Dondria is ready for her moment. The Atlanta singer-songwriter has been in the music industry since she was a teenager. Sixteen years after being discovered by Jermaine Dupri through YouTube, the artist has released her latest EP, Perspective.
Read on to learn more about the project and her career.
How are you feeling after the release of Perspective?
First of all, I’m very excited about this EP. It’s been five years since I dropped my last EP. I think, during that time, I’ve just really grown and become a woman, for real. I started at 19, so there was so much I was unsure about. Like about myself, and what I wanted to create and put out into the world. So, I’m just excited. This project is probably the most
well, not probably, it is the most authentic and most transparent. It’s about me.
Was it difficult being vulnerable on this project?
It started off a little difficult, but this project was intentionally created mainly by me and one of my good friends, Josh Bias. He’s my co-writer, he’s my producer, my executive producer, and my friend. I did have to push myself to be vulnerable, but it wasn’t too difficult because it was somebody who I was already friends with, and it allowed our friendship to blossom more, and he was able to provide those safe spaces for me to just share. Then, we [would] create music. After a long conversation, we might talk for like three hours before we sing a note.
How do you think that friendship translates through the music?
I think any type of authentic connection or conversation, really talking in-depth about whatever subject matter, dissecting it and unpacking it, I think is great for music, because you can really pull from the most authentic place. It’s not just a song you created because you have good melodies, and know how to write a song, but it’s connected to an emotion in a type of esoteric thing with the other person, and I think it translates very well in the music.
What was it like working with Jermaine Dupri?
I think JD is a pretty special guy. I don’t believe that he is similar to, as far as his internal, his mind, the way he thinks, his heart, I don’t think he is like a lot of other people. I’m grateful that my experience was with him coming into this thing from being plugged off the internet not having any clue how any of this works. I’m grateful I got to share that experience with him. I think that he empowered me, for sure. I think he encouraged me and allowed me to make those choices of what I did want and what I didn’t want. I would say it was a safe space. It was more just me wondering if I belonged, or if I deserved what I had.
