American Idol contestant, Dakota Cohen, has just released her new single, ‘No One’, that was made available on all streaming platforms last month. CelebMix had the opportunity to speak to the Idol alum about her new single, the inspiration behind it, her time at Coachella and who she’s most excited about working within the future. Read on to find out more:
Hi Dakota, congratulations on the new EP!
Thank you, thank you so much!
How are you today?
I’m so excited! The whole release has been such a whirlwind because everyone’s been coming out of the woodworks saying: ’oh my god your song is so great!’ I’ve had people who I hadn’t talked to in forever getting in touch with me, so it’s been really fun reconnecting with people and having people reach out to me because of the song.
That’s so good to hear, what was the inspiration behind the song and the writing process?
Well, basically I was hanging out with my friends and I was noticing that we all had issues with boys, you know teenage high school drama and normal stuff that everyone goes through around this time. ‘I hate boys, they suck, they’re stupid…’ And I thought you know what I wanna write a song about this that we could listen to during the times that we’re mad and wanna jam out to a song that talks about what we’re thinking about. So I just started writing things down, like quotes from what we were saying directly into lyrics to what I wanted. I went into the studio the next day and I wrote,’No One’. It took 12-13 hours and it started out with a track and then I just started going into the boots and I started doing a mumble track where I sang whatever came to mind.
What were the highlights of making the song and how did it feel being in the recording studio making your own song?
Yeah, I actually had been to the studio a couple of times before so I felt really comfortable. My friends and I would literally lock ourselves in the room and wouldn’t come out until we finished the song. So I was determined to write this because I had such a good feeling about the track and the story behind it cause it’s so relatable for everyone. I was just determined to finish this song while we were there because the creative juices were flowing. I would go into the booth and write a verse and I’d be sitting there with my headphones and write the next verse or the chorus. It was super fun and creative and it was a time of changing and revamping things while writing the song. Yeah, it was really cool.
So tell me about your time on American Idol! How did it feel being mentored by three of America’s most successful superstars?
It was absolutely amazing, all the judges were so supportive and positive with my music. Every song that I sang on the show I got a standing ovation, which was really cool to see. All the people that I looked up to, Katy Perry, Lionel Richie, Luke Bryan, people of all different genres supporting me and seeing my craft and seeing it as a positive and I feel like I really connected with them and I’m really glad they were the judges this year because they’re so influential in the business right now.
Do you have any advice for those who want to apply for next year’s show?
I’d say if you want to apply for the show next year, you have to be yourself. I think in Hollywood a lot of people assume that if you’re going to be on a show you need to amp up your personality or come up with a story that’s not yours, and I think that if you just stay true to yourself. America will love that and the producers will love that. So yeah just come in and be yourself and don’t try to be anything you’re not.
Amazing, I completely agree! You went to Coachella recently, how was it? Did you have fun?
Oh my gosh, it’s Coachella, how can you not have fun? I went with my friends and we’ve been friends for like ever. We made a full schedule every single day of all the artists we wanted to see, so we were like running, eating, sitting down for like 3 minutes at a time. We met so many different people when you’re waiting for your favourite artist to come out you start talking to people. Everyone’s in such a good mood, there are no mean people at Coachella. It’s so much fun! I wish people were as nice as they are at Coachella in real life because it’s so awesome because music puts you in a good mood. Everyone’s outfits are amazing and the food, oh my god the food is so good, it was like a food tour.
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Who was your favourite artist that you watched perform?
I loved HER, Billie Eilish, Tame Impala, Ariana Grande. I loved Rico Nasty, Bazzi, Sabrina Claudia was absolutely amazing. Ella Mai as well, yeah I think those were my faves.
Love all those people you just mentioned! If you could collaborate with anyone in the industry who would it be?
Definitely Mark Ronson, he’s literally, in my opinion, the best producer out there, as well as Pharrell [Williams] he’s absolutely amazing. Artist-wise, definitely Bruno Mars, he’s a beast and Charlie Puth too!
Amazing! What can we expect from you in the future? Any new songs, any plans for a tour?
Well right now, I have a couple of songs in my back pocket that I’m literally itching to release because I got such a positive response with this one, I’m excited to keep pushing that and also work on a music video ideas for the song. That might be coming out soon. I’m also working on local gigs so that will be over the summer. But I’m still in the works of going on tour and finalizing that.
‘No One’ by Dakota Cohen is out now on all streaming platforms. Listen to the track and let us know your thoughts on Twitter @CelebMix!