Exclusive Interview with 'DANNY B THE AIRHEAD'

Danny B The AirHead is a 25 year-old artist and producer. He recently released his original single. ‘Start Again’. The contrast between the beat’s desire to make you dance a little and the lyrics’ desire to make you cry a little is what he finds appealing about this song

This song tells the tale of a person who has messed up a relationship, admits their error, and is ready to do whatever it takes to make it right—even change completely. Although it may not be the most novel concept in terms of love songs, Danny was unfamiliar with it because I don’t often write love songs from a first-person perspective. Check out this song and the exclusive interview below:

1. Can you tell us a bit about where you come from and how you got started?
DANNY B THE AIRHEAD: I’m a half English, half Trinidadian artist and producer, born and raised in Essex in the UK.

I started out by writing parodies of popular songs when I was in school and eventually I started to come up with my own original songs. The first time I ever performed one of my written songs was at a school talent show with two of my friends, which we managed to win. That moment made me realise that this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.

2. Did you have any formal training or are you self-taught?
DANNY B THE AIRHEAD: I’m mostly self-taught aside from the steelpan. I picked up the keyboard by pretty much just messing around in music classes and at home, then started to pick up the drums a few years later. My school built a recording studio when I was in my last 2 years so I started to learn how to use Logic Pro and record all my own songs.

3. Who were your first and strongest musical influences and why the name ‘DANNY B THE AIRHEAD’?

DANNY B THE AIRHEAD: Neither of my parents weren’t musicians, but their individual collections of music is nothing to laugh at. My mum being from the Caribbean introduced me to genres like soca, calypso and reggae. I never realised the influence it had on me until I was older, but I’m grateful for it regardless.

Admittedly I didn’t listen to a lot of underground rap when I was growing up so my introduction to UK rap was from the likes of Tinchy Stryder, Tinie Tempah and Chip (back when he was Chipmunk) when they were doing mainstream stuff. I had their albums on repeat and picked up my original rapping style from that. As I got older I started to listening more different kinds of rap (trap, grime, conscious rap, Afroswing etc). And started implementing that into my sound, sometimes mixing styles together.

As for my name I was originally just Danny B, but when I started putting out on other platforms like Spotify I realised there’s a lot of other artists out there with the exact same name so I decided to add “The AirHead” to set myself apart. I’ve always been a daydreamer and I’ve been told many times that my “head is in the clouds”, so I thought AirHead suited me really well (no one seems to disagree either!).

4. What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?
DANNY B THE AIRHEAD: One of the things I always aim for with my music is that people will remember it. So I always try to make my Choruses as catchy as possible. My sound is a mixture of many different things which is inspired my mixed background.

5. For most artists, originality is first preceded by a phase of learning and, often, emulating others. What was this like for you? How would you describe your own development as an artist and music maker, and the transition towards your own style, which is known as POP?
DANNY B THE AIRHEAD:
Well, I started out writing parodies, and I think this helped me gain an understanding on writing lyrics in tune with melodies, how songs are structured and just an overall understanding on what makes a song popular, catchy and memorable. Eventually I took what I learned from doing that and applied it to my own music. Even when I first got into rap I remember just trying to mimic the style of the rappers I was listening to back then, and over time it all just developed into what I make now.

6. What’s your view on the role and function of music as political, cultural, spiritual, and/or social vehicles – and do you try and affront any of these themes in your work, or are you purely interested in music as an expression of technical artistry, personal narrative and entertainment?
DANNY B THE AIRHEAD:

Most of my music (especially my rapping songs) is just me coming up with clever tongue-and-cheek type bars providing entertainment for listeners.

I’ve not really spoken a lot about topics like that in my music – and when if I do it’s normally at the very bare minimum. I definitely would like to go into more depth into serious topics like that one day, but I think I have lot of reading to do before I should.

7. Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfilment as the amount of work you are putting into it, or are you expecting something more, or different in the future?

DANNY B THE AIRHEAD:

I’m always really pleased with the music I put out because I put a lot of effort into it, and I always feel like I get better with each song I make. What I’m hoping to do in the future is promote it a lot more, making sure it reaches much wider audiences.

8. Could you describe your creative processes? How do usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song? Do you usually start with a tune, a beat, or a narrative in your head? And do you collaborate with others in this process?

DANNY B THE AIRHEAD:

I don’t have a particular process that I always stick with, but most of the time I’ll just be going about my normal day and some random noises and sounds will catch my attention and I’ll just form an idea (could be a melody, a hook, a drumbeat etc.) in my head. Some ideas are so good I’ll say to myself “oh! I need to write this down right now!”. There have been times where I’ve joined 2 separate ideas together to make an even better one. I have also had moments where I’ll open my laptop with no ideas in particular and just start making something and seeing where it goes, so my creative process can be pretty random.

9. What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?
DANNY B THE AIRHEAD: When I was performing in London for a few months, it was extremely difficult for me to get people I know from Essex to come all the way to London to see me perform. I would send messages to a lot of people and would get very little replies. Most people had their reasons for why they couldn’t come but when I hardly got any responses sometimes I would start to doubt myself as a performer and think things like: “Maybe I’m not good enough for people to give me the time of day”. But now I just say to myself “keep pushing, keep improving.” Instead of just making myself depressed.

10. On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?

DANNY B THE AIRHEAD: Getting my song “16” on BBC Introducing Essex. It was really nice feeling to get my single picked up and played to a much wider audience and it did open a few doors me.