We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Daja Alexander . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Daja below.
Hi Daja, thanks for joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
I have this vivid memory, I’m not sure what holiday or occasion it was, but I was 10 years old. My family was over my Mom’s house and for some reason everyone was hyping me up to sing. The entire family by this point in my life knew I loved to sing, but I had been singing to myself and practicing some of my favorite songs, so my range had progressed. I nervously stood in the middle of my living room and began to sing “Moment of honesty, someone’s gotta take the lead tonight, whose it gonna be…” My mother was in complete shock and I felt excited to have moved her with my voice. That memory is one of the core memories of me knowing “when”, but I honestly had been deeply into singing and writing stories by the time I was 10. It would be at 12 that I recorded my first song and it hasn’t stopped since.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is DajaWroteIt, songwriter who sings! Born and raised in Baltimore, MD, I was able to develop my career as a writer with the help of my parents first. After working in my dad’s home studio for years and realizing that my heart lied in the lyrics, he began to take me to IStandard competitions where I was able to connect with JHatch and PJ as well as a host of industry writers who judged my work, many who I stayed in contact with. While in college, my Dad sent my music to my now mentor and boss, grammy award winning writer and producer Makeba Woods. Since 2017 I have been building and growing. My cousin, Madi, introduced me to Wright Way Studios in Baltimore, MD, where I met so many amazing people including: Top, Tre’Amani, Shina Mack, Trey R.X., Rodney Hollywood, Boutzie, etc. I wrote an EP for an artist we are all helping develop and made the decision to take the motion from Baltimore to Atlanta. Living in Atlanta I’ve been blessed to be able to work with some of the best producers in the industry from Troy Taylor to Black Metaphor, am working with multiple labels from DefJam to Lost Kids, and am adding my DajaWroteIt pen to so many different opportunities that I’ll be able to talk about more in the near future. Giving up is never an option and that’s what I’m most proud of myself for never doing. Even though this is not an easy journey, it’s such a beautiful one, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
Let’s talk about it, I love this question. I’m a songwriter. I sit with a beat or no beat at all and come up with the singy or rappy parts of the song over the beat AND being that I’m a top line writer, I write most of the words as well. I’m not a ghostwriter. I get asked this question so much as a follow up to me stating that I’m a songwriter. A writer doesn’t have to be hidden and a “ghost” as if they aren’t the ones taking the time to provoke your emotions with their choice of words and how they chose to make them flow together. All the great writers deserve their flowers and not all writers care to be “known”, but if you have a favorite song or artist, please look at the credits and give a small nod of acknowledgment to our hardwork at least.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
Practice makes perfect. That’s probably confusing considering the 10,000 hours you definitely need to put into your craft in order to become a natural at it. However, there’s so much more after that 10,000 hours that makes perfect. The backstory behind this lesson is simple, but one I’ve never let leave me. Up until I was about 15 or 16, I had been writing songs for a very long time. I wrote every single day without a thought to it not only because I loved it, but because I wanted to get better. Up until this point I was recording too at my in house studio with my dad. I mostly shared my music with my parents, little sister, and cousins. The words he said that he said that made me go from writing every day to recording as much as I could to sending my music out to going to different cities to meet new creatives: “Nobody is going to hear what’s in your book unless you make them. You have to get it out.” The follow through after the practice makes the practice perfect. It makes your 10,000 hours worth it when you have an idea of where you’re going at hour 10,001.
Contact Info:
- Website: dajawroteit.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dajawroteit/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/DajaWroteIt?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCw98QIu5w7hpYrJc2gSs1yg/videos
Image Credits
@_chrisgotcash