Damiano David is releasing his debut solo album, ‘FUNNY little FEARS’ this Friday, May 16th, and the Italian singer shares why he transitioned from a band to going solo, songwriting with his girlfriend, Dove Cameron, working with Labrinth on “Silverlines,” going on tour and more!
Are you excited for ‘FUNNY little FEARS?’ Let us know in the comments below!
Are you excited for ‘FUNNY little FEARS?’ Let us know in the comments below!
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MusicTranscript
00:00Sometimes she writes things that I want to steal and I'm mad at her.
00:05There's one song that she has that I really wish I wrote it.
00:09Future, my number one spot on the Billboard chart.
00:13Putting it into the existence, it's happening.
00:15Everything he says comes true, so here it is.
00:17Yeah, you know, you gotta manifest.
00:19So no one missed anything yet?
00:21No, I don't think so. No.
00:23Watch us find out.
00:25I probably missed something.
00:30Hey, everybody. It's Rania Niftos with Billboard News,
00:35and I'm so excited to be here today with Damiano David.
00:38Welcome.
00:39Hello.
00:40What an exciting time for you.
00:41I mean, you're gearing up for your next musical era.
00:45You've released three singles so far.
00:47Next Summer, Born with a Broken Heart and Silver Lines.
00:50So tell me a bit about how you're choosing to release these singles
00:55to kind of introduce this musical era for you.
00:59For me, it's literally all about like instinct and feelings.
01:04These were the first three songs I wrote for the record.
01:08Oh.
01:09So it's kind of funny that are actually the singles,
01:11but I didn't know at the beginning,
01:14but I always felt like the songs were strong,
01:17and since the beginning I knew they were going to be part of the record.
01:21And again, there's not much strategy around it.
01:25It's literally like a feeling.
01:27I like this, I release it.
01:28I mean, I love that.
01:29That's the way to go.
01:30Yeah.
01:31Because it keeps it fun for you, too.
01:32Yeah.
01:33And it keeps it authentic.
01:34And speaking of authentic, each of these three singles,
01:38while they are different in a lot of ways,
01:40they still sound like you, but you're clearly exploring.
01:43What was that like getting in the studio and working out different sounds
01:46and kind of introducing Damiano to people?
01:49That was very fun.
01:50It was a new practice for me,
01:53because I was used to kind of know the sound that we wanted with the band,
01:58and we might disagree on how to get it,
02:01but we all wanted to get the same thing.
02:03Well, in this case, I knew what I was capable of,
02:07but I didn't know how I wanted to translate.
02:11So I had the chance to try a bunch of different things
02:14and see what I was most attracted to.
02:18Yeah.
02:19So I think, yeah, there's a lot of variety.
02:21Also in the songs that didn't make the record,
02:23there's a lot of variety, but it was a very fun experiment to do.
02:26A hundred percent.
02:27I mean, you got to work with such cool people.
02:29Silver Lines is produced by Labyrinth,
02:31who is an incredible producer and singer and artist.
02:35What was that like being in the studio with him?
02:37That was a blessing.
02:39I've been following his music for many years.
02:44I remember being in London at the presentation of one of his records,
02:48so it was really a full circle moment.
02:51It was a special.
02:52Your debut album, Funny Little Fears, super personal.
02:55You talked about a little bit on Instagram.
02:57You said, sometimes I'm still scared, but I wrote myself a manual,
03:01and I hope you find it helpful too.
03:03Tell me a bit about what it's capturing for you right now.
03:07The record is really about this moment of my life
03:10where I found myself really blocked by my fears and by my dynamics,
03:17and the album was a way to face them and to get over it.
03:21And so looking back, it's kind of the narration of this whole process for me
03:27through some of my life experiences.
03:30But then on a more general level, it's really like about taking our fears
03:36and taking our negative sides and stop hiding them,
03:42because also together with our positive things are what makes us who we are,
03:47and we should be somehow proud of it, especially when we're able to heal from it and to get over it,
03:53and also looking back at it to kind of smile at it and kind of make them smaller, make them funny,
04:00because it's just a moment of our life that gets us to the next stage.
04:04Speaking of something that could have been fearful for you, you were in a band,
04:08and now you're stepping out as a solo artist and showing people on your own who you are.
04:14How did you get over, I guess, that fear and were able to have that vulnerability
04:19as you're starting to express yourself musically?
04:23I don't think I can really answer in how I did it.
04:28I think that I was lucky and unlucky at the same time to live a very fast and intense life,
04:36so I experienced many, many things and like on a certain level more things than the people of my age.
