Semaj Dee Chats About New Music and What the Fans Can Expect

We love to bring you exclusives here at Blazing Minds and today we are very pleased to bring you an exclusive interview with new music artist Semaj Dee as we chat about music and find out a little more about the artist.

Hey there Semaj, how are you?

Hello! I am fine, thanks for asking. It has been quite a challenging year for me personally, but I am excited to finally be releasing my music independently. 

You wanted to be a musician at an early age, what prompted this decision?

 
During my younger years, I trained as a classical musician as my mother had asked me what instrument I would like to play. I remember having a choice of clarinet or guitar and in my heart, I thought the clarinet would be something more interesting and more manageable to play.  I then took musical examinations and joined the Croydon Schools Symphonic Band in 1997. After some deliberation, I decided to make the transition to choral singing in 2001. .

In 2003 my cousin overheard me singing on a karaoke machine at a family Christmas party and commended my vocal ability. Five years later, he encouraged me to sing a solo hymn at Midnight Mass in front of over a hundred people at our local church in Croydon. This helped me with developing my confidence and one year later, I was singing covers at London’s Jazz Café with him accompanying me.  The rest, as they say, is history!

Semaj Dee - ADAM CHRISTOPHER (5) (2)

How would you describe your work?

I would say my sound at present is very urban and soulful. I have dabbled in electronic dance music and will be releasing some electronic dance remixes of my songs in the future, but I want to try and fly the flag for real R&B/soul, with a 90s/00s vibe as I think people still really enjoy listening to music from that era.


What do you want people to take away from it?

When I write / co-produce a song, I am usually immersed in the process of its creation and it usually evokes a feeling or mood. I want others to feel what I feel, be moved by what is moving me. The lyrical and melodic concepts should be coupled with the emotion and soul in my performances and that should always be conveyed to the audience.

What inspires you and who are your influences?

I was really interested in many big-name vocalists as a child, like Michael, Donna, Tina, Whitney and Stevie Wonder.  My late father had owned a huge vinyl collection of pop and soul music royalty! As I became a teen, this morphed into neo-soul and R&B as my sister enjoyed listening to artists like Mary J Blige, SWV, Mariah Carey, Tevin Campbell in addition to artists like Frank McComb, Omar and others. I also bought many CDs as a teen, but I appreciate and feel inspired by listening to real soul music from that 90s era as well as garage, dance/electronic stuff. 

What advice would you give to your younger self?

I think I would have told myself about the art of resilience and the power of networking. As I could have probably progressed a lot faster in my career had I adopted these mentalities. The beauty of social media has made networking an art, especially the ability to network with artists, DJs and media personalities 

What are you listening to?

I recently went to see Zo! at the Jazz Cafe and I love his last album ‘Abstractions’. I also have been listening to Misha’s latest album ‘Radiant’

Semaj Dee - Dreams Cover Art


What’s next for you? What are you most excited about?

After releasing my hotly anticipated collaboration with Georgia Anne Muldrow and Wakai, I will be releasing some solo tracks in July and September. Both of which I executively produced and am very excited about as they are meaningful songs to me. I will also be involved in a project with BBC Introducing artist and my former collab partner, Sallok. I hope to also work on a UK remix of my Georgia Anne Muldrow collaboration later this year.

Check out Semaj Dee on Instagram, Facebook and Spotify.

Related Posts