Danica Hunter Releases “DIAMOND”, Talks Sharing Stage with Sting & Geno Washington

Danica Hunter is a London-based British singer/songwriter, experimenting with quirky fusions of soul, pop, hip hop, jazz and other genres. She’s already played Reading & Leeds Festival on the BBC Introducing stage, appeared on the Jo Whiley show, and shared the stage with Sting.

‘DiAMOND’, is DANiCA’s most current release. The song was produced by British producer, Nosaappollo, who worked on Craig David’s most recent album. He had started working on the beat but wasn’t sure what to do with it so had put it to the side, but when Hunter heard it she says, “I got very excited as I could just feel there was something unique that we could achieve together with this track. Within a couple of hours we had completely written the track including melody, lyrics etc. The track itself has a breezy, dream-state quality which I love. The combination of soulful vocals, supported by gritty hip hop tones, and laced with Hawaiian, washy electric guitar makes for a quirky mix.”

She says the inspiration for ‘DiAMOND’ was seeing that:

“Although there’s a lot of darkness and suffering in the world at the moment, that we must not forget that we are here to be our unique selves – and shine our own light (and love) in the darkness. It’s about each and every one of us letting our light and energy reflect outwards and sharing that luminosity with other people – as in the song lyrics ‘you’re just like a diamond…..shine your light on me.'”

The video is directed by DANiCA, and shot by Alex Odam, who has worked for the likes of “House of Pharoes” – an upcoming London act. About the creation of the video, she says, “we went far and wide to get some good shots. We started out by playing around with the idea of light and dark, ‘diamond reflecting’, so went down to Stratford in East London where they have lots of interesting night light and took it from there. I also knew I wanted to shoot amongst all the graffiti and interesting characters on their skateboards. I wanted to move between harsh and soft images, so going from the skate park to the moving willows – and from dark to light.”

Girl Gang Music got to ask her a few questions…

GGM: How do you get over fears to create fearlessly?
When you are doing the kind of experimental work that I am, it can be a little scary! Your fan base expects something similar to your last track and can be disappointed when it’s completely different. Luckily for me that hasn’t happened hardly at all and now they are excited at what new project I am going to come up with next. My music is my own expression of me in the world and should feel good to me to do – and in no way forced. I don’t plan too much in my creative process – I like to go with the flow and see where it takes me.

GGM: What’s one thing most people don’t know about you?
Most people that know me know that I wear my heart on my sleeve and I’m very true to myself. What they might not know is just how hard I work to reach my goals in my music career. I have various jobs that I do behind the scenes just to fund my music. I’ve also had to do a fair share of sofa surfing to make sure I can be in the right place at the right time. I’m literally that girl in the Human League song ‘Don’t You Want Me’ where she sings ‘I was working in a waitress in a cocktail bar when I met you…..’ Something else people may not know about me is that I’ve shared the stage with legends such as Sting and Geno Washington – a great inspiration. Another thing they might now know is that at one BBC Introducing event at the famous Abbey Road Studios in London (where The Beatles were famously photographed crossing the zebra crossing), I volunteered to sing acapela in front of industry professionals, and was live streamed to a huge audience – it was totally unplanned and I must have been mad but I knew I had to grasp the moment.

GGM: How has being a woman in the industry affected your career – if it has at all?
That’s a difficult question as I really don’t know how different it would have been as a man. I’m fiercely independent and definitely have some strong points of view in the creative process so I can deal with what comes my way. But yes there’s still a lot of male energy in the industry but that’s no bad thing as long as there is mutual respect with whoever you work with – the balance of male and female energy is unbeatable when in balance.

Danica Hunter’s Girl Gang Music Picks

“They’re not exactly obscure but I do love both Grimes and Kali Uchis. However my very favourite artist of all time was Amy Winehouse – she left a huge impression as an artist, and on me in particular.”

Grimes