Q&A: Dominique Fils-Aimé Taps Into Nature’s Healing Frequency on ‘My World Is The Sun’
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY KIMBERLY KAPELA ☆
Photo Credit: Vladim Vilain
WHERE THE WATER FLOWS — Singer-songwriter Dominique Fils-Aimé returns with “The River,” a powerful new single that flows with intention and grace. A glimpse into her forthcoming album My World Is The Sun, the track feels less like a meditative trance to slow the body, breathe deeper and remember our place within the natural world.
Fils-Aimé creates from her inner world, one intentionally undisturbed by material excess or constant distraction. Her aim is not escapism, but attunement. Through her music, she hopes to generate healing frequencies that allow listeners to tune into a collective consciousness and reconnect with something essential. Whether that connection is to “their own emotion, their soul, the universe at large, or they can call it God,” as she shares, the destination is deeply personal, yet universally felt.
Like a warm embrace from Mother Nature herself, “The River” carries an immediate sense of surrender. Fils-Aimé finds communion in the movement of water, singing of it “flow(ing) down her veins” and “slow(ing) down her pain.” The imagery is visceral and grounding, allowing nature’s healing power to surge forward and dissolve the boundaries between body and landscape. In her hands, water becomes metaphor and medicine, an ancient force capable of alleviating grief, softening tension and restoring balance.
That relationship with water extends beyond lyricism and into Fils-Aimé’s creative process itself. She channels the energy of natural elements intuitively, never separating them from her work. Remaining “in the flow” becomes a lived practice that shapes how and where she creates. Even her recording studio sits across a body of water, a physical alignment that mirrors her artistic intentions.
“Where the water flows, where the love flows, humans and souls heal,” Fils-Aimé says. “You are cordially invited to meet me by the river. That peaceful place that cradles us, meditates with us, dances with us, reminding us we are one with its movement because water is Life.”
Renowned for her rich voice and socially engaged songwriting, Fils-Aimé’s musical universe exists at the crossroads of jazz, soul, and blues, drawing deeply from the lineage of African-American music while embracing more contemporary forms. Her work unfolds deliberately in cycles, with each trilogy marking a new chapter in her ongoing pursuit of creative and spiritual freedom.
In 2023, she launched her second trilogy with Our Roots Run Deep, a free-flowing, dreamlike exploration of growth. Nature emerged as a central metaphor. The throughline continues to bloom in My World Is The Sun, the second chapter of this cycle, set for release on February 20.
“With My World Is The Sun, I wanted to go a step deeper into opening up about my personal inner world,” Fils-Aimé says to Luna. “It is a very vulnerable process. I used to think I was being open and vulnerable, and every time I discover areas where I wasn't, or some things I was still hiding, or I was still shy, I wanted to break free from these as part of this album process.”
On the upcoming album, Fils-Aimé turns inward toward the very essence of the creative process itself. My World Is The Sun reflects her commitment to freedom, not only in sound, but in spirit.
“I would like every female to feel strong, feel powerful and to be reminded of their power,” Fils-Aimé says. “There's a reason why this world is built in a way. It is because we have that much power within us. Our spirits are connected in a way that we collectively know what pain feels like, and we collectively have developed an extra sense of empathy, and I would like to make sure that this empathy extends to each of you, first and foremost, so that you can keep yourself safe in order to be able to contribute to this world in whatever shape or form feels right to you and is not overstepping the boundaries of your wellness.”
Photo Credit: Vladim Vilain
LUNA: Thank you for talking to Luna. Our readers would love to get to know you and your music more. For any readers who aren’t familiar with you yet, what inspires the atmosphere or sonic world you aim to create for your listeners?
