In our latest Get To Know feature, we touch base with debut Sydney artist Blair Djuna and his shimmering debut, ‘Diamonds’.
‘Diamonds’ is a punchy piece of beautifully produced electro-pop laced with R&B influences. It’s seriously impressive, so naturally, we decided we needed to know the person behind its creation.
So let us introduce you to Blair Djuna. Say hello!
01. Name : Blair Djuna.
02. Where are you based? Based in Sydney, Australia.
03. How did you get your start in music? I got my first guitar ten years ago for my 15th birthday. Ever since then I have been writing and creating my songs. I went to study at JMC Academy where I met some amazing people who have influenced me musically and are still with me today!
04. Give us five words to best describe you as an artist. Bold, dynamic, versatile, eccentric, lyrical.
05. Tell us a little bit about your sound and how it developed. I want to say that my sound has developed and continues to develop the more I listen to different genres that influence my creativity. It’s a mixture of all types of music.
Throughout my career, I have written all types of music ranging from country to rock and roll all the way to hip hop/R&B. I think having experience with all these genres has given me the confidence to be experimental with my sound and push the boundaries of what we perceive as popular music.
06. What’s your earliest musical memory? My first musical memory has to be our family karaoke nights growing up. I have a very musical family even though some of them might not admit it. We had a huge karaoke setup that my uncle would set up and the whole extended family would get together and have a go. That’s where I remember finding my voice over the years.
07. Who have been your musical influences? Michael Jackson, of course, directly off the bat has to be one of my first influences musically. He was someone I looked up to from a very young age as a lot of artists would have. More recently The Weeknd and Harry Styles have been two artists that I’ve loved listening to. Whether or not that comes through in my own writing I have no idea.
08. What are your favourite songs of all time? I love ’80s music.. The number of songs I would want to say in response to this question would be ridiculous. My brain hurts thinking about it. It would be a mixture of songs from that decade.
09. What’s your favourite lyric of all time (and where does it come from)? I have always thought of Bob Dylan when referring to lyrics that have stuck with me from a young age. “Come mothers and fathers, throughout the land, and don’t criticize what you don’t understand”. This lyric is from his song ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’.
10. Who are your top three favourite pop artists of all time? Michael Jackson, The Weeknd and The BeeGees. That’s off the top of my head.. Again there are so many contenders it’s way too hard to pick.. we’d be here all year.
11. What’s the one song you’d kill to release a cover of? ‘Take On Me’ by A-Ha. Shows off vocal range that’s for sure hah.
12. Who would your dream duet be with? This may be an unusual answer but if I had the opportunity to duet with anybody it would be a power ballad with Celine Dion. Her voice gives me literal goosebumps.. I’d sound pretty bad in comparison but imagine saying you got to sing with her.
13. Where’s your favourite place to listen to music? I think the car is the most cliched place but it’s cliched for a reason..
14. What was the first album you ever bought? The first album I ever got a physical copy of would’ve been ‘Confessions’ by Usher.
15. Give us a little fun fact about yourself that people might not know. I took dance classes for about eight years all up when I was younger. That’s not something I usually tell people straight up haha.
16. What would your chosen career be if music wasn’t an option? Something in the creative field maybe in film or theatre. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be in theatre.
17. What’s the best advice you’ve been given in your career? As simple as it is.. Do what makes you happy. Staying driven in this industry can be difficult at times and finding originality isn’t always the easiest thing. Staying true to what you think is good and what makes you feel something when you’re writing is the best way to let your originality as an artist shine through.
I used to write and think so much about what I thought other people wanted to hear. That will only get you so far..
18. What’s been the highlight of your musical journey so far? Hearing my songs over the radio in shopping centres is always cool hah. There have been a lot of scattered cool moments through the years but I’m excited to see what this new venture under a new artist name and brand can bring. I’m optimistic moving forward that a lot of my highlights are still to come.
19. What’s been the strangest experience you’ve had in the business? The strangest experience I’ve ever had would probably be the time I released a new song under a different alias and it turns out there was another artist with the exact same name.. Release day comes and I find out the distribution company released the song under the other artist’s Spotify and socials.. I’m surprised I didn’t get a message from the other artist to be honest.
20. If you could trade places with any artist in the world right now, who would it be? If I had to switch places with someone I would say Ed Sheeran to be honest. Only because that guy has it all figured out hah.
He comes out with an album and then goes back to a seemingly normal and quiet family life. Seems like he has the best of both worlds.. Also he’s crazy talented of course.
21. Tell us about your debut release. ‘Diamonds’ is a song that I have been working on releasing for around six months prior to the actual release date. So quite a bit of tweaking and changing the track between the beginning and end. The song started with a beat in Ableton and just evolved into what it is today.
I want to say that it kind of wrote itself, but I actually spent over a month working on the chorus vocal melody haha so many different versions.. The style of the track I feel shows the evolution of me as an artist for those that are familiar with my previous works, but for those who aren’t I hope they can have fun with it. That’s the goal. It’s just a vibey track haha.
22. How have you spent your time during the pandemic? It has been a crazy time for everybody and just a weird time to be in music. I took a break from releasing the majority of the pandemic and decided to just work on my producing and creating a different sound. The whole idea of what Blair Djuna is was conceived during the pandemic.
23. What do your future plans involve once we’re back to some semblance of normalcy? We are all keen I think to get back to our own versions of normalcy haha. I want to get back into live performance because I haven’t been doing it for so long and I think it’s time. Also to keep releasing and building a catalog of music that I can show and share with the world. Big ambitions, but life’s too short to go small hah.
24. Where can our audience catch you live? I haven’t been performing lately but if you follow my socials I’ll be sharing live locations and updating everyone from there.
25. Give us the final sell on the debut release. ‘Diamonds’ is a track that I hope everybody can relate to whether it’s through the lyrics, the catchy melodies, or even just the overall vibe. I’ve put all of me into the song like I do with every project and I can’t wait to keep releasing new music for everybody to enjoy.
INSTAGRAM : https://www.instagram.com/derrick.attwood/
FACEBOOK : https://www.facebook.com/BLAIRDJUNA
TIKTOK : http://tiktok.com/@BlairDjuna
TWITTER : https://twitter.com/blairdjuna
SOUNDCLOUD : https://soundcloud.com/blairdjuna
YOUTUBE : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfYA9u6FuED2RYj9wNmCknw
SPOTIFY : https://open.spotify.com/artist/5mSDLtbJeEfSKJH4Psse7y?si=3KXNfPNdS2a mJAvi3e_kjw
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