We were lucky to catch up with Dria Thornton recently and have shared our conversation below.

Dria, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

I was recently selected as the Houston Inspira Storyteller for Kashmere Gardens by the City of Houston Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs. I am charged with elevating the voice of the Kashmere and the Fifth Ward communities being affected by environmental injustice. Back in April I submitted a proposal to the city in correspondence with their Houston Inspira Project. I proposed as a creative, that I produce an original play or short film and title song highlighting generational health and speaking on behalf of the residents and filling in for that non-existent voice of the children of these communities. They are the ones who are ultimately the most affected in the future.

This project means a lot to me because my father and his family and some of my mother’s family have history in these communities. In my songwriting, I am always telling a story, so expanding my creativity to help people in need of an elevated voice is always a beautiful thing.

Replace: The Short film “Liberty Road” is available HERE ON YOUTUBE and You can listen to the Official Film Song “Change Gonna Come” that will be performed at the Texas Capital in April HERE

Dria, 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?

My name is Dria Thornton and my music brand is focused on Freedom, Love and Music. Through my music, I aspire to inspire people in every aspect of life. I am a songwriter and music artist, I create custom music for life, television, film, podcasts, music artists, brand advertisements and more. I have been in the music industry for over 9 years. I am a 12x RIAA Platinum, Grammy and Dove Nominated composer and vocalist for my work with Logic, Rick Ross, Young Thug and Lecrae. I am a voting member and district advocate of The Recording Academy, Texas Chapter where I am involved in advocating creatives’ rights to our local members of Congress.

My music career started when my partner Chris and I formed the writing team, The FrontRunnaz and we went on a 5 year streak of writing and production before we placed our first song with Mobb Deep for “The Infamous” album in 2014. After that we started moving through a large network of producers, both legendary and up and coming, where we wrote and recorded so many songs that we started getting tons of writing and vocal placements with major artists. With the quality of our writing and my vocals combined with the efficiency and consistency of our work, we have been super blessed to have a fruitful career. Everyday I am inspired to live out my dream not only for myself but for my children and anyone watching my journey or inspired by me.

Some of my most recent custom music for brand ads includes “Queen (Remix)” used as the official S Brand (Serena Williams) NYFW 2022 Runway Song, “G.O.A.T.” for Serena Ventures new brand @willpower and custom scoring for background music for Serena Williams x Lincoln Motors social media ads. Custom music for TV/Film sync includes Netflix Original “From Scratch”, Peacock’s “BelAir”, Hulu’s “The Kardashians”, MTV’s Teen Mom Reunion, VH1’s “Basketball Wives” to name a few. I also recently completed an environmental partnership with the City of Houston Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs and EPA as the Houston Inspira Storyteller for Kashmere Gardens and 5th Ward communities, where I created a short film and song about the generational environmental injustice happening in the communities. And new to the list of custom music, my partner and I created a theme song for our first podcast client, K104’s Dede McGuire’s “Dede’s Dope Podcast”.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I am on a journey to fulfill my purpose in life! And that is to inspire and help others through my music and my business endeavors . It’s never been in me to want to be a celebrity, it’s more about how many amazing situations and people I can network with to help me help someone else. In my life I have people that have been stepping stones for me and I know that the advancement of my music career would have had a much longer path without the help. My purpose has always been about helping others with the gifts I have, and not just with music. That goes with any gift I have been given.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

In the music industry, I had to learn that opportunity does not only come with a price tag. Sometimes identifying that the opportunity and the effect it has on the advancement of your career weighs in heavier than the amount of money attached to it.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.driathornton.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dria_thornton/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/100063698342272/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/diondria-dria%E2%80%8B-thornton-8a888627
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/c/DriaThornton

Image Credits
Isabella Rae