This is Emmani

From growing up with watching her mom and dad play Trinidadian music with their friends in the basement, to becoming an artist herself, embracing her Caribbean roots and her love for music, is a transformation you don't get to see every day.

As I’m taking a morning stroll down my usual street, I notice how summer has silently arrived overnight. In my pocket lies my phone, shuffling it’s way through my daily mix on Spotify. Birds are chirping in the trees above me, the sun feels warm against my cheeks, and an unknown song starts playing in my ears. Suddenly, a voice as smooth as butter emerges, and within seconds, I have pulled my phone up from my pocket and saved it to my library. The song playing is Closer by Emmani, which funny enough would turn out to be the song I would listen to the most in all of 2021.

Danielle Emmani Palmer, also known as singer and songwriter, Emmani, grew up in a household, where music was one of the key elements in her upbringing. With parents originally from Trinidad and Tobago, who had taken the vital step of moving to America to pursue their dreams within music, it becomes clear what an essential role music has played in their family narrative. Without it, none of them would be where they are today. With both her parents being so deeply-rooted in music, in particular Trinidadian and soca music, it came as no surprise how she automatically grasped towards that style of music herself. “I took lessons, my parents taught me. My dad taught me how to play piano, and my mum gave me voice lessons as a kid. I was always around music. When my parents had rehearsals, they would do it in our basement, and I would be down there watching my mum singing, and watching my dad play, and they would have their friends over playing other instruments and stuff. They would always be playing all the oldies”.

When I asked her to describe her music using only one word, her answer was sultry. I did not know of the term before, but found it to be a genre of sensual, almost seductive music with a passionate rhythm. Some of the most well known sultry artists out there are Sade, Marvin Gaye and Nina Simone, but specifically Sade is one of Emmani’s biggest influences. “I love her tone, and what she does to a song, it’s just so beautiful. How she is diving into her music and just hearing all her inflections. She is definitely the biggest (influence) for me”. When listening to their music side by side, the resemblance is clear. For example, both use techniques that leaves a lot of room on the tracks for their vocals to blossom, and both have captivating flows and rhythms. They are not rushing through any of their singing, which definitely is something common in the laid-back sultry genre. Someone she also gets a lot of inspiration from, musically and generally, is Rihanna.“The one thing about her compared to all the other artists is, her last album was rock, jazz, r&b, neo-soul, it was everything. She just dominated it, and she has a little Caribbean vibe in there, and that means a lot to me.” Emmani does not only seek to be versatile as well, she feels a certa need to be able to embrace all her different musical sides “I am very eclectic, I can never stay with one genre. If you tell me choose a genre I cannot, my mind is just all over the place, i love everything”

When you are listening to Closer and Paradise, it will not come as a shock to you that she was chosen to be part of the exclusive Sunday Service choir assembled by the one and only Kanye West. To me, and probably from any other outside perspective as well, this would seem like something rather unattainable, but in fact, the process was way more “normal” than I had first thought. “One of my good friends from college hit me up about it, and she wanted me to audition. So I auditioned. I had to send a video in, had to go in for a rehearsal, and I got the gig. It was the most exciting journey I have ever had in my life. It was so much fun. Working with Kanye was amazing, he is such a creative. But he’s not just a creative with ideas, he is a part of everything that he does, which is really beautiful to see. He is really ingrained in everything”. Imagine being able to write "previous work experience with Kanye West” on your resume. That is huge.

Speaking of being part of something huge, this then led me to wonder how it must be to make music in the city of talent, Los Angeles. Navigating through the music scene in a place like LA, where you are surrounded by people who have dreams as big, passionate and intense as you, requires a lot of strength. A place where exploitation takes place left and right, and where the people you know and your connections quickly can end up determining your worth and relevance. “My biggest advice is, if you believe in your heart of hearts that this is what you’re meant to do, you just have to take that step. And just say yes to the opportunities, say yes to the studio, say yes to anything that comes your way, both related and unrelated to the music, cause you never know what that can bring. Just be fully in it, fully ingrained. It is such a dedication, and it is not easy, never. You really just have to want to do it, you need to accept all the losses before it happens, and just be ready for it.”

As an artist myself I resonate with a lot of these things. To never turn down an opportunity, because only god knows where that opportunity could have led you. The butterfly effect is very much real. And it is frightening. The constant need of being on top of things, being aware of who to know and where to hang out. Having a long list of people you compare yourself with on a daily basis, because in the end, it all comes down to networking and like-ability.

Her two singles Closer and Paradise have changed my view on the kind of music I want to make myself. Both songs are written by her and produced by her husband, Doctor O. Besides from being her husband, Doctor O is also known for being a member of WeTheBand. Meeting a couple both so deeply rooted in music is somewhat rare today, and I was immediately eager to know more about their connection and process of working together. “The process has been a journey, because for quite a few years, we did not work on music together at all. Probably not until 2017 or 2018, that’s when we really starting being like, “okay we have a little vibe together” and accepting that as what it was. It’s actually so flawless. It will be like 2 AM and he says “do you wanna make a song” and I say “yeah I’ll make a song” and we just make a song together, and that is how many of these songs come together. They are just random nights, super super late, when we’re both tired, and something just comes out. That is literally our process.”

But what about the aspect of having a professional relationship with your husband? Knowing where to draw the line between what's private and what's business?

“I think for us it’s easier, because I can be completely honest with him, because he knows me, and he knows what I want. And I know what he requires of me as well. It’s like a really easy, smooth session when we’re working together, things go by really fast. Definitely a vibe we create together, it did not come overnight, it was a process”.

That is what I call a power couple.

But is new music in the cards? The answer is yes. Though she mentions how she is right now focussing on doing a lot of reflection and writing, she isn’t afraid of revealing a little bit of what’s to come. “This time it’s going to be more on the vibey side. Closer and Paradise were definitely summer songs to me, and I have just taken so much experience from the last year with traveling and enjoying and living life. So I just want to incorporate all that into my music moving forward, and really bringing all of those things to life. I hope I already do that. I really want it to be extremely intentional. I love taking experiences in my life and just applying them to my music”. In a world where new music gets pushed out every second, and there is a tendency of making things solely for the sake of revenue, I find it refreshing to stumble upon an artist who instead finds importance in evolving as a writer, artist and human being.

As always, I end up with asking where people see themselves in five years time. “In five years I see myself with a grammy award, I see myself on tour, just completely being my own boss. Luckily I can say that I finally have gotten to a place where I am working in music and that’s my job. I want to be my own boss, and have full creative leverage to think and dream as big as I want. It’s still gonna be a time where I have to balance everything, but I just wanna be able to be free and think of all the crazy ideas.”

I must say, it blew my mind what an absolute kindhearted, genuine and hardworking woman I was chatting to. Not only does she have a musical talent that already has been praised by some important names in the music industry, she also has a warmth to her that can't help but make people around her feel good. This one is gonna be big. Just wait and see.