Q: Your lyrics discuss the way many feel when they enter a new relationship. Walk me through your writing process in making the track.
Dani Twice: Well, it is interesting because I wrote this in October when I briefly dated someone I never spoke to after a week. The song lay dormant until March when Johnny began Mixing it and by the time I was getting ready to produce the music video, I met this amazing girl that I fell for and turned what seemed like not very meaningful lyrics started to manifest in front of me quite literally. I was having trouble melting my walls down and found myself more than once being too cold and reserved. Luckily, we’ve made it past all that and we’re happily together.
Q: I love the way you fuse different genres, blending elements of EDM, R&B, and rap together. What was your creative process in making “Too Cold”?
Dani Twice: Thank you! Well, I met my friend Johnny Wylie in Las Vegas at our work. We both work at a Video Games Studio where he is a producer and composer and from the very start, he taught me so much about production, my stuff leveled up so fast. He is really the only person I know in real life that has mentored my music and we have collaborated on a lot in unreleased projects. What you hear is us mixing our styles in a deep collaboration. He brought in the next gen EDM, I brought in the Melodic Rap and together we made TOO COLD!
Q: The production on “TOO COLD!” is awesome! What did you enjoy most about making this track?
Dani Twice: Thank you! I loved the fact that I did not have to worry about the production mixing and mastering on this one, I could focus on making melodies and lyrics and that complimented Johnny’s amazing production. Also directing the music video was awesome. When I’m an old fart I wanna direct movies or video game movies.
Q: How has being raised in Seattle where the music scene is so huge affected the way you create music? Did you grow up always loving music?
Dani Twice: Yeah, Seattle was a great city to go to high school and college. I reminisce a lot about going to the Vera Project and hanging out with my friends in local rock bands, sometimes I would be the guest “Rapper”. Overall the Northwest has been as influential nowadays in contemporary music, but I think it’s all becoming much more global so where you’re from doesn’t matter so much. I mean, I don’t think I’m from Seattle or Colombia or Florida, I’m just a human from the world.
Q: Which musicians do you admire and why?
Dani Twice: Tyler the creator always inspired me because I had such a complex about not being categorized or boxed in, I was not a rapper or a visual artist or whatever. I just wanted to create, and he was proof you could unapologetically do you by yourself. Self-sufficiency is my bread and butter. Shout out other independent artists that inspire me like Russ, Kanye, and JMSN.
Q: What has been one of the highlights of your music career so far?
Dani Twice: This release for sure. I mean, I’ve connected with people from all over the world. I’ve had friendships built with people in places I dream of seeing. I feel every release is an improvement and I’m also very thankful that I’m no longer alone making everything. I feel like people around me are becoming my team and adding part of themselves into this and it’s beautiful.
Q: How has graduating from college as a 3D artist made an impact in your music career?
Dani Twice: Wow, nice question, well I cannot seem to make any content that does not involve 3D animation into my music videos, I think it is because I’m kind of a frugal person by nature and so I have wild ideas and what’s the best way to make mundane things look cool? Just add cool effects, you know! The only cost is time (it is very time consuming) but literally in every release, I’ve learned a new program and a new thing. Nowadays everything you need to learn is in your fingertips. I’ve learned way more by myself than at school though shoutout to DigiPen, they do their thing.
Q: As I said earlier, I love the way you fuse multiple genres in such a smooth way. In your own words, how would you describe the music that you typically create?
Dani Twice: I used to call it something I hope isn’t pretentious but it’s like Latin Alternative Hip Hop. I know TOO COLD! stays away from that and I do always try to change things up lately. I wanna adventure into more melodic organic sounds but yeah, I spent a lot of time developing a way to incorporate classic sounds like Salsa and Cumbia into modern music. I guess my music has more broadly, a mix of that soft vs gritty sound and very honest lyrics.
Q: What advice would you give to beginner musicians who are trying to get their name out there?
Dani Twice: Man, I would just say don’t focus on numbers focus on people. Try your hardest to give people something that you would find cool, don’t try to take from people just give, give and give some more because there will be people that support you for you. Oh and don’t push it on friends and family because the chances that the music you make is actually the type of music they like is just not statistically high. Your music has like millions of people in the world that would LOVE it, it’s just your job to find them. The world is a big place.
Q: Do you have any upcoming projects after this release?
A: I don’t have anything planned yet. I’m going to spend more time with my family and my girlfriend, get into some crypto and make more and more music for the fun of it. If I do, I’ll let you guys know. Thank you for your time!
Interviewed by Melissa Cusano
