T.H.E Interview – Dominique Simone

Dominique Simone talks to us about her writing process, the music scene in UK, and her future plans. Read on!

Aditya – Hey Dominique, thanks for taking the time to talk to us. How are you and what are you up to at the moment?

Dominique Simone – At the moment I am eat sleep and breathing music! As i have decided to release music once a month I am constantly working on production, marketing and new and creative ways to connect with my fanbase!

Aditya – The lyrics in the track are fantastic, can you share your writing process?

Dominique Simone – Usually I write my music by sitting at a piano and seeing what comes out! So Sweater was written when I had been at university for about four months (2019) and I seemed to originally have this assumption that going off to university would mean everything in my life was suddenly going to get so much better and I would be motivated and doing everything that I loved, getting to the gym and doing all the things that I didn’t feel like I had time for a while I was in school. Then I realised that university really wasn’t the big fix that I had hoped for and in some ways it was even harder because I no longer had someone to wake me up in the morning and tell me to do important things. The song was written when I wasn’t feeling too good and I just sat at a piano and started singing. I just sang how I was feeling and most of the melodies and lyrics ended up being in the final version of the song.

Generally the process of recording this song was very fast. I got on my laptop and did my own demo of it! I am in no way a producer so I got together with the producers at Inspire Music. I’ve worked with them for my other songs I’m releasing so I went in for a couple of days and got the song finished. Within the first day the song was basically nearly done and by the second day we’d completed it. It came together very quickly and on my first time sitting and listening to it I nearly cried! It felt like an exact representation of how I was feeling in the moment that I wrote it.

Aditya – The music video is really creative! Is it homemade? Can you share the idea and direction behind it?

Dominique Simone – Yes it is homemade! I wanted it to be homemade to help with the expression within the song. I wanted it to feel like you were experiencing the day with me, so i just set up a timelapse, edited it and I really loved how it turned out!

Aditya – How do you feel about growing up in the UK and the UK scene in general?

Dominique Simone – It can be weird sometimes being a part of the music scene in the UK as the US dominates much of the music industry. But I am glad I am from the UK along with other incredible artists like Amy Winehouse, Jorja Smith (I was born in Walsall too!), Adele, Lianne La Havas and so many more. It feels like a community of artists! The best thing about this age of technology is you do not have to be held back because of where you are from, you don’t need to be in LA or London to allow your music to be heard. I think there are some amazing up and coming artists in the UK and I would love to collaborate with them!

Aditya – How do you tackle your writer’s block?

Dominique Simone – I try not to see it as something to tackle! The more I worry about not being able to write the more I can’t! I have learnt the best way to get past it is to allow it to come to an end naturally, this is how I create my most sincere work.

Aditya – There’s a major imbalance of women in the music industry, how would you encourage more women to participate in the industry?

Dominique Simone – To not feel pressured to fit into any sort of box. Your music is all you need to be successful, if you are sincere and do what feels right you will thrive! Being yourself is the best thing you can offer the world.

Aditya – How do you feel about live appearance on Stafford FM, and being played on BBC Introducing?

Dominique Simone – Stafford FM was so exciting because it was the first time i had the chance to share myself and my music on the radio! In the last couple months I have had great support from BBC including being played 3 times on introducing and an interview with BBC Leicester! I am so excited to be able to talk about my music on the radio!

Aditya – Lastly, what’s in the shelf for the last quarter of the year?

Dominique Simone – I released Again 18/8, ‘Never Lasts’ on the 9/9, and I am releasing ‘Seasons’ on the 10/10 and ‘Angel’ on the 11/11, I have even more planned for 2022!