SEASON 1 FINALE: 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: 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