Euro Indie Chart-topping singer and rapper Intelligent Diva is spreading her musical aura again through the latest track ‘Baby I love You’. The track consists of a sensual romantic approach which is evident in most musical creations. Being a versatile artist from Florida, Diva is looking forward to creating an empire with her talent and dynamic skills. It is pleasure for us to get to know a few words from the artist.
DMR: Congratulations on the latest release of yours. How are feeling about this project?
Ans: Thank you. I feel good about this project. This is the first single which I had under my new record label Diva Underground Records. Baby, I Love You is currently charting on 4 music charts.
DMR: As the title says ‘Baby I love You’, did you dedicate this track to anyone? Please share with us.
Ans: Yes, I wrote the song as an anniversary gift to the love of my life. I wanted to show how much I appreciate him. In the song, I take him down memory lane on how I felt when we first met, and where we are now.
DMR: You have an amazing voice. How do you brush up on your skills?
Ans: Thank you, I practice at home consistently. I also take voice lessons to work on my breathing control. Since. I’m a rapper and a singer. It gets challenging to switch back and forth. between rapping and singing on a track. But, practicing my breathing control helps. On a track, I perform the leads and all of my background vocals.
DMR: Who helped you to pursue your passion for music? Tell us something about your creative influences.
Ans: I started singing in church, and then it escalated to singing in the chorus. While in Germany I met a woman named Mrs. T., I performed in a talent show. After the talent show, she approached me to join her band as a background singer.r.. I joined her band, and I fell in love with music even more because the band was very versatile. We performed music of multiple genres. The band encouraged me to move forward as a lead singer. We would perform music from the ’90s. . I fell in love with music even more and performed. The all-female music groups like En Vogue, SWV, and Escape sparked my creativity then. So I stay engaged with music and fashion during the current times.
DMR: You are well seasoned with singing and rapping. What do you love doing the most?
Ans: That’s tough. I actually love them both. But, I’m more comfortable with singing. . So,, I would say singing. Rapping came about because of my love for writing poetry. and short stories. I write all of my songs, so I found that when I have something that I want to talk about, where I want to compose a song it’s easier for me to write a rap song. Singing it takes more work because I love doing all of the harmonies. So songs are really fun for me to create and sing. I never sound the same purposely. Since I still consider myself an upcoming artist and I release a lot of music I don’t want the listeners to get tired. So, I try to give the listeners some versatility.
DMR: You have grown so much in the last decade. What are your future plans?
Ans: I plan on launching an online training course on Udemy for people who want to learn about launching their own independent record label. My second goal is for my second record label to form a partnership with a major label if that’s possible. I would like to manage new artists. I started by managing my first Billboard artist Paul Askew. These artists are coming to the table as entrepreneurs, artists, and influencers. I would also like to team up with television and movie agencies. This way the artist has accessibility to everything under 1 umbrella.
DMR: Are you currently working on any upcoming projects? Please shed some light.
Ans: I’m currently working on launching my new EP. and working on the online training module. I would like to be able to create multiple streams of income that make money while I sleep. I just released a new single called So Sophisticated which is on all streaming platforms. Then there is my virtual music tour coming this summer.
DMR: Starting from church choir to the present musical arsenal; the journey was long. How would you like to describe your musical journey?
Ans: It was tough. The plan has always been to be a multi-genre artist who wasn’t placed inside of a box under one genre. Coming from a church background I was worried about how that would be received. But, I decided to move forward with the decision anyway. I actually started writing the music early around 2014, Now I have about 2014 songs in the vault today. I had to create a budget, Initially, I recorded from home,. In 2019 I started to release music and released an EP called Collage. Collage was r&b and soul.. On Sound cloud, I had over a million streams around 980k followers. Then I decided I wanted to have a larger sound and went into a studio to record new music. I allowed someone to convince me to take down all music to re-brand. That was the worst decision I ever made because. they made false promises. Charge me for things upfront which I wasn’t required to pay for. In addition, there was a lot of fraud and misrepresentation by them. Their social media implied they had a ton of industry connections. I was told they could sign me to a major label they could not. The biggest scam I faced was a company that wasjtvlicensedvor registered as a label pretending to be a label. They were looking for other artists to sign so they could go try and get a major label to back them. They didn’t have a budget. They saw that I was an artist who was investing in my career. They actually had no distribution or marketing under a major label to offer that. I was better off just going to a major label myself for label services. They were just paying for label services with a major label and red carpet PR as an artist themselves. I had to learn the truth the hard way, and revise my team. But, I had taken down my music and listened to a lot of what they said. Then I learned the truth, I had a music lawyer and my music consultant with 40 plus years of music experience to help me get away from that.. They taught me what to look for. Luckily I hadn’t exhausted my budget to continue under a new team to pursue my dreams. After re=brainding it became tough. Campaigns were impacted by Covid. The industry had changed. streaming and social media had become the new wave. I had taken down my music and everything so I lost followers and had to rebuild from scratch. This time the sound changed from r&b and neo-soul to the new marketing team pitching me as pop and urban. Pop and urban music gained attention. However, I was told my streams were not high enough. and social media was not high enough. Yet, they loved my music. So, I kept going then I was told that I was not charting. I focused on these things and started studying my analytics and focusing on