Q&A: Dani Enli is ready to introduce the world to her new sound with single “LIFESTYLE”

MusicQ&A

Aug 30

INTERVIEW

FINDING FREEDOM AND POSITIVITY THROUGH AN AMICAL BREAKUP IS NOT COMMON IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY, but Dani Enli proves that any emotion can be translated into a beat that will keep you dancing all night long. Honest, sassy, and punchy, “LIFESTYLE” empowers listeners to embrace who they are and find confidence in their decisions.

Only a little over a year into her career as a musical artist, Dani Enli, a Chinese-Australian artist from Perth, is already redefining the R&B, Club, and Hip-Hop genres. With emotional lyrics set over dynamic Jersey percussion, “LIFESTLYE” builds up to a vibrant chorus with bold vocals that exude self-confidence. Above everything, the song’s lyrics showcase Dani’s self-aware journey through heartbreak as she navigates sorrow over a breakup, gratefulness for the experience, and hope for the future.

After a whirlwind ride through the virality of her tracks “I LIKE YOU” and “till the end of time,” Dani is eager to experiment with her sound and explore a diverse range of emotions through dance and music. “LIFESTYLE” is the first track she hasn’t self-produced, and Dani is excited to collaborate with other artists to discover new ways to showcase her songwriting and vocals.

Luna sat down with Dani Enli to discuss the creative process behind “LIFESTYLE,” how her dance background informs her sound, and the unique journey into the music industry.

LUNA: Congratulations on the release of “LIFESTYLE”!

ENLI: Thank you so much!

LUNA: The song is all about feeling confident in your skin and embracing your decisions, particularly around relationships. What inspired this idea and how did you translate that vision into sound?

ENLI: I had been in my first healthy relationship and I had just broken up with him. I wanted to make a song that captured how you can break up with someone and still view the relationship positively. I also love contrasting music and writing about something that potentially could have been upsetting, and very emotional, and turning it into a bop. I guess writing that song was like closing the chapter for myself and feeling confident in my decision, but also wanting to reassure him that I think he is a great guy and it just wasn’t meant to be. It’s the first happier breakup song that I’ve made. I think often in the music industry, there’s a lack of breakup songs that paint the person in a positive light, so I was grateful that I had a relationship that enabled me to do that.

LUNA: When artists write about breakups or relationships, I often wonder if they enjoy the process of writing about heartbreak more than they do happiness. How did you navigate your emotions about the breakup by writing an upbeat song?

ENLI: It’s funny you said that because that has always been my biggest struggle as a writer. I have always been the girl that just can’t write happy songs, and I think being in that relationship unlocked something in me. The first happy song I made ever, called “I LIKE YOU,” which kind of went viral on Instagram and helped shape my sound, was about him. I think I realized that your life experiences are so important as a songwriter. As great as it is to focus on your writing skills, sometimes experiencing life more gives you the depth that you need to be able to write about a bigger variety of things.

LUNA: Along with life experiences and music, where do you find inspiration to keep your ideas fresh and exciting? With “LIFESTYLE,” I love that you play with elements of the R&B and pop genres but that you still infuse the track with your unique sound and attitude.

ENLI: Life experience is number one for me. Not just the emotions you feel but the things you see and the environments you are in. Everything shapes your creative lens and how you perceive things and I think I get my most inspiration from that. I have also been dancing since the age of three, so dance is a very important thing in my life and is also part of my artistry. I think as my relationship with dance has matured, I just love anything that I can dance to. From that lens, I think about the type of songs that I would like to dance to and I can almost see movement when I hear something. Sometimes I have a style of dance in my head that I want to make a song for. I love incorporating all of my creative loves into my music.

LUNA: Yeah, absolutely! I have a dance background as well.

ENLI: Sometimes you can tell the vibe of dancers - you gave me dancer vibes!

LUNA: Yeah, I grew up doing ballet and tap, so I can totally understand how dance can inspire other art forms. I’m the same way when I hear a song, my first instinct is to choreograph something or dance to it, which is how I felt about “LIFESTYLE.” Along with dance being incorporated into your music, you also write and produce all your own music, but for “LIFESTYLE,” you worked with Channy Wings (Isaac Chan) on production. Can you discuss the creative process of working with Channy and your experience writing and producing your own work?

ENLI: I’ve always written and produced my own music and I think that comes from just being a small artist. Music making can get expensive and I thought to set myself up and to start my career, it would be handy to be able to do everything myself. I also really enjoy producing and songwriting. I’m self-taught, but I was raised around my dad always writing songs and making music as well, so I think subconsciously it kind of came naturally to me.

I did an Australian tour with this artist called Kennyon Brown, a really great R&B artist from Australia, and I stopped over in Melbourne, which is where Channy is. This was my first time working with a producer with the mindset that I actually want to put a song out. I have kind of made songs with people here and there, but I never felt like it was a fit. But, as soon as I met Channy, I knew this was going to work. The first day we ever met we wrote “LIFESTYLE.” He would be making the beat on the spot and I would have already started songwriting. So as the chords started, I would have already written some lyrics and he would add the drums … by the time he finished producing, I had finished songwriting and then we just recorded. I think we finished writing and producing the song in under two hours, and then we recorded for an hour and a half. I remember listening back to the song in my hotel room and thinking I need to work with this guy more, because this is crazy! And now he’s a really good friend of mine, so I’m grateful that I’ve been able to find a collaborator that gets my sound. Once you get used to producing your own music you can become a control freak over your sound, which I guess is a good thing to know what you want as an artist, but it was a really good experience collaborating with him. I think it opened up doors for me songwriting-wise. It was nice to just focus on songwriting.

