what I like.
13:33Yeah.
13:34I mean honestly this whole conversation too is so inspiring for me because I'm someone
13:37who's trying to trust my instinct more and more because it's never led me astray but
13:41I need to keep trusting it.
13:43So I mean talking to you through that is so special because it really feels like everything
13:48that you do based on how you feel works out and that's so special and you're so lucky in
13:53that way.
13:54If it doesn't work out at least you know you can.
13:56You try.
13:57You can.
13:58And also like it's your responsibility.
13:59Yeah.
14:00You cannot blame anything or anyone else.
14:02You're more in control.
14:03Right.
14:04And what lesson do you want fans to take away from your album Funny Little Fears?
14:09I don't know.
14:10I just hope they like it.
14:11They will.
14:12I'm sure they already loved it.
14:13I hope they like it.
14:14I hope that again through my experiences they can maybe learn a little more about themselves
14:20even.
14:21That would be the biggest gift.
14:24I love that.
14:25And lastly one last question.
14:27What is your favorite Billboard moment past, present or future?
14:31My number one spot.
14:34Absolutely.
14:35On the Billboard chart.
14:36Putting it into the existence.
14:38It's happening.
14:39Everything he says comes true.
14:40So here it is.
14:41You know you got to manifest.
14:42It's happening.
14:43We're putting it out there.
14:44Well thank you so much Damiano.
14:46I'm such a big fan of yours and I'm so excited for fans to hear the rest of the album.
14:50Thank you very much.
14:51No one deserves it more.
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