Aubrionna’s debut single “Don Da Da” shows the power of her artistry
By Kurt Beyers
Aubrionna’s debut single, dropping July 28, is a great pop-Afrobeat song, and a perfect introduction to a talented young singer.
It is only an introduction. She has more ready to drop, more already out.
“It’s a head bobber,” she said. “You just start bobbing your head because of the drum and the beat.”
She regards it as her coming out song, her debut on the world stage, “one of the biggest records that I have recorded.”
But, along with the catchy melodies and the joyfully defiant lyrics in Aubrionna’s strong, evocative voice, there’s a message: “It promotes positivity toward women, saying that they are queens.”
She the don da da
She ain’t looking for love
Said having the world ain’t enough
She want it all that’s a must
Don da da
“Don da da,” a term from her upbringing in East St. Louis, means a leader, someone who is confident in themselves, someone who knows what they want.
She is herself a don da da, she says when asked. That is part of the perspective on music she formed from listening to the women she idolizes, Whitney Houston, Anita Baker, Brandy and Tamia.
Part of that perspective is seeing Whitney’s ability to make the listener feel what she was singing, to carry the audience away with her music.
“And it was like, wow, if she can do it, I can do it. If she can make people feel this way from her music, I can do the same thing. It inspired me.”
It is a view of music as a force that can be projected, as from artist to audience, and adopted by someone — someone like Aubrionna — who can then develop power to make an audience feel her music.
Aubrionna herself used to be very, very shy.
“I really didn’t say much because I was scared of what people might think of me. Basically, I was just scared to speak. I didn’t know how to express my feelings until I started writing music, and that really gave me leeway to say what I want to say and feel how I want to feel without being judged for it.”
Having told that story, she says, “A fun fact is that ‘Don Da Da’ was originally written for my mother, Trenaz Wilson,” who was apparently not shy.
“She would tell me how back in the day, before I was born, she was confident, how she didn’t let a man take over her life, things like that. So I took that and put it in a song.”
She has four singles out, four more ready to release and one just completed for an upcoming album. Aubrionna does not yet have a name for it, but in the discussion about a potential name, two words emerge that are important to her: diversity and power.
Variety is in the album’s music, says her manager, Antuan Blanchard, who joins the conversation. The concept is like Michael Jackson’s Thriller album. No two songs sound alike.
“You got pop. You got Afrobeats. You got Top 40. You got a club record. You got pop. It’s just …”
Aubrionna finishes for him: “Diversity.”
They kick that around for a while as a possible album name.
Then Antuan says, “Or you can just call it Diverse Power.” That would be a good title, he says, because this is her first project, she is a powerful woman singing about powerful women, encouraging them with music full of positivity.
Whatever the eventual name, the album should come out sometime in September.
“We’re just waiting for Aubrionna to come up with the title,” he said.
Aubrionna, a don da da, is talented. She has a great voice, and she is in control of it and her performance. She is confident, and she knows what she wants.
“I want to go as far as I can possibly go with music, because that’s my first choice,” she said. “But I don’t want to be put in a box. I want to branch off into different things, such as fashion, movies, voiceovers, commercials, everything.”
See where she goes. Connect with Aubrionna on all platforms for new music, videos, and social posts.
No comments:
Post a Comment