LUNA: That’s the dream scenario! You and Channy really clicked straight away. Do you feel that as you grow as an artist, you will continue working with other people to experiment with different genres and styles of music?

ENLI: Yeah, absolutely! Especially after working with Channy, I realized how valuable collaboration is. Especially because he is mainly a hip-hop producer, I think you can hear a lot of the influences in the way he does the drums. Working with him has helped me develop my sound, and I think if you’re an artist making everything yourself, you can easily get stuck in your ways and working with other people is another source of inspiration. I’m really enjoying tapping into different genres, especially hip-hop genres. I love Jersey-club music and sexy-drill music. I love trap. Being able to collaborate with producers in those areas would be so valuable and makes the process really fun as well.

LUNA: You mentioned a few genres that you love. Who are some of your favorite artists within those genres that inspire your work?

ENLI: Jersey-club is my favorite genre. I love the artist Lay Bankz, she’s the one who sings that song “B*tch don’t tell my girlfriend…” That song introduced Jersey-club to the mainstream, and I love how she fuses pop, Jersey-club, and R&B. I feel like that is the space I really like to be in. I love other Jersey-club producers, like DJ Sliink. As an artist, Jersey-club is just so fun to dance to! In terms of hip-hop music in general, I really loved Latto’s last album. “Sugar Honey Iced Tea” was so sick. I also love this Korean rapper called CAMO. She makes a lot of trap beats and I just love her flow.

LUNA: Your songs “I LIKE YOU” and “till the end of time” both went pretty viral, reaching over 1 billion views on Instagram. How did that moment feel?

ENLI: When the virality of both those songs happened, it was such a shock for me because it’s so weird being online, making content at home in Perth, Western Australia. Nothing really ever happens here! So, to have something like that happen is unexpected, but of course it is what you’re working towards. I didn’t ever expect it to happen early on in my career. I had just graduated from medical school and I decided to take a gap year to give music a good go and to explore this opportunity. I kind of went into making music with the mindset that Oh, nothing is really going to happen, I’m just going to go back to the hospital in a year! So when those songs went viral, it gave me the confidence that I can do this. There are people who like my music. As much as external validation can be something that’s hard to chase, and maybe not the best thing to chase, it gave me the confidence to make me feel that I was really doing this, and ever since then, I’ve been committed to my music career.

LUNA: How do you feel about the relationship between artistry and social media now that social media is so present in our everyday lives?

ENLI: At first, I think a lot of artists feel like Why do I have to do this social media thing? I just want to make art. I just want to make music. I just absolutely fell in love with social media because at the end of the day, of course we are making music for ourselves, but we also want it to be enjoyed by other people. The feeling you get by connecting with people through music and your story as a human has been the highlight of my experience. Especially as an Asian who left her medical career and a very stereotypical path, having other people find inspiration in my journey is what has given me purpose as an artist. I think social media is a way we can fulfill that purpose to a deeper level beyond our music.

LUNA: That’s so beautifully said, thank you. As you mentioned, you were originally pursuing a medical career. What inspired you to pursue music? What did it feel like to take that leap?

ENLI: I knew I wanted to be an artist for as long as I can remember. That was the path I knew I wanted in my heart, but as an Asian, growing up in a very academic environment, I never saw that as a realistic career path. Often if there are other options, you are encouraged to pursue those options over the more risky ones. I thought if I could do medicine I might as well give it a go first, and I love helping people so I really felt like that would be the path for me, but my soul was calling to be an artist. In medical school, that dream consumed my thoughts and I felt in my heart that I was going down the wrong path. In the final year of medical school I got diagnosed with a rare medical condition so, I thought stepping away from my medical career would be a good opportunity to be at home for a bit and start making music, and that’s what really kickstarted it all.

LUNA: You said you love helping people, and as an artist myself, I believe that art does have the power to help people. So, even though you are on a different path, I think you are still doing what you always wanted to do.

ENLI: Yeah, I believe that too. When I got diagnosed I realized life is so short and you never know when you won’t be able to do what you love. During that time, music helped me so much. Music helped regulate my nervous system and made me feel happy when I really wasn’t, so I realized how healing music is and how short life is.

LUNA: You really have to put trust in yourself and go for it.

ENLI: Absolutely.

LUNA: As an up-and-coming artist, I thought it would be fun to ask you to describe your music to people who may be discovering you from this interview?

ENLI: A unique blend of pop with R&B, Jersey-club, and a little bit of trap into something that is emotionally resonant but still super energetic and something you can dance to.

LUNA: I feel like that perfectly describes “LIFESTYLE”! As you continue to grow and evolve, what are some goals you hope to achieve?

ENLI: I’ve been fortunate enough to get more traction in the U.S. and internationally so as an Aussie artist, I would love to be able to go to where my fans are and so I would love to tour. I’m hoping to go on tour soon, but I would love to tour internationally and be able to connect with my fans on a deeper level. I’m about to start working on an EP so we have that to look forward to! I look forward to connecting with more people and improving my skills through that as well.