It’s been four months since we last spoke to Danny Dearden, and he sure has been busy. He released a single with Michael Calfan, titled “It’s Wrong”, which has soared on Spotify; filmed a music video for the said single – which is out very soon; and, dropped a new collaboration, this time with Diviners & ENV, titled “One Love”.
Danny Dearden has been building up his career as a singer-songwriter for a while now and we first became aware of him when he performed as a support act at Yes Lad’s gig in Birmingham at the O2 Academy 3, five months ago. We’ve been following his career since and he’s gaining streams, followers, and fans. He’s certainly gaining the attention he clearly deserves and we’re excited to watch his career to stardom.
We managed to interview Danny Dearden, last week, prior to the release of the music video of “It’s Wrong” with Michael Calfan and the release of his new collaboration single on the Diviners & ENV’s track “One Love”.
Hi Danny, it’s nice to catch up with you again, we hope you are having a great day. What have you been up to recently?
Hi mate. Yeah, it’s good to catch up, I’m good thanks, I hope you are too.
Well, when we last spoke I had just released “Take On The World” with The Holografik, which is doing great. We have nearly 60,000 streams now on Spotify and it peaked at number 5 on the iTunes Singer/Songwriter chart, not quite Ed Sheran levels yet [laughs], but still with zero promotion we are more than happy. Thanks for your support on that one.
Your latest single is a feature on Michael Calfan’s song, titled “It’s Wrong”, how did the collaboration come about?
Michael’s manager was putting together some writing and recording sessions in London. Michael heard my voice and liked it and invited me down. We spent two days in the studio coming up with ideas and melodies, which I later found out was the place where Sam Smith wrote most of his current album, which is pretty cool. We came up with a couple of tracks but “It’s Wrong” felt the best so we went with that one.
What was it like to work with Michael Calfan?
It was amazing working with him. At the time of the first session, when we wrote “It’s Wrong”, I hadn’t had a lot of experience in a studio of that scale, so it was quite nerve-racking, but everyone made me feel at ease. He is one of the most down to earth people I’ve ever met, although it can be difficult at times because he has the strongest French accent I’ve ever heard, that mixed with my Northern/Lancashire/Manc accent we had to repeat ourselves a few times.
The song has over 700,000 Spotify streams, easily being your most streamed track to date. How does it feel to know that the song has been played that many times?
Yeah, it’s mental that amount of streams, we are nearly at three-quarters of a million and we haven’t even started the promotion we have planned yet. Seeing people like Martin Garrix and Martin Solveig add it to their personal playlist is crazy.
The song was written by you, Michael Calfan and Kelli-Leigh, what was the writing process like?
It was fun. I mean working with people like Michael and Kelli-Leigh, who are crazy talented when you haven’t had that much experience was quite scary but it was cool. We all had a laugh and a great time and came out with some cool tracks at the end of it.
What was it like working with Kelli-Leigh? She has a lot of hits behind her, and she even did backing vocals on the track, right?
Well, when I got to the session I had no idea Kelli-Leigh was going to be there. So when I walked in, I was like, sh*t, this is mental. I already knew who she was mainly from her track with Duke Dumont [“I Got U”] and knew how good she was and how much success she has. Her voice is insane and she can write songs like a machine haha.
Is there a music video planned for this single? Can you tell us more about it?
Yes. The music video is coming VERY soon. It’s very tropical. It was filmed in Canada, I hope everyone is going to like it. You can definitely get the last taste of summer watching it.
Next up is your brand new featured single “One Love” by Diviners & ENV, how did this collaboration come about?
So I have worked with Reece (ENV) a few times now and we have done some great tracks together. In this particular session, Reece played me a few tracks he had been sent from various producers and when we heard this one it just stood out to us both. What we heard at the time is very different to how it sounds now but we just knew we had to write to it.
So me and Reece got some ideas down and sent it over to the Diviners lads (Kamil & Kamil) and they loved it, so we finished it off and ended up with “One Love”.
What were Diviners & ENV like to work with?
Brilliant! ENV is hugely talented and brimming with ideas and although, with Diviners, it’s all been over messenger and email, we’ve developed a great relationship. I’d love to do more with them all.
How would you describe this song? And what is it about?
The song has a very summery/ tropical vibe. I’d say it’s a love song basically. I think the world could do with a little more love at the moment. Let’s hope people hear it and only have “One Love” for the track haha (see what I did there, cheeeese).
What makes this song different to your previous releases?
I’d say it’s defiantly more upbeat and happy. Very summery with a cool vibe about it.
What’s next for Danny Dearden? You mentioned in our last interview that more collaborations, as well as your own solo releases, were coming up, can you reveal any more about them?
So over the next month or so I’m going to be concentrating on these two tracks. I have loads of writing sessions planned too with some amazing writers and producers.
Towards the end of the year, I’m going to be releasing another solo track (possibly two) and I also have a track with a big producer in America who has literally sold millions of songs, absolutely mental, which I haven’t told anyone about yet, until now.
And, finally, have you got any advice for artists who are just starting out?
I’d say just keep going for whatever it is you want to achieve. Don’t let nothing or anyone stop you. If you want to be a singer/songwriter just keep writing and writing, work with as many people as you can because that’s how you learn. I’ve learnt the most from working with other people, the best songwriters in the world don’t write hit songs every single day.
I think the most important thing, not just in music, but in everyday life, is to just be nice. The most successful people I have ever met have been completely sound.
Is there anything else you want to say?
I would like to say again a MASSIVE THANK YOU to everyone who is supporting me and my music.
Thank you, Danny Dearden, for this great interview, we are loving the songs that you have released to date, and we cannot wait for more solo music, and that upcoming track which you exclusively mentioned in this interview.
Both singles – “It’s Wrong” and “One Love” by Michael Calfan and Diviners & ENV, respectively – are available to download and stream right now. Danny Dearden has more music on the way towards the end of the year – so look out for that.