Check out what DaniLeigh shared with us about her new album “The Plan” out now.
After only a little over a year of signing to Def Jam, DaniLeigh is already starting to make a name for herself. From releasing her debut EP, Summer With Friends last year to releasing her debut album The Plan this year, with features like YG and Lil Yachty, DaniLeigh has no plans of slowing down. The 23-year-old, Dominican songstress prides herself on her Latin culture, her amazing vocals and dope style which includes her love for sneakers. Find out more about Dani’s new album and her sneaker essentials in our exclusive interview and don’t forget to check out the sneakers DaniLeigh was rocking in-store, the Jordan Retro 11 Utility pictured below.
The Knockturnal: We’re here at Lady Foot Locker. Can you talk about your love for sneakers and when it began?
DaniLeigh: My love for sneakers started in high school. I used to always be the girl with the forces on, the Air Maxes – I used to throw it back all the time. It just grew as time passed. For me I always think about what sneaker I’m going to wear before I put an outfit together.
The Knockturnal: You got a chance to attend ComplexCon this year. Can you talk about that experience?
DaniLeigh: I thought ComplexCon was fire. I love going there! I went last year too. It was cool to actually see everybody rockin’ kicks too and see what they’re gonna throw on that day.
The Knockturnal: Can you talk about your partnership with Lady Foot Locker and how it began?
DaniLeigh: I did the FootLocker commercial that featured all the legendary people and it was really cool to me being the only female in the commercial. The fact that I get to represent something I really love is dope to me. Week of Greatness has been a lot of fun for me.
The Knockturnal: Can you talk about how you’ve grown in the past year?
DaniLeigh: I’ve definitely grown tremendously since I signed with Def Jam 18 months ago. I dropped my EP Summer With Friends back in September [2017], and then from there did the “In My Feelings” Challenge, grew tremendous followers, dropped my single Lil Bebe and it’s just been going up for me. Even from different shows I’m having I see that I actually have fans now and people know me from my music.
The Knockturnal: You come from a choreographing background, can you talk about the production of your shows?
DaniLeigh: Yeah, I’ve been doing this a long time. I moved to LA when I was 16 so I started dancing and was dancing with different artists so I kinda got to see the back line of an artist’s career and I’m grateful for that because I get to put it into my own shows.
The Knockturnal: Can you talk about your album The Plan?
DaniLeigh: Yes, my album The Plan is dropping Friday 12/30, super excited. I put everything into this album. It has 12 records on it, a good amount of features and I think the vibe of album is a vibe, I think every record, you could bounce to it, go crazy, dance to it or just ride in a car to it. I show my R&B side, Dance side, Club side, and I got my Latin side on there too. I kinda put my story into this album, The Plan, – the plan for me is to take care of my family and being myself.
The Knockturnal: Can you talk about the features on your project?
DaniLeigh: Sure! On the project I have Lil Yachty, Chris Brown, YBN Nahmir and YG and Lil Baby on the remix and my brother Bill$. I really think Yachty’s verse is fire on the album and the one with YBN Nahmir and YG is super dope. Honestly the one with Chris Brown is fire too. I love all of them and all the features on there were super organic in the sense of them just wanting to work with me or vice versa.
The Knockturnal: Can you talk about how some of those collaborations came about and what the experience was like working with some of these artists?
DaniLeigh: I got to work with Chris Brown on the record that I did. Super cool guy, super chill. It was cool I got to see his in-house studio which is dope. That was a cool experience. Lil Yachty- we actually met through Instagram, we just started following each other praising each other’s talent and became cool and got to meet him for the first time in LA at the studio the night he cut “I Do it 4.” He just went into the booth, spit for 20 minutes – not even, it was super cool to see him in his element.