We were lucky to catch up with Daniel “pure” Sandell recently and have shared our conversation below.

Daniel “Pure”, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you tell us about a time that your work has been misunderstood? Why do you think it happened and did any interesting insights emerge from the experience?

I’ve been misunderstood so many times and over the course of many years. As an R&B, soul, hiphop-producer, artist & DJ based in Sweden I was most definately in the wrong environment for what I was doing. Especially because of what level I wanted to take my career to. The market for it is just so limited.

My style of music has always been heavily inspired and impacted by the sound I fell in love with as a teenager – American hiphop, soul, funk & R&B – but the Swedish culture and music scene is simply not about that at all. I always knew deep down that I was great at what I do, but I was mostly met with an energy of people not really getting it. I didn’t feel truly seen as the musician I really am, because most people around me just wasn’t living that culture like I did. And I’m telling you, over time that will really take its toll on your spirit.

Ever since I visited NYC when I was in my early 20s I knew that I wanted to live in the US and do my thing over here. It took many years of both marinating the dream as well as finding the right way to actualize it before I finally could make it happen. But as I’m currently 7 months into living in Los Angeles, I feel that this is exactly the right place for me. The differences with Sweden are many – both in the overall energy & mindset of people around me. As well as the musical and cultural aspect.

I’m proud of myself for doing all the hard work to be able to live here now. And I see myself truly thriving in this market.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Daniel “Pure” Sandell – an artist, music producer, songwriter & DJ from Sweden that is now based in Los Angeles. I am specialized in R&B, soul & hiphop, but also don’t really limit my creativity – if it moves me, it moves me!

My journey as a professional musician started when I was 19, with a group called Up Hygh. We caught the attention of musical legends and taste makers such as Questlove (The Roots), Ali Shaheed Muhammad (A Tribe Called Quest/Lucy Pearl) and many more at the time. Even before we had dropped our debut album we were being praised and hyped in the hiphop/soul scene. When we finally dropped the album (The Venus Album) we were asked to perform as the opening act for The Roots on their European tour, but sadly, internal conflicts within the group resulted in us never doing the tour.

After that major let-down I started focusing more on DJing and curating parties in my hometown of Stockholm, Sweden. I saw the opportunity to do work with music, doing what I’m good at as well as building my brand as DJ/artist. I spend years on working hard on that craft as well as establishing my relationships in the industry to the point where I became one of the leading DJs / event producers in the city with the hiphop/R&B space.

Parallell to DJing I still continued to create music which led me to many international DJ-gigs and several nominations for national as well as international awards. I have worked with so many artists and released so much music over the years. Both as a producer, musician (I play keys, guitar & bass) & songwriter as well as an artist & a rapper.

But the combination of me being deeply invested in the musical sound from the US and the fact that the Swedish scene and market is very limited for someone within that field, I felt a strong urge to leave Sweden. I needed to expand. Evolve. Be seen & heard in a deeper and broader way. I needed to move to the US and continue my journey there.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

There are two things that I see as the most rewarding about making music and DJing.

Firstly it’s the act of creating. Just being in a creative state of flow is essential to me living my dream life. I’m an artistic person with the need to express myself – whether people see/hear it or not. It’s a channeling of something greater than myself, which in turn, gives me energy & life.

The second thing is seeing people resonating with your work – singing along to your song or dancing to your DJ-set etc. That’s fully aligned with what I believe my purpose is in life – to serve others. I want to use the gifts that were given to me to impact other people. Give them something – a feeling, a memory and/or an experience. Cause at the end of the day, I will never forget what certain musicians, songs & moments of music has done for me – I want to do the same to others.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

Oh too many! But I keep coming back to these two.

– The Kybalion.

It is a book about the fundamental principles of The Universe. And since we are all an integral part of The Universe, hence these principles are also about ourselves. It makes you understand one Truth: Nothing is really what it seems to be. Once you understand that and begin to study these principles, you will start to gain an understanding of how to lead a highly impactful and meaningful life.

– The Power of NOW.

The past and the future as we often think of them doesn’t really exist. Nothing is not in the NOW. So to fully experience the Now is to fully experience life. And when you fully experience life you will start to realize that all you so called “problems” doesn’t really exist. From there a deep sense of gratitude will emerge and you will need nothing. And needing nothing will attract everything.

Without those two books and the deep wisdom they have taught me I wouldn’t have had the deep seated practice and foundation of faith that I currently have. Faith is probably the biggest building block in creating your dream life as an entrepreneur. To start with a vision in your mind and then follow that vision in spite of any visible proof of it coming to life. Faith is what keeps us entrepreneurs going.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/musicbypure
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pure__._/
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/musicbypure
• Other: https://musicbypure.bandcamp.com

Image Credits

Fredric Johansson
Freja Lindberg
Frida Ljungqvist
Camden Lee