the music. and the industry standards. As long as I was meeting the industry standards that was enough for me. Consistently, I noticed that I was being pitched as Pop and Urban so my audience was consistent. Then I did a Latin urban song Lo Que Me Gusta where I was consistently focused on the independent and world market. It landed me a W.A.M nomination. Then I started focusing on the music genre and including marketing tactics within the song. Even though I was rapping, the music never fell under the hip hop category. I still was nowhere close to obtaining half the followers that I had. Getting back to a million followers I thought would be easy. However, it’s not. I’m an artist with a full-time job.. I focused on music marketing, not social media marketing. Organically it would come.. I wanted my audience in age ranges to expand as well as gender. So, I changed up the music a bit and included jazz rap. By the time I added my first gospel single ” Sinner’s Prayer”, it was a gospel rap single where I included multiple things because I realized in order for the song to be played it had to cross multiple genres of music. Sinner’s prayer is from my roots. So people were not surprised. It was my biggest project and one of the biggest songs that I had yet. It’s currently on 11 music charts, and it’s my first Billboard hit. Focusing on the format during my musical journey and the analytics became very important. At this point in my career. Nowi’s featured on both major label charts and independent charts because I utilize the data to determine my music strategy and it’s working. I lost a lot of followers behind it because they thought I would start doing gospel full time, But, the streams in my launching music spiked. Lol. I charted more. I still don’t even have a million followers. But, my music catalog is over 1 million streams.. We tried a major label pitch again and got the same answer where they love my music. However, they are still only getting behind artists where they funding them if they have high social media. Some artist who has made, it was very few based on them having multiple hit records. I realize now I’m being recognized as an artist and label now. The obstacles that major labels don’t recommend you do. I had done them and my outcome was successful. I also followed a different business model, and that resulted in me creating hit records, which have been charted. Social media was draining and often misrepresented. I decided that even though my goal is for my label to be directly under a major label, it would not happen. So, I would just stay independent with my music and create my own lane. Being a multi-genre artist which a choir background had its challenges. But, I started using the analytics to make it work for me and it has.
DMR: A lot of emerging artists are trying to make their place in the music industry. What tip would you like to give them to gain success?
Ans: I would advise them to make sure they have a budget and a business plan. Don’t try to release too many songs at the same time. Set goals for that song. When I say goals I mean streaming goals, social media goals, views, and chart goals. You should do it for each song. You need to market your music. Study your analytics, based on where you are and where you want to do. Focus on maintaining your monthly listener. When you don’t have high followers focus on fan retention and make sure your goals are realistic. You have to market your music.. Focus on the market that loves music by independent artists. You also need to learn about the music industry, the roles and responsibilities, and how those people in your life are paid. You should at least have a music consultant or music attorney to that you can ask questions. Do not give up. Focus on getting smaller projects to trace to these goals before you add on another layer. You will see the progress and success and the receipts will have clear traceability. Don’t compare yourself to anybody and never think of it as a competition. There are a ton of artists doing what you are doing. It’s enough room for everyone. Everyone has a different walk on getting there.
DMR: Do you have a dream collaboration in mind? Whom would you like to feature with you?
Ans: I do. My dream collaboration is Mary J Blige , Drake. Lil Kim, Tye Tribbett, and any major gospel artist. For Latin Urban Pitbull. There are so many dream collaborations I have based on various genres of music. Right now, I would appreciate any major artist doing a feature with me. It would be an honor. I’m a huge fan of legends though because my goal is to be a legend in my own lane.
DMR: We heard Diva Underground Records is a new label for digital streaming. How did you come up with it?
Ans: I started studying the music analytics of my first label Intelligent Diva Music before I signed to Musik and Film for distribution and after. I noticed with the music industry changed and I also used the radio for promotion. The music genres were different across labels and distribution sites. Under Intelligent Diva Music, it was more FM Commercial, Mainstream. The marketing didn’t focus on digital. The music formats on radio included all formats. I felt like I needed to be able to close the gap and focus on digital streaming only. I want to add NFTs and mobile app games where the artist can have their music featured in the game. I realized I would never land on a major chart like Billboard f because under Intelligent Diva Music the budget was higher. I created Diva Underground Records to focus on streaming only and digital media and radio. I could focus on industry standards. Create content when I felt like it. I have no major label distribution and marketing. I have my own music publishing. I wanted to test the waters of having a streaming-only record label. Create charting records under both. This way I would get to see which is most effective. I saw something different. Social media is an influencer market with various niches. You could have a digital platform with your own music which only you own. I’m super excited about it. BABY, I Love You is the first single I released under it. So Sophisticated is the second. Baby, I Love You is on 4 charts and it’s my second Billboard Charting song. So I have 1 Billboard hit under Intelligent Diva Music and 1 under Diva Underground Records. Hopefully, So Sophisticated will be my 3rd.
DMR: Your fans really look forward to you. Is there anything you would like to share with them?
Ans: Hello, Diva Fans you will be able to check out my virtual tour this summer. Learning material will be on Udemy soon. We’ll also be looking for entrepreneurs and students who would be a great fit to join our team.
Follow us at ig@ intelligentdivamusic.
Check out our website intelligentdivamusic.com
Listen to the track on Spotify:
