10 New Artists You Need to Know: November 2015
Rolling Stone –
Dawin
Sounds Like: A mid-2000s R&B singer with dreams of headlining a modern EDM festival instead angling for a Drake co-sign.
For Fans of: Ne-Yo, Pitbull, viral Vine hits that can exist outside of the app’s limited format
Why You Should Pay Attention: The 23-year-old Brooklyn-based singer previously tried Myspace and YouTube to jumpstart his music career, but it was the video sharing app, Vine, which scored him his first hit. Last year his song “Just Girly Things” gained traction through the app and this year he proved his initial success wasn’t a fluke by repeating the formula with the giddy bubble-trap hit “Dessert.” “I would say I put more attention on Vine at the time and people were willing to share,” says Dawin. The delirious song spread through fan-made videos — though the official one sits with over 50 million YouTube views.
He Says: “There was a time when I didn’t have any connection or opportunity and I had no one and [“Just Girly Things”] was me singing to myself, ‘Yo live it up, don’t let nobody bring you down.’ I felt like if I could feel encouragement of myself … then so would other people.” His favorite fan-made video of “Dessert” has a similar idea of self-empowerment: “In New Zealand someone made a video with “Dessert” and … they took dessert and some other food and fed the homeless.”
Hear for Yourself: The goofy post-genre mash-up “Dessert” recently got a breezy remix with fellow viral sensation Silentó. David Turner
