Dani Bagel: Playing Piano through Panic Attacks, Tapping into your Uniqueness, Art and Music as Healing, Creating External Structure, and Making Music through Generations
Dani Bagel Bio
“I make music for myself”.
With this statement, Cape-Town based artist Dani Bagel announces her debut solo project,
“Magic in Her Hair”. The musician has created an EP that is unapologetically made on her
own terms and produced under her own label.
These songs are less distinct artistic approaches, than a reflection of different parts of the
same person. “They are all just me”, Dani says, “it’s not like I’m acting like somebody else”.
Audiences were first introduced to her sound four years ago, with her features on several
singles. First, came the release of Keagan John Moore’s “Lay it on Tonight” under the alias
Gabrielle, with the Cartel. In 2017, however, she released the first single as Dani Bagel,
‘Where Did We Go Wrong’. The deeply honest and atmospheric dancefloor sizzler, co-
written with Caleb Williams, introduced the strength of her pen. Since then, her
collaborations include Lebo Lukewarm (Swimming Practice), Omar Morto (Cruise Control)
and Gina Jeans (Smoke and Mirrors, co-written with Jimmy Nevis). With Magic In Her Hair,
however, Dani is stepping directly into the spotlight and into a new era of her career – one
completely driven by a commitment to making the music she wants to create, embracing both
individuality and collaboration.
The classically-trained musician took on co-executive producer role for the project alongside
engineer, Eldon Quirk (Sunset Studios) and Kooldrink – the young producer who has worked
with the likes of Sho Madjozi, Diplo, DJ Maphorisa and Youngsta CPT. Magic in Her Hair
draws together 6 producers between 5 eclectic songs, while paying homage to all of her
coming-of-age 1990s R&B albums. This EP is her version of seeking to create this kind of
work for a new generation.
What draws the different songs together is Dani’s musical DNA as a musician, and clear
creative vision. She describes this project as both an offering to audiences, and a dare
directed at herself, rooted in genuine passion and joy. With her collaborators, she explains
that “there was so much space given to just trying any idea” kind of idea.
The result is an eclectic, yet connected EP that makes space for experimentation, play and the
different moods and moments that reflect the diversity of what it means to exist and
experience life. The strength of her songwriting, commitment to honest lyrics, exploration of
deep feeling, playful extravagance and classical training are the album’s defining elements.
Azul is an interlude that Dani describes as a ‘whirlpool of thoughts’ written during a panic
attack, where she met her piano as a centering force. Okay (Co-written with Caleb Williams)
is a sentimental, emotion-filled conversation, that she explains that could be a way of
‘singing to yourself or someone else’, as the chorus constantly returns to the repetition of
“I’m ok”. Rooted in deep vulnerability the song finds the artist asking for permission to be
herself. Sturvy turns an insult into an anthem. Dani explains that her social anxiety and naturally inward nature often led to her being labelled and assumed to be “sturvy” by those
who don’t know her. The song is about dealing with and subverting these perceptions, and
while she starts out singing, by the end of it she blasts into bars. The anthemic Testing repeats
the refrain “testing the water”. As the song that builds and grows from its initial impulses, it
could be the motto of the entire project – which is unafraid to experiment and enter new
musical territories.
The album’s inspiration, too, draws from an eclectic set of artists - from Doja Cat’s exciting
experimental approach to Ariana Grande’s layered choral-esque vocal harmonies and HER
and Snoh Aalegra’s modern take on R&B. What connects these influences is their creation of
“women-led music”, as Dani gravitates towards artists who directly express their grit and
effortlessly move between genres and styles.
Magic In Her Hair is an EP that aims to intrigue. On her hopes for the project, Dani says, “A
person who listens to me for the first time will kind of be, I hope, intrigued by the kind of
artist that I can be”. She later definitively adds, “The kind of artist I am”.
For more information and interview requests, please contact [email protected]
Her Latest single “Testing” can be streamed https://lnkfi.re/Danibagel-Testing
Testing is a shout-out to loud long lekker nights full of debauchery and bubble. The
Naughty Nineties repurposed and packaged for
our modern ears. The anthem for ‘Remember
that party’. But the music and the vibe is not the
only groove you will witness.
Jimmy Nevis makes his directorial debut in this
music video which combines the drama of drag,
the energy of extravagance and somehow
makes kitsch cool. The story line begins with
trans Drag Queen and make-up artist Maxine
Wild getting ready for a night on stage after we
find Dani Bagel alone in an empty club. She is
powerfully alluring and as the energy builds in
the song we see this reflected in her sense of confidence as it expounds into a
playful and entertaining opportunity to tantalize our ears and eyes with a fun-loving,
lively, exuberant and down right frisky display of a good time. The finale celebrates
diversity and here we are left wanting more while cheering for a nostalgic soul-train
dance tunnel you wished you could be a part of.
