Get to know Dawn Richard
The singer forging an ambitious solo career after turning her back on Puff Daddy
“Game Of Thrones’n’b” is how Richard, originally from New Orleans but now living in Baltimore, explains her fantastical music. “The inspiration was Joan of Ark: the naive warrior going into battle.” The theme for album #3 is red, with Machinedrum and Kingdom on board to provide “vibrancy”.
“This story has to be told sonically, and I feel like the BPM of electronic music does that,” she says. “Chicago footwork and the spatial sounds Kingdom makes –
they connect my story to a sound.”
The freedom to express yourself is explicitly political in a world where the forces of conservatism often seem to be in the ascendancy. Richard, who has a large gay following, says she will address that notion on the record. “Red is about handling things unapologetically and with aggression. You should be able to say what you feel and be who you are.”
The same applies to her own career: proof there’s life beyond the mainstream, if you have the audacity to dream.
‘Cali Sun’ by Dawn Richard is out now on MBK/RED
