huffingtonpost - 2 days ago

Debbii Dawson is undoubtedly going to be one to watch in the pop world in 2026American singer-songwriter Debbii Dawson has been considered a star on the rise for some time now, and her base of loyal fans has only continued to grow in the last year, thanks to her unique brand of pop that has one foot planted in the dance floor-friendly, sweet melodies of the 1970s and the other firmly in the present.It’s fair to say that it’s been a long road for her to get to this point, though.Growing up as the daughter of two touring multi-instrumentalists, Debbii was surrounded by music throughout her childhood, albeit not the sort of stuff you’d associate with a future pop star.“We’re an immigrant family, so there was a lot of this and that,” she recalls to HuffPost UK of the wide mix of music she was exposed to from a young age. “It was a lot of religious music, like gospel, choral stuff, hymns, classical music, older country music. And stuff from the 70s and 80s…”Given that last point, it’d be fair to assume that this early introduction to what she describes as classic “oldies” from the 1970s would have meant she was immersed from a young age in the music of artists he’s now being frequently compared to, including Elton John, Fleetwood Mac, Queen and, most notably, ABBA.Apparently, not so.Due to her “more strict religious background”, combined with the fact that she was often on tour with her parents, Debbii says that a lot of popular music passed her by in her formative years.Debbii Dawson s music has already been compared to everyone from ABBA and Queen to Elton John and David BowieAfter a period of home-schooling, Debbii says she “rejoined public school” when she was in her teens, which marked the first time she was exposed to many of the legendary artists that, later in her life, would become synonymous with her own sound.She explains: “I remember I joined choir, and we were singing a Queen medley, and that was my first exposure to them, which was really late. I mean, I think I heard one of their songs on, like, Mighty Ducks when I was a kid…“And then, I think I’d heard a couple of ABBA songs growing up, but [after that], I got into their whole discography. So I was exposed to a lot of ‘new’ old music when I was in middle school and high school.”Through this new-found love of pop, Debbii soon decided that she wanted to create some of her own. Unfortunately, she was still experiencing debilitating shyness and social anxiety that initially stood in the way of her pursuing her dreams.“I was very reclusive for years,” she admits. “I hadn’t put out any music. I put out a few cover videos on YouTube, and that’s it, and even when I started doing that, it was under a different name, and I had my head cut off, because I didn’t want anyone to know about it.“So, I knew I wanted to do this, but I knew I had a lot of work to do, because I was really afraid to be in front of people.”For many people, the first time they will have been introduced to Debbii was when she auditioned for America’s Got Talent, in front of judges Simon Cowell, Sofia Vergara, Heidi Klum and Howie Mandel.Debbii Daws pictured during her America s Got Talent audition in 2022This was in 2022, at a time when shows like American Idol, The X Factor and The Voice had already reached their cultural peak, meaning it was harder than ever for auditionees to cut through in any big way when trying out for a TV talent search.Somehow, though, Debbii managed it. Her audition piece, a uniquely rearranged version of ABBA’s Dancing Queen, has now racked up upwards oftwo million views on YouTube alone, and introduced Debbii to the industry she had hoped so much for years to break into.The question is, how did a a self-professed “recluse” who didn’t want to sing in front of anyone find herself on a massive stage, performing for what would turn out to be millions of people worldwide?Well, it’s kind of a funny story.“I had thought about it several times, and been approached before,” she recalls. “People growing up would go, ‘oh, you should go on this show’ or whatever, and I thought about it, but I never felt like it was time. Or I don’t think I was ready to do something like that. “Like I said, I was really afraid to be in front of people. Like, I would have panic attacks and everything.”She continues: “So someone was like, ‘you should audition for  America’s Got Talent’ and I was thinking about it, and decided not to do it… but then I had jury duty.“I met this woman at jury duty, who was like, ‘oh what do you do?’, and I was like, ‘oh, I write songs’. And she was like, ‘you should go on America’s Got Talent’, and it was so random, so I just took it as a sign.After that, Debbii decided the moment had come to “rip the band-aid off”, and while her four yeses from the AGT panel somehow still didn’t translate to a place in the live shows, it wasn’t long before the industry came calling.The sudden frenzy around her, she claims, took some “getting used to”, as you might expect for someone who says that even today, she’s still “working on” overcoming her shyness.“I talked to everybody in town,” Debbii says of the aftermath of her AGT audition. “There were a lot of people who were very excited and everything, which was cool. So, I did all the meetings and ran around LA and New York and all over the place, and wound up at RCA, and they’ve been great.