Upcoming female artist Dazen is living the reality of what it’s like to live the exciting life of a recording artist. With all the excitement sadly comes some struggles along the way. Dazen, formerly known as Angela, is a music artist born and raised in the city of Los Angeles. She is making music for the baddies and her main goal is to inspire others and to use her voice to spread her message.
Dazen invited us to the recording studio where she recorded her music with an intern engineer she has worked with in the past, KLK GOLDO, also known as Anthony. She had dreamed about wanting to be a singer since she was in the 7th grade where she has many influences.
“I was in love with 2pac so just the form of the way he made his music and the purpose like it wasn’t just for money it was to get a message out there and that really inspired me!” Smiled Dazen as she was sitting in front of the monitors.
Feeling touched by the music she grew up listening to, she also felt the need to express herself through a pen and paper.
“It’s crazy because I was so bad in the beginning,” said Dazen, “It’s crazy to me because truly if you keep doing something you will get better. I still have some of them [old songs]. It’s really embarrassing to look back but it’s stuff you want to keep.”
Although initially wanting to be a singer, she soon realized her heart truly belonged with rap, knowing that it could hold a deeper meaning and hopes to be that inspiring artist for another young person.
Dazen began to pursue rap when she was 18 and made her way to a studio a friend had introduced her to near her home in Montebello, Mixwizards. She has been going there and working with the same engineer, Bobby, owner of the studio.
She had her first show back in 2018.
In the year of 2021, Dazen had dropped about 9 songs on Soundcloud before having her first performance that same year. However, this is when she began to feel the realities that come along with the music industry. The excitement of a first show, but the nervousness of whether her art was ready for the world.
“Every performance, even now, I feel like you always get in your head,” pondered Dazen, “I even went by myself so it was even more trippier but I was still at that point where I was like ‘I don’t know if i”m ready for people to see this yet.’”
Despite questioning whether or not her sound was ready, she doesn’t let that discourage her from turning her dream into reality. She continued seeking out shows to perform in and has been really pushing her limits this year with already having done 3 performances thus far.
Slowly but surely she began to believe in her music and herself. She even began letting her friends know of the shows to let them attend to hype her up.
“It’s really funny cause 2 shows ago I feel like I was not vibing with the crowd at all but I had my bestie there and my bestie was turning up, God bless her heart!” exclaimed Dazen.
She continued, “You’re gonna have moments where you’re like ‘Shit, am i dog shit or what?’ But honestly at the end of the day, you don’t know. Some people aren’t that open to dancing and turning up, some people are shy too so it’s kinda like you never really know.”
As an artist, Dazen has a vision of what she hopes her music will sound like, however it doesn’t always turn out that way. In her responses, you can hear the passion she has for her sound.
“Your body is like an instrument so you have to be at that level or capacity to actually put that out there,” Dazen said truthfully, “Sometimes I don’t hit notes, sometimes I gotta use autotune, I’m not even gonna lie.”
She also went on to talk about the anxiousness of being a woman in a male dominated industry. Even during her first show, she noticed she was the only girl performing. Since then, she still only knows 2 other female artists, 1 being her best friend.
“I noticed that they try to have at least 1 girl performing…but It’s more difficult, I feel overlooked sometimes,” said Dazen silently.
She then became aware that in a male dominated field women are gonna get overshadowed sometimes.
Being the only women performing can also increase preshow anxiety.
Although music is her passion it isn’t the only thing she is striving for. While making music she is also working at a chiropractor office and going to school to study social work.
“I love making music but my mom always told me to have a plan b. Cause you know you might not always make it. So im going to school right now and ima gonna transfer.” Responded Dazen
Dazen continues to strive to be the best that she can be will being a hard working girl boss doing everything she can to make music.
Nonetheless, Dazen found that it’s the little things like vibing with your crowd that makes it all worth it in the end. The small interactions she gets before and during her performances, the matching energies when they catch her vibe.
She also noted that her favorite thing about performing is finally ending one, “That feeling at the end when you’re like ‘Oh my god, I feel like I did pretty well,’ and a lot of people come up to you like ‘Yo, you did really good.’ It’s just such a euphoric feeling because I stress about it for like 2 weeks prior and once I do it, it’s like all this adrenaline.”
Dazen is a hard working artist who makes it a point to drop new music and perform on her days off from the office.
“I try to release once every month. Next performance is on the 13th of April!” She shares.
She is a versatile music artist of this generation where she doesn’t limit herself on exploring new sounds. You’re able to find her on her SoundCloud under Dazen! Check out and listen to her latest release ‘berzerk’.