04:45So it's weird because I didn't even know that I was like sad or doing the wrong things
04:54and I came to a point where really like my brain and body started suggesting me
04:58and I think that's because I had many experiences and at the end of it all I was able to kind of read the signals.
05:05But I think that in general it's all a matter of experiences and you find yourself understanding,
05:16not even knowing why or when, it just happens.
05:20Yeah, and I guess along those lines do you have any advice for fans that might be going through
05:24kind of that realization right now that something's not right and they want to feel better
05:28or they want to go through that healing process but it seems scary maybe?
05:32I think that we tend to think that we're alone in our pain and in our problems
05:37while it's 90% of the times there's thousands of people with our same problems experiencing our same feelings
05:45and I think that's why we connect with music, art, whatever because it's just like describing that situation
05:52and somehow we're not even able to describe how we're feeling and we have to rely on somebody else's words.
05:58I don't think I have many advices.
06:02Yeah, that's great advice already.
06:04Yeah, just take it easy and take your time.
06:06A hundred percent.
06:07And I mean speaking, I like that you said that a lot of these feelings are universal.
06:11So many people feel these things and I noticed that something that stuck out to me was in your next summer music video.
06:24And the concept behind it of being a prisoner in someone's mind and then coming face to face with that older version of yourself.
06:31Tell me about the concept of that and why it was important to tell that story.
06:35The song comes from an experience that I had where I at the end of it found myself holding on to the memory of it
06:42even if it was not positive for me but it was the last connection I had to that moment of my life
06:48and I kind of didn't want to let go.
06:50I kind of want to stop time and live there.
06:53But then if you do that you eventually come to face what could have been if you were free
06:59and that's what the video is about and that's what the song is about.
07:02It was a way for me to remember that moment of my life and describe it and again look at it like it was a picture to know which mistakes not to repeat.
07:15Absolutely.
07:16It's a reminder.
07:17Holding yourself accountable.
07:18Yeah, it's a reminder.
07:19It's a reminder.
07:20I get it.
07:21And then also you teased the album title in that music video.
07:25Are there Easter eggs that you're continuing to put out that maybe people didn't notice yet or how clever have you been with it?
07:33No, that was my highest clever.
07:36That was your biggest one?
07:37Okay.
07:38So no one missed anything yet?
07:39No, I don't think so.
07:41Watch us find out in a couple weeks he hit something.
07:45I probably missed something.
07:46I probably missed something.
07:47I love that.
07:48Who were some of your inspirations while you were creating it?
07:51I think there's so many.
07:53It's like 26 years of listening to music.
07:56So many of that I'm not even aware of where I stole from.
08:01But I don't know what we were writing.
08:04It's more from the songwriters that were like, this gives me a keen vibe.
08:09Early killers.
08:11I don't know.
08:14Strokes.
08:15Love them.
08:16A lot of stuff.
08:18So many good artists that you just named so far.
08:21Good company.
08:22We get from the good ones, of course.
08:24100%.
08:25I mean, you're bringing also the album on the road.
08:27How exciting to tour this material.
08:30I mean, what are you most looking forward to as you head off into live shows for this?
08:35I mean, seeing people face to face while the live reaction, it's always different.
08:42There's no amount of tweets that can match it.
08:46And also, I think it's like the cherry on top of a project.
08:50You know, you do all the writing, the promo, et cetera, et cetera.
08:54But I think that the confirmation of it all comes to life when you tour
08:59and when you play live.
09:00So it's a beautiful moment.
09:02You get to see people that are really willing to spend their time with you, for you.
09:08So it's very special.
09:11It's also beautiful to know that I have the chance to do a world tour and bring my music to so many different cultures.
09:18It's going to be fun.
09:19Is there a song that you're excited to see how people react to it live?
09:23Honestly, all of them.
09:25Yeah.
09:26There's one specific.
09:27It's called Tango, which is like this very, very uptempo, uplifting music.
09:33Fun.
09:34And the lyrics are like extremely dark and sad.
09:36Oh.
09:37Got it.
09:38I'm excited.
09:39Yeah.
09:40I want to see like people realize the lyrics while the vibe and being like dancing and then be like, oh, maybe I shouldn't.
09:46That hit.
09:47Yeah.
09:48Maybe I shouldn't be dancing.
09:49But it's just a funny game.
09:50You dance through the pain.
09:51That's how it works.
09:52It's just a funny game.
09:53I love that.
09:54Yeah.
09:55And I mean, are you planning on having any of your Monaskin band members join you at any point or come to see you?
10:01Why not?
10:02If they want to come.
10:03I think they want time off.
10:04Yeah.
10:05They're tired.
10:06They're like, it's your tour.
10:07You do it.
10:08But if they want to come, of course.
