- People be tryna say like,
"Oh, you popped off of Keke Challenge."
And I'm like, well, if you look at the dates
and then look at everything I had before that, nah,
I've been doin' this.
(driving hip-hop music)
Danielle Leigh was a shy little girl,
I was always a little tomboy.
My mom tried to put me in dance class at like,
the age of 10, I was like, no, I wanna play baseball.
As a little girl, I would sing by myself in rooms
and like, do YouTube covers and sing to Drake
and like, Jhene Aiko, Alicia Keys,
and my mom did end up putting me in dance class
at like, 12.
My parents are definitely, I'm a combination of both.
My mom was a street dancer in New York City, like,
she was my inspiration for some of my pictures
and then my dad, his sisters used to sing in church
and everything, so, and his dad's name
was Beethoven, like, they definitely were super musical, so.
It's definitely in our blood and even just us as,
growing up, there'd always be music in the house,
like, it was always that for us.
I swear, I probably wouldn't even be doing what I'm doing
if it wasn't for my parents.
The reason why I moved to L.A. is 'cause my mom
believed in me and she was like, we're goin' to L.A.
and you're gonna continue to audition
and let's just see what happens, we'll stay out there
for like a month.
And ten years later, literally.
But we started off in like a one-bedroom apartment
and my dad was back in Orlando taking care of the restaurant
they owned but they ended up losin' it
so that's something they sacrificed.
We was super broke, eatin' McChickens all the time, like,
it was definitely like a big-ass struggle.
We was good in Florida but soon as we moved to L.A.
it was like, okay, we gon' transition and start the grind
for real, 'cause we gotta make it out here, you know?
♪ Y'all ain't fresh as me ♪
♪ 'Cause I stay on ten, I stay on ten ♪
♪ I stay on ten, I stay on ten ♪
- I was in a girl group back in the day,
we were a duo, both had big ol' curly hair so everybody
used to call us the Curly Fryz.
We kinda started like a choreography duo at first,
we went and like, started teachin' dance class together.
We just continued to audition and we kinda like,
tried to stay as a duo, group look.
We would shoot music videos, like, my mom
made sure we did everything, though,
like, she likes to give us hats for everything.
So we had music videos, we were doin' the production
with the budgets, like, everything just so we knew
so now I know how much a music video is.
You know, I definitely was training for now, you know.
I made my name in the dance industry,
just being out there and working with different artists
that Prince ended up finding me when I was 18
and he reached out to me,
wanted me to direct his music video
and he never told me where he found me but, you know,
I just assume it was from somethin'.
- That don't just happen okay? - Yeah, you know what I mean?
- That's why you got on all purple now?
- That's what, it's so funny, I just said that,
I was like, yo, I feel like I'm really reppin' Prince today.
It's real, yeah!
I did the video, he gave me like a whole budget,
that was my biggest check I ever made in L.A. from a job,
I was like, he paid me to be the director of the video
and in it, so, it was definitely crazy, it was a blessing.
Dance definitely frees me,
especially like, there's not a lot of artists that dance
so I feel like that's my little niche to DaniLeigh,
you know, so definitely puts me in a bag of like,
oo, I can dance, like, if you put me in a circle,
like, I ain't gonna look stupid,
you know what I'm sayin'?
Like, I'ma show out, so it definitely helps my confidence
just having that gift.
Being a dancer helps me perform better,
helps me be more sexy, 'cause I know how to use my body
and everything.
When I was like, 14 and I was doin' all those covers,
I felt like I could not sing.
I could look back and be like, yo, these suck!
But you know, I always felt like I had like a soft voice.
And then I would find the right song
that I think would sound good
and I was like, oh, interesting.
Me tryin' to belt and do runs and all that stuff, like,
I was not, I would like, yell.
I didn't know how to do it, you know?
But I definitely found the confidence in just like,
recording in the studio like,
I think that's when it was like, okay, like,
you're kinda like rappy-singing, like, this is different.
I'm not a freakin' Beyonce, but my voice is different
and that's when I started to love it
'cause I can incorporate the rap into the singing
and then the falsetto with the throwback,
R&B like soft chill vibes, so I definitely found my voice
with just playin' around with different records
and you know, yeah, vibin'.
So how do you feel, pops?
We're about to go to New York!
To go meet the entire label of Def Jam!
How do you feel? - Excited!
- There was so many people and opinions and people like,
no, you need to stick to pop, you need to be
a straight Latin artist, only do Latin music,
and you need to be sexy and you need to do this,
you need to put hair in, you need to,
just so many opinions!
That's the industry, though, like,
I'm glad I went with Def Jam 'cause that was like,
a label that let me kind of still find myself
and then I ended up really just tappin' into that
hip-hop and R&B, what I really loved,
not bein' influenced by nobody else's opinions and stuff, so
that's the industry for ya.
As a songwriter, I never really got into like,
okay, I'm gonna sit down and write a song
for this artist in mind, like, I never did that.
If I ever had a song, like, that got placed
it was because it was a song for me
and I just ended up not wanting it.
