Danyelle Speaks on Life, Lessons & Legacy

We recently had the chance to connect with Danyelle Speaks and have shared our conversation below.

Danyelle, a huge thanks to you for investing the time to share your wisdom with those who are seeking it. We think it’s so important for us to share stories with our neighbors, friends and community because knowledge multiples when we share with each other. Let’s jump in: When was the last time you felt true joy?
First of all this is an amazing question. If I’m being honest it’s been a long time since I’ve felt real joy. I think with the pressure to figure out what I should be doing now verses what my heart really wants to do has made it difficult to grab joy. I feel as if I’m in a perpetual battle that I’ve been fighting for some time now without any site of a reprieve. I’ll admit it can get overwhelming at times but I have hope. Until God tells me he’s through I’ll keep fighting the good fight of faith

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Danyelle Speaks. I’m an Indie Recording Artist, Minister and Music consultant. My musical style crosses genres although it didn’t start out like that. I first started out doing spoken word before getting into singing. Jazz and orchestra are my first loves and on my 16th birthday I released my first jazz single entitled “You Mean The World” in which coming from someone who played more by ear than by sight it amazed everyone how I was able to compose. Later the Lord led me to start rapping which led to my first music nomination of best female hip hop artist 2017. Since then I’ve been nominated for best pop song, best new artist and best female artist. I feel as if God is telling me to stop allowing people to put me in a box when it comes to creating because after all, he’s a great creator himself so why limit what he can do through me. I look forward to what God will create in the future. After traveling all over the US and oversees I decided to start a consulting/mentorship business for Indie Artist called The Artist Blueprint. My goal is to help Christian artist not make the same mistakes I’ve made within the music industry. I assist artist with everything from songwriting, lyric arrangement, how to record, distribute and register music, all the way to stage presence, how to craft a live song list, music video story line and more.

Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. What relationship most shaped how you see yourself?
Not to sound cliche but my relationship with God changed how I viewed myself. As an Introvert I grew up stuck within what people said about me. I was bullied from elementary school all the way through my freshman year of high school. I began to believe what everyone else said about me, I was too fat, too ugly, not talented enough, couldn’t sing, not smart enough to ever be anything. Over time I started to believe it. God stepped in and I asked him to let me see myself through HIS eyes. That was a game changer for me. I remember my grandmother used to tell me that “God don’t make no junk”. I never really understood that until I learned of his love. Now I can say I’m not half bad lol 🙂

Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
Absolutely!. The music industry can be very unforgiving and a hard place to find what works best for you. I remember there were times when I would be one of the main artist on a lineup just to have another artist sell more music or shoot more videos, do more radio interviews than me. I started getting frustrated that I was a team of one when so many others who didn’t have the same passion I did, seemed to be doing so much better than me because of the support that surrounded them. I also started to see the dishonesty and cut throat mentality and wanted no part of it. I figured that if I was never going to reach my full potential, was constantly late learning the process and not able to truly grow as an artist to be the best version of myself then what was the point: It really effected my writing for a moment. I felt and still feel that if we help each other we all can get a w. No one has to be left behind.

I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
The biggest lie is it’s okay to compromise. My first major record contract taught me a lot about the fine print. My friends and I wanted to do positive music to inspire the world. The label said otherwise because positivity wasn’t marketable. They had a team to rewrite our material into something we disliked. Over time, singing those songs began to turn us into something we couldn’t live with. In the end we were dropped from the label and I was devastated. That was another moment I was ready to quit. To do what you love to do, what you were created to do just to have the rug pulled from under hurt more than anything I could imagine. I had to learn to be my authentic self. When I saw other major artist and how they began to change I understood the importance of choice. Now I have no regrets about what or how I write because I don’t write for me anymore.

Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. What will you regret not doing? 
I definitely will regret not giving it my all. I have music I have yet to release as if there is a perfect time to let them go. That is something God has been dealing with me on this year. if I were to die tomorrow the only person who would know how good my unreleased songs were would be me. The world would never hear them so stop waiting. Even if it doesn’t create the buzz I hope it would, at least I won’t take it to the grave with me.

Contact Info:

• Youtube: Danyelle Speaks
• Soundcloud: Danyelle Speaks
• Other: Tiktok: Danyelle Speaks
  Instagram: Officiallydanyellespeaks