DOMINIQUE: The main intention behind the music I make is to provide some feeling of comfort. I am hoping that the frequencies I generate will make people feel loved, connected, whether it be to one another, to their own emotion, my soul, to their soul, the universe at large, or they can call it God, any feeling of something bigger than us. I hope it makes people feel good honestly. I think that's the only goal, if it can contribute to some healing process in the world we live in. I feel like sometimes the best way to contribute to the larger good is to attend to each person's well being, because when we're hurting, it's hard to think about making the world a better place, but if we take care of contributing to personal healing and peace of mind of each person, then it's easier to have room for empathy and for looking outside of yourself on how to contribute. These are my hopes for the music I make and the intention that I put in the frequencies I create.
LUNA: Your newest single “The River” feels like both a meditation and a healing ritual. Can you take us inside the emotional and spiritual headspace you were in when you wrote this song? What inspired the song to flow out of you?
DOMINIQUE: I love water. I'm amazed by the elements. A lot of my creation is inspired by nature, because it's as if sometimes we forget we're part of it. We're talking about it like it's external to us, when really we are a complete part of this whole that surrounds us. There's something very comforting about water, there's something very healing, there's something very vital that makes it an element that often sparks creation for me. For this song, specifically, there was the notion of the different movements that a body of water can have and our relationship with it. The fact that it's part of us, that we're mostly made of water, to go into it in a ritualistic or ceremonial way that can be appeasing and gathering for people or just for ourselves as a meditative base, and then the weight can move in a celebratory way. The way the song evolves is a representation of the healing process that can be linked to water or just to us feeding our soul the right things.
There's many elements that come to mind, but one of them is what my mom always told me, because this album is dedicated to my mom and the lessons that she brought me and different things, one of the things she told me is, when she was a kid, the tradition was to go to the river before the new year so that you can cleanse off all the bad energies from the year. It really felt to me like the journey to the river, then the time spent with the water until you can come out of it joyful and celebrate the new start and the new clean soul that you get to walk around with.
Another thing about water is the metaphor that often stays with me when we think about negative things that can be said, for example, if you get one bad comment, and you get 10 good ones, somehow the bad one sticks. It takes 10 glasses of water to clean one glass of mud. The importance of that flow is because it's not equal. There is something very long, lasting and heavy in the darkness that requires a lot of light to actually cleanse it and allow it to move out of our field.
LUNA: Nature has long been a source of grounding and inspiration for your artistry. Do you have a favorite body of water that you like to visit to spark inspiration in your artistry?
DOMINIQUE: I like all the bodies of water. Every time I tour, often the cities will have some water somewhere, so I will always make it a point to find the water, because I'm the lucky one who doesn't have to deal with a drum set or anything. I just have to bring my voice so I have more time. I'm very lucky also that the studio I record at it’s by the water, and I can even see it from where I sing. When I start my day over there, I will always go in the backyard and spend a moment with the water before entering the studio and recording anything. I feel like I'm bringing the water and the river with me in the studio every time.
LUNA: Your upcoming record My World Is The Sun is described as focusing on the essence of the creative process. What did returning to that core place of honesty and vulnerability unlock for you as an artist? What does “creating from honesty and vulnerability” look like for you at this stage of your life?
DOMINIQUE: I feel like the concept of flow and working remaining in the flow has always been the place I create from, but this time, wanting to be extra intentional about it, so that I can observe myself and make sure that is the only place I create from that would be the difference. I would always start with a feeling of channeling. Eventually, it's like my brain would come in with doubt or with opinions. Every time this would happen, I would cancel the song. I only kept the songs that were created without me really thinking from start to finish so that it would be as open and vulnerable as possible.
The funny thing is that it feels like I'm not really writing the songs. Therefore I get to hear them for the first time, and it's like having a conversation with another part of myself that is informing me of how I feel. What do I think? What do I need? What do I want to leave behind as a testimony of the world I look at and the internal world I'm dealing with? It's a very pleasant process. It can be sometimes painful, because it will hit some places that perhaps I didn't want to go there myself, but the art and the process took me there, whether I wanted to or not. Although it's not pleasant, I remain grateful for it, because it's the only way I feel like I would be able to be dishonest with myself and with whoever wants to connect with that side of me.
