We were lucky to catch up with Daniele Gemelli recently and have shared our conversation below.

Daniele, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

magari. magari is my first upcoming debut album, and as of now is representing the truest, evolving image of myself. Having always written for others and performed shows with other artists’ music, this is turning to be a life-changing experience, with all its up and downs.

The art of making music and writing songs is such an underrated process today, especially with the fast pace of life that leaves little room to process thoughts, experiences, and feelings. Committing to this album really allowed me to grow exponentially not only as an artist, but as human being.

You kind of flourish with it, you know. You stretch creative boundaries as you break limits among genres. You expand concepts, ideas, samples as much as you extend your dedication throughout your whole process. You enlarge and enrich your tones as your project welcomes new collaborations. It elevates you too, as it makes you feel you can start reaching for something a little bigger than what you imagined, since you are backed up by your own art. At the end of the day, it is something that remains yours regardless of the outcome.

This project has taught me countless lessons and given me the chance to collaborate with some of the most brilliant artists I’ve met in the States and in Italy. This album is so meaningful because it embodies the perfect evolution of how your own art can expand is someone else’s eyes, creating a unique balance.

And “magari” is an Italian word that that carries a special openness. It gives the benefit of the doubt. It doesn’t box, tighten, squeeze, it allows instead the freedom and space to be yourself and connect with others who are able to take in and give back the same energy.

Daniele, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I come from a small town in northern Italy surrounded by mountains and I’ve come to realize how much of a blessing that has been in my life. I believe places like this can shape you in two ways: they can make you feel lonely or you allow them to fulfill you.

For me the situation was peculiar. For the longest time I desired to escape what was actually fulfilling me. Without even realizing it, my determination was growing out of a deep desire to find people like me, and everything I was surrounded by became the support system that carried me forward.

How? Through music. The means, the purpose, the goal. I knew I always had a special connection with it. Something about music gave me serenity that nothing else could. I started early, played different instruments, eventually stuck with keys and then classical piano. Got tricked into starting singing lessons later on and only then discovered how much it actually meant when I wrote my first song.

That was the true turning point, the beginning of everything that came after. It is funny to think about because it truly lasted a moment, a surreal instant of discouragement in which I felt a new need of shaking off the usual million of thoughts roaming in my head. I remember just standing up from my couch, heading to the piano I used to study on for so many years, yet almost like it was the first time. Sitting down, letting my hands roam free until it felt right, murmuring words that accompanied the melody to finally stand short after in front of my first tune and feeling so dizzy about what happened, yet so much lighter.

It came so easy I couldn’t stop thinking about anything else that could’ve made me feel as fitting within space and time as that and so on, since then I never let it stop. Writing in private and performing in public became part of my daily life. High school gave me the chance to try it all: small stages, festivals, big crowds, building shows, writing for other artists, competing, collaborating. The stage gave me an energy like nothing else. So when high school ended, I couldn’t imagine stopping. Music was never just a hobby. I knew it meant more, even if it was hard to find others who felt it as strongly as I did.

That’s when Berklee came into the picture. I applied right after graduation and went to work, not really allowing me to try anything else, not knowing what else to do, simply waiting for an answer. Never could’ve imagined that answer would’ve completely changed my life.

At that point I was working a regular job in my small town, ordinary life I’d say, I set aside music, writing and everything else to earn as much money I could, not having other plans. When Berklee accepted me, my whole life shifted. I had to make the hardest choice: leaving everything and everyone I knew at 19 to move across the ocean and start over. I wasn’t ready, but it became the greatest gift I could’ve received: a second chance to live, to rebuild from zero.

Since then, I’ve had the chance to perform in incredible shows, meet inspiring artists, connect with special souls, and, most importantly, grow in my art and craft. Entering the Music Production & Engineering program has pushed me not just as a songwriter, but also as a producer and composer. Collaboration has been my biggest teacher, challenging my versatility and expanding my limits in the best way possible throughout the whole process, from ideation to writing, recording, producing, mixing, and mastering.

I have so much more to learn, yet feeling so grateful about all the opportunities Boston and this college has had to offer. I just finished an internship in LA as a recording and mixing engineer, which was an amazing experience, and now I’m entering my last three semesters with an album on the way. This feels like the next chapter, an opportunity to share something entirely my own, the culmination of everything I’ve absorbed so far, and the beginning of much more to come.

What sets me apart has nothing to do with talent or skills, but with knowing where I come from. My roots are who I am. I am a vessel of every experience that has shaped my determination so far, and it is that same determination that will lead me to who I will become.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Letting your mind speak freely.
It’s a different kind of freedom. The act of creating itself becomes an eternal space where that freedom can exist.

I once heard someone say that once you put your art into the world, it’s never really yours anymore, and I believe that’s true. What remains are the memories, the experiences, the connections, and the effort that went into making it.

Those are treasures you can carry forever, a moment of your freedom that you shared with someone else. And if that moment finds a home in someone else’s heart, that’s when you’ve truly won in life.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Believing that I needed to escape home in order to feel completely free and able to grow.
For the longest time, I felt like I was held back by the size of my town and the limited opportunities around me compared to the size of my hunger, when in reality home was feeding me all along.
Love is everywhere, in the smallest things, if you take the time to sit and receive it. And love is what makes us feel free as human beings. That was exactly what I missed most once I left home for the first time, only to find it back ten times stronger every time I returned, nourishing me just as it always had since I was born.
“Relearning the meaning of freedom was the real gift. Not something you can seek outside, something you discover within.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daniele.gemellii?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniele-gemelli-64bb06369?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app