I don't know if you guys know, I co-wrote the "Dinero"
record for J-Lo and that was a record for me!
If I was collaborating with a songwriter,
I would more so like, let them do everything
in a sense, and then I would like,
kinda tap in here and there but now I'm like,
nah, I'ma do everything myself.
This is my music, like, I'm very passionate about my music
and my message, too, 'cause I don't know,
I just don't feel right, like,
signing somethin' that I didn't even,
like, I wasn't a part of, so everything I do
I'm definitely a part of, and it's like 100% me.
People be tryin' to say, like, "oh, you popped off
off the Keke Challenge" and I'm like, well,
if you look at the dates and look at everything I had
before that, nah, I've been doin' this.
(laughing)
So, I already had my E.P. "Summer With Friends" out
which had the song "All I Know"
which did very well, which was playin' on the radio,
you know what I'm sain', it wasn't like, you know, huge
but it definitely gave me recognition as an artist
but that definitely like, boosted up everything.
I was about to go on tour with Teyana Taylor
and open up for her and I was like, dang,
I wanna make like, 20,000 more followers before I go on tour
and just see what I could do
and then I did a, doin' the Keke Challenge
and ended up gettin' 200,000 followers in one day
and I was like, okay, that's God.
The Keke Challenge helped me break "Lil Bebe"
because all eyes were on me at that point.
♪ Ay, my lil' Bebe ♪
♪ Change your life yeah ♪
♪ There's a upgrade ♪
♪ On your ice, yeah ♪
♪ Oh, yeah yeah ♪
I mean, at that time, I definitely feel like the plan,
my album, was okay, this is my very first album ever out
to the world, so I definitely put in my time with that
and I tried to make sure it was like, versatile.
I didn't want anyone to be like, oh she sounds like this,
she sounds like that, I wanted it to sound
so catered to me and I think I really did that, like,
I had my R&B joints in there, I got my trap joints in there
it was just confident, like, majority of the songs
would just make you feel good and I'm like,
okay, that's who I am, so, yeah, that felt like
I definitely did a great first album in my career.
If it was a snap judgement
it would just be me working, like,
that's why it was called "The Plan" 'cause I was just like,
the plan is to make it in the game so that's all I was on
was my grind, like, I worked so hard.
It was a dream collab to work with Chris Brown.
♪ Make you feel lucky, lucky ♪
♪ Make you wanna love me, love me ♪
♪ Baby when you with me, with me, got no worries ♪
People be tellin' me, like, "you like a female Chris Brown"
I hear it all the time!
♪ Let me catch a vibe, let's just take our time ♪
♪ Just relax your mind ♪
♪ And take it easy ♪
I had the opportunity to have a music video
with Chris Brown, what are we gonna be doin'?
Dancing, period.
Of course.
Performing is like, my favorite thing to do.
And it takes a lot of work, like, I work out a lot
'cause dancing and singing is not easy.
Beyonce is like, the GOAT at doin' that,
I still don't know how she sounds so perfect
'cause I still haven't gotten to that place
with sounding good, I still be runnin' outta breath a lot,
takes a lot to be a good performer.
♪ Levi high jeans, sittin' right, keep that ass up ♪
♪ Instagram flex, basic gettin' gassed up ♪
♪ In my face, boy bye, back up ♪
♪ I'm a city girl it's only right that I act up ♪
Oo, second album tea.
I'm hype!
Second album gonna really take me there,
it's gonna take me there.
I'm at a place in my career where people are listening now
so I have the chance that all doors are open
and people are really gonna tune in and everything
so I think I did what I could with this album,
it's my love story, it's, you know,
I'm a big, big lover so you will hear that,
you will hear bullshit as well,
because that's what I be goin' through,
so yeah I got a lotta different vibes.
I definitely brought R&B Dani like,
I think the album starts with that vibe, for sure.
And then I got my, you know, bops, my trap joints
that'll get you up and ready but
nah, it's a good vibe, like,
it's a lotta different variations of the,
the production is crazy, shout out to all my producers.
And then now, I've had so much time 'cause quarantine,
I've had so much time to just sit down and think creatively,
like, how I'ma do this visually.
I've created a movie.
(Latin guitar music)
We're in D.R., we landed, it's crazy,
I'm thinkin' about the first time I came here
I was eight years old.
Now I'm 25, I'm hype.
I literally did a movie, so, this was like one of my dreams
I always wanted to do this 'cause I felt like
I'm definitely a visual artist,
so the fact that I got to create a visual album
is everything and everything I ever wanted
so I know that's gonna just take it all the way
to the next level, too, people are gonna be like,
damn, like, Dani could really do a lot.
Like, she could do it all in the sense of just like,
acting and like, I'm dancin' in it for sure,
I'm fly in it, like, I'm giving you everything
that I can offer from myself.
I'll never change, like, I really be doin' everything
that I wanna do, like, I would never do something
that is not me, so.
♪ Dominican mami, diamonds they twerkin' like Cardi, yeah ♪
(slinky trap beats)