LUNA: This album represents the second chapter of your new trilogy, following Our Roots Run Deep (2023). How does My World Is The Sun expand or deepen the narrative arc you began in this cycle?
DOMINIQUE: Every album has a color that is also based on a specific chakra, and it feels like this time, this trilogy, my desire was to be more open and vulnerable and more anchored in the present, looking towards the future. The first chapter, Our Roots, was the idea of all of us together. With My World Is The Sun, I wanted to go a step deeper into opening up about my personal inner world. It is a very vulnerable process. I used to think I was being open and vulnerable, and every time I discover areas where I wasn't, or some things I was still hiding, or I was still shy, I wanted to break free from these as part of this album process.
LUNA: Do you have a personal favorite song on My World Is The Sun — one that feels closest to your heart or most revealing of who Dominique Fils-Aimé is right now?
DOMINIQUE: The last one before the bonus track, there's a song called “Rhythm of Nature,” and this one felt the closest to who I am and how I feel and what I want to leave behind. It's possibly going to be one of the least popular songs, because it's a bit atypical in its format. It's nine minutes long. It felt like the most representative, or the one mirroring my soul the best right now.
LUNA: You craft your work in cycles and trilogies rather than traditional album eras. Why is that structure so important to how you tell your story?
DOMINIQUE: I love the number three. I love numbers. I do feel like because my mind is always floating around and not fully anchored in the physical world. Sometimes I struggle with the material world that we live in, and having trilogies and structure creates a playground that allows me to have my mind focus in a way, or be more coherent, wanting to make sure there's a coherence and a proper story line that would allow a listener and even myself to follow through what are we talking about. What is going on? What is the focus right now? It helps me feel freer knowing what the playground looks like and where the boundaries are, even though they're never fixed, and they get to move and be shaped based on what's happening, so they will definitely take a different shape as it happens. There's still an epicenter to it all that helps me around myself somewhere in the physical world.
LUNA: How do you hope listeners — especially your femme audience — can connect with or find power in this new era of music from you? What emotions or messages do you want to leave with them?
DOMINIQUE: I would like every female to feel strong, feel powerful, to be reminded of their power. There's a reason why this world is built in a way. The system is built in a way that is trying to control us. It is because we have that much power within us. Our spirits are connected in a way that we collectively know what pain feels like, and we collectively have developed an extra sense of empathy, and I would like to make sure that this empathy extends to each of you, first and foremost, so that you can keep yourself safe in order to be able to contribute to this world in whatever shape or form feels right to you and is not overstepping the boundaries of your wellness.
I do see a lot of women giving a lot of themselves for the world, leading revolutions and burning themselves in the process. This album has peace of mind at the center, because I think it's important to remember the notion of self care, and not the notion of going to the spa. The actual notion of self care is that in order to have the strength to contribute to the world evolving in a more equal way, we need to make sure that we take care of ourselves, first and foremost, to be able to do it. I'm sending everyone my love and my support.
LUNA: How are you feeling in this current era of your career and what does the rest of the year look like that you would like to share with Luna?
DOMINIQUE: It's winter here and I'm in Montreal, so I'm feeling cold and I'm feeling tired. I miss the sun. The World Is My Sun is very honest. I love the sun also. It's a metaphor, because my mom is my sun. But as much as I love her, I do need the other sun too. I'm very mindful of slowing down so that I can be in sync with the pace of the seasons and not allow society to dictate when I should be doing my resolutions. I'm very excited about the year coming and being able to share this album with the world and hopefully have it resonate with whoever needs it, because the world is in a very strange place, but as a collective, we are wanting the same. I am hoping that my music can contribute in any way to this change and revolution that we're going through.
To anyone going through a hard time, there's a feeling that everything's been going faster and faster, but sometimes the faster it goes, the faster we get to rebuild a world that makes more sense for all of us together and for everyone to be welcome as they are. I'm sending my support because it's not an easy time, but I do believe that collectively, we can do better, and that we are doing better slowly but surely.
Photo Credit: Vladim Vilain
