Q: This single is quite personal, from seeing the protestors in the last year for George Floyd, this song provides a sad reality that we all have felt throughout this last year. Elaborate on some of the lyrics you wrote and how this song has affected you?
DP888: The whole lyrics revolves around the feelings that I was going through when I was witnessing the Black Lives Matter movement last year. I believe this song conveys the struggles and the cries of the unprivileged people—regardless of in what way the people are unprivileged in. In George Floyd incident’s case, it was the systematic racism that was the root cause of the struggle and the pain of the public. And through writing this lyrics, I was able to understand the protestors’ side a little more deeply and even experience the burden that was weighing down on the their shoulders a little more realistically, although at the end of the day, it was only just a virtual experience that I was able to have.
My favorite lyrics is on the very last part of the song; but in fact, it is not my original lyrics. It is an excerpt from Mavis Nicholson’s interview with James Baldwin in 1987, where he touched on various perplexing topics such as love, sexuality, and social injustice.
I won’t talk further about the excerpt since I believe it speaks for itself and needs no explanation. If you haven’t heard it yet, make sure to check out the very last part of the song. It speaks about love and our legacy, which are what we need the most in the times of chaos and uncertainty.
Q: Was there a pivotal moment in your life when you decided to follow your path as a musician?
DP888: There are three moments that comes to my mind right now.
The first moment was when I first stepped into DJing world when I was in middle school. That was when I got to learn about my love and passion for music for the first time.
The second moment was in 2017, when I completely broke down mentally and physically. I was no longer able to operate in life without getting constant panic attacks and suicidal thoughts. It was a result of a mixture of things, mainly unhealed traumas. I had to take a break from my academic life and my social life, the two biggest things that were defining me at the time. It was time to get back to basics, and that time helped me to once again remember what I truly loved doing since I was young, music.
The third moment was when my friend and a rapper Woojin invited me to his studio and asked me to jump on one of his songs that he was making for his upcoming mixtape [WOOJIN]. That was in 2018. It was always in my mind since I started DJing that I one day would like to make my own songs just like all these cool musicians. And that day when Woojin called me to hop on his song as a featuring artist was the day when my dream came true. Since then on, I never stopped making my own music.
Q: With over 3,500 monthly listeners on spotify, you’ve been finding pretty good success! What are your goals as an artist for the next year?
DP888: My goal is to continue building my fan base and releasing new music, while improving myself, both as Daniel and as dp888.
Since the release of this double single, I have garnered 10,000+ monthly listeners on Spotify until now. I am humbled by it and grateful for it, and I plan to use that as an additional motivation to keep going.
Q: Where do you draw your inspiration from?
DP888: I draw my inspiration from everything. I try to be open to whatever comes into play in my life because it is from those daily experiences that my inspiration stems out of—no matter how minuscule the experience seems like at the moment . And at the same time, I make sure I know what I am feeling and thinking while experiencing those things.
The experiences themselves and the feelings and thoughts that I get out of these experiences are the sources of true creation…for me.
Q: Do you write your own songs or is there a collaborator that you enjoy working with consistency?
DP888: Most of the time, I write my own melodies and lyrics but I always try to ask my friends for some feedback after recording and doing a brief mixing of it. Thankfully, I have friends who always try to give me their most honest opinions whenever I ask them for some, and this really helps me in improving my musical competence.
Nowadays, I am getting into contacts with several producers, so I hope I will be able to collaborate with one of them in the near future. In fact, I think it will happen real soon.
Q: What can we expect from you next?
DP888: As dp888, I am going to come back with new songs involving new genres of music that I never touched upon until now, new music videos, and new creative contents. And as who I truly am, Daniel Peck that is, I am going to continue evolving and elevating. So please expect to see my continuing all-round growth 😉
Interviewed by Stephanie Pankewich
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