Diamond Magazine Spring 2020
MUSIC ARTIST SPOTLIGHT:
DaQuashia Strahan
and it’s mine -- it’s something that I can control,” Strahan stated. “It’s just something that I’ve always wanted to do, like, something I’m really passionate about. It’s just a dream that I’ve been chasing for a long time and I am finally like really, really putting myself out there.” On Feb. 21, the Clark Atlanta University senior Mass Media Arts major performed in the Ray Charles Performing Arts Center to a crowd of 110 people at “Sin For Me,” which is a concert presented by media agency AUCWHOGOTNEXT. She said that this concert gave her more confidence in her abilities as a performer. Photo credit: Kayla Grant Strahan said, “It wasn’t the first Singer and songwriter, DaQuashia Strahan. concert that I ever did, but it was like the first concert ... out of my comfort zone and By Kayla Grant I had to perform more than one song, put a lot of effort in rehearsals, so that moment For DaQuashia Strahan, singing there I was like, ‘Okay, this is something always has been her dream. During the that you can do.’” annual family reunions, her relatives would Strahan released five songs on make her get up and sing the most popular Apple Music with her latest single being song selection. At 6 years old, she was “Unconditional Love.” Her music ranges from singing Fantasia’s hit singles “When I See love to heartbreak and across different genres. You” and “Free Yourself” at the family “My music, personally, I don’t gatherings in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. want to like label it ... I don’t want to be While growing up, Strahan was boxed in, so I just do what I feel that I want surrounded by the sounds of her aunts’ to do that day,” she said. “If I want to get up R&B music, which ultimately influenced and make a rock song, i’m gonna do that. If her “R&B type vibe.” i’m going to do R&B, i’m going to do that.” “I was also raised in the church too, According to Strahan, when she so I was forced to be in a youth choir and releases a new song she feels less fear and that’s just how I started singing, but I’ve been more excitement. singing since I was able to sing,” Strahan said. “I hope [that listeners] just receive Music has always been her it the same way that I meant to put it out passion and a number one priority in her and I hope that they just enjoy it. It’s life. Her happiness is what motivates her to something that they can casually listen to continuously go after her dreams and and not just support me because I am their aspirations in the music industry. “I would friend, but I just want it to be something not be happy if I was doing ... my hobbies. that people really want to hear,” she said. I would not be happy doing that for the rest The “Love, Yourself” singer’s songs of my life,” she said. come from past experiences that she has had. Although Strahan has a multitude “When I don’t feel like going out, of hobbies, such as graphic design and I lock myself in my dorm room and it just photography, there was nothing that kept like comes to me,” she said. “I just start her attention the way music did. listening to my beats and I kind of just start “[Music is] something that I like
rambling whatever I feel at that time.” With her music, she wants her fans to feel the transparency in the songs and the vulnerability in the music. “I want them to see the vulnerability play into the music,” she said. “If they’ve been through the same things that I’ve been through, which I write about, then I would want them to relate.” With her music, Strahan is resonating with the emotions of the AUC community and providing them music similar to the R&B records of the 2000s. Hali Smith, a sophomore CAU student, stated “I think her music is soul quenching like it truly does speak from the heart and represent a part of music that is untouched. It’s raw and real.” Alexis Grace, a senior CAU student, said “She brings an early 2000s feeling to the room and has her own style. She makes music for those who are in love, have loved or want to love, but feel vulnerable.” Along with winning a Grammy, Strahan said that she aspires to bring back real R&B music and grow her following and her brand. For African-American women interested in the music industry, Strahan advised for them to be themselves. “Don’t let anybody box you in and label you ... continue doing whatever it is you want to do,” she said.
Photo credit: Kayla Grant
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