10:09Have you been sharing the music with them at all?
10:11Yeah.
10:12Yeah.
10:13Early stages.
10:14Early, early stages of the music.
10:15It was still demos and not all of it.
10:18But yeah.
10:19I mean, how special to have that support system like as you go through this.
10:23It's people who know you musically and personally and have them, you know, have your back as you go through this.
10:28Sure.
10:29Also like all the experiences that we went through and like we did this job for quite a while together.
10:35So that gave me a lot of a big shield.
10:39Yeah.
10:40I'm more prepared.
10:41I mean, speaking of support too, I mean the wonderful Dove Cameron.
10:44We've had her here.
10:45You guys have been dating.
10:46You're incredible.
10:47And she is a brilliant songwriter and talent.
10:51Very good.
10:52So what's it like kind of going through that process with her?
10:55Because she's working on an album now.
10:57You're working on an album now.
10:58How do you like bounce ideas off each other like that?
11:01We always share ideas.
11:03We always play each other's music.
11:05Especially like it was very fun to have been writing our albums together.
11:12Sometimes she writes things that I want to steal.
11:16Honestly.
11:17And I'm mad at her.
11:18There's one song that she has that I really wish I wrote it.
11:22Little remix on the horizon.
11:24You can do a little duet version.
11:25No.
11:26It's too early.
11:27It's too early.
11:28We gotta get old.
11:29But no, it's beautiful to have someone that really understands the process.
11:34It's also like the way we do it.
11:36It's very similar.
11:37We are both very like instinct based and we put feelings in a very primary spot.
11:46So it's beautiful to have a person that you don't really have to explain anything to.
11:51And she just gets it.
11:53And it's fun.
11:54She's a great musician.
11:55It's beautiful to have her opinion.
11:58We haven't write together yet because we're lazy and we don't wanna influence each other.
12:06But also like we both have this thing that once the album is done we don't really wanna
12:11keep writing music because you gave all of it.
12:14You give burnout.
12:15Yeah.
12:16You gave all of it and it's kind of torturing yourself.
12:19You're forcing something that isn't natural.
12:21Yeah, exactly.
12:22And also I think again you guys are both on instinct.
12:24If the time comes, I'm sure it'll come naturally.
12:26It's something that has to be planned.
12:27Yeah.
12:28You know what I mean?
12:29And I mean on a separate note, already you walked in.
12:32We were all like obviously he came in with the coolest outfit ever because you really
12:37know how to express yourself so beautifully through fashion.
12:40Where do you get that confidence to just I guess wear things that maybe people didn't
12:45think of before?
12:46Oh my God.
12:47I never thought of myself as like this avant-garde fashion.
12:51You are.
12:52I literally just wear what makes me feel good in that moment where I think fits my mind
12:59state in that moment and what I think fits the music.
13:03I think I'm lucky because I have the chance to work with people that really take care of
13:09this for me and with me.
13:11So I'm very helped.
13:12Yeah.
13:13And again, I work with people that I consider my friends.
13:17So I know that every time the job is going to be done especially for me and to make me
13:22feel good and not to, I don't know, do weird stuff.
13:26So I don't know.
13:27For me it's literally about feeling good and wearing what I like.
13:33Yeah.
13:34I mean honestly this whole conversation too is so inspiring for me because I'm someone
13:37who's trying to trust my instinct more and more because it's never led me astray but
13:41I need to keep trusting it.
13:43So I mean talking to you through that is so special because it really feels like everything
13:48that you do based on how you feel works out and that's so special and you're so lucky in
13:53that way.
13:54If it doesn't work out at least you know you can.
13:56You try.
13:57You can.
13:58And also like it's your responsibility.
13:59Yeah.
14:00You cannot blame anything or anyone else.
14:02You're more in control.
14:03Right.
14:04And what lesson do you want fans to take away from your album Funny Little Fears?
14:09I don't know.
14:10I just hope they like it.
14:11They will.
14:12I'm sure they already loved it.
14:13I hope they like it.
14:14I hope that again through my experiences they can maybe learn a little more about themselves
14:20even.
14:21That would be the biggest gift.
14:24I love that.
14:25And lastly one last question.
14:27What is your favorite Billboard moment past, present or future?
14:31My number one spot.
14:34Absolutely.
14:35On the Billboard chart.
14:36Putting it into the existence.
14:38It's happening.
14:39Everything he says comes true.
14:40So here it is.
14:41You know you got to manifest.
14:42It's happening.
14:43We're putting it out there.
14:44Well thank you so much Damiano.
14:46I'm such a big fan of yours and I'm so excited for fans to hear the rest of the album.
14:50Thank you very much.
14:51No one deserves it more.