(Photograph: Acacia Evans)
Nashville artist Dana Rogers goes by the stage identify “daena” – and her debut album Alter Ego feels destined to make a whole lot of “Better of 2024” lists.
The brand new album is a showcase not only for daena’s excellent songwriting however for her extremely versatile voice as nicely. It’s arduous to convey tenderness, however daena is a grasp at it. Songs like “Fortunate Quantity” and “Bri” are intimate and touching.
But the album has loads of uptempo delights, too – just like the album’s title track that has a Sabrina Carpenter-style Large Refrain.
We spoke with daena in regards to the new album and her plans to put it up for sale:
“Fortunate Quantity” is SO stunning and seems like successful to my ears. What’s the backstory on this nice track?
Thanks a lot! This one is certainly one of the crucial particular on the album to me. My fiancée and I are getting married in April, and by the point we do, we’ll have been collectively for 10 years. However, once I wrote this track we had been about to hit our 7-year relationship anniversary. Nearly in a single day, I felt a shift and realized that not solely did I need to spend the remainder of my life along with her, however I used to be truly prepared to get engaged and begin the following chapter of our life collectively.
I wished to jot down about how the perfect love doesn’t should be grandiose or over-the-top to be stunning. And that protected, comfy love can preserve getting higher and higher 12 months after 12 months. I got here to my co-writer Kate Yeager with the thought, and after speaking each about my future in-laws’ love of playing (LOL) and the comfortable and candy approach we love our respective companions day-to-day, we discovered our option to “Fortunate Quantity”.
“Bri” can also be a really particular track. What led to you writing that one?
This was a tricky one to jot down. I wrote it as an apology to my childhood finest pal, Bri, at a time once I felt like I hadn’t been pretty much as good a pal as I ought to have been to her. I feel it’s arduous for anybody to confess one thing like that, and it truly took me a number of years to jot down. There’s an early model of the track from round 2018 that I then dropped at my co-writer Kären McCormick in 2022, and he or she helped me form it into what you hear on the report. And sure – Bri and I are STILL finest pals! I’ve by no means as soon as anxious that we wouldn’t be. I feel it’s only a testomony to how robust our friendship and belief with one another is, and I’m so fortunate that she gave me her blessing to launch this one.
Will you be doing any reveals this fall to advertise the brand new album?
I simply had my album launch present final Friday at The Lipstick Lounge in Nashville, which was an absolute blast! I’m nonetheless driving the excessive and should say I’m type of itching to plan some extra now… so preserve your eyes peeled on my social media for any new dates being introduced.