“But yeah. I took a lot of meetings!”Debbii Dawson s career has only gone from strength to strength since her America s Got Talent daysIn the years since signing with her record label, she’s been slowly releasing music, and in 2024, her release Happy World was one that pop aficionados really started paying attention to.The track mixed the glam rock guitars of Queen and David Bowie with the infectious ear candy melodies of ABBA (there are traces of everything from Super Trouper and Lay All Your Love On Me to Fernando and Money Money Money to be heard on Happy World alone, without even getting into the other cuts in Debbii’s discography that tip their hat to the Swedish pop juggernauts).“I don’t mean to do it!” she insists of the constant ABBA comparisons she’s faced since she began releasing her most recent original material. “I think they just start morphing this way.“For me, I think melody is such a huge champion of the songs, and I feel like that’s something that me and maybe Benny and Björn might have in common.”Given the music she grew up listening to as a child, she suggests: “Maybe we might have had the same influences. Listening to a lot of classical stuff and things like that, this type of music is just perfect for being able to be playful and showcase melodies. If I can have six melodies going on in one song at the same time, [I will]. And you can’t do that with every genre.”While Debbii is carving a niche entirely of her own, the last few years have seen several other contemporary stars scoring hits with original material hailing back to the sounds of the 1970s, which includes everything from Harry Styles’ Fine Line and Harry’s House to Sabrina Carpenter’s Man’s Best Friend and, indeed, Taylor Swift’s latest release The Life Of A Showgirl.Debbii Dawson opening for country superstar Orville Peck on tour last year“I have so much to say, I could make this a very long conversation!” Debbii says of the 70s resurgence in the pop space right now. “I think history repeats itself, it goes in cycles. I think historically, culturally, economically, it’s all connected. And the arts are a reflection of everything happening around us, and a glimpse into the future too.”She observes: “I also think we’re in a period of time where people really need something to believe in, and they need an escape. They need something real, but they also want to dream. You know?“And I think this time of music encapsula tes all those things. People just want to dance, they want to cry, they want to feel something. And I think all these eras really sum a lot of these things up.”That’s not to say that she thinks pop music is all about escapism, though.“Thinking specifically about music cycles, if I was to make it super broad, I think of it as two kind of cycles,” Debbii continues. “One is escapism, and the other is having to face the things we’ve escaped from.“I think we’re coming out of escapism, and starting to have to come face to face with a lot of things. And I feel like, even though we’re dancing, there’s a lot of hard things that are going to be said in the music scene in the coming years.“The arts have always been a spearhead in divisive times. In really crazy times, historically, the arts are sometimes one of the first things targeted. Because it’s such an influential and powerful medium to reach people, and influence people. So, yeah. I think it’s very important.”Debbii is similarly excited at the prospect of releasing music at a time when so many women in pop – including Chappell Roan and Billie Eilish, as well as British stars like Charli XCX, PinkPantheress and Jade – are being celebrated for doing things on their own terms.Debbii Dawson says it s an exciting time in music both as a female artist and a pop fan more generally“Even if I wasn’t making music, just seeing all of these women killing it, it’s huge. As a woman. It’s ginormous,” she enthused.“And especially, coming out of… historically just weird stuff women have gone through in music, it’s cool to see them taking more power and taking the reins more in their careers, having more say in what they’re singing and how their songs are shaped and sounding.“I just love seeing the honesty in their lyrics and stuff, too. It’s very cool to watch. I’m very honoured to be making music in this time, with people like this doing all this at the same time, too. It’s very cool.”This is something else she puts down the current climate outside of the music world. “People want something to believe in,” Debbii says. “As long as you’re real, and yourself, and authentic – people are smart and that’s what they want right now, and they’re hungry for. I think all these artists are being themselves and they’re saying that pay off.”Our interview takes place shortly after the release of Debbii’s latest single I Want You, which marks a departure for her in many ways.“It sounds very different from what I normally do,” she says of the track which she says is her way of “leaning into this Debbie Harry-esque” and “grainier” sound than her fans might be used to hearing from her.But I Want You is also notable in that it’s Debbii’s first time collaborating with Max Martin, the Swedish hitmaker responsible for shaping some of the biggest pop songs of the modern era, including the likes of Britney Spears’ …Baby One More Time, The Weeknd’s Blinding Lights, Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream, Pink’s So What, Ariana Grande’s No Tears Left To Cry and the UK’s current number one single, Taylor Swift’s The Fate Of Ophelia.“I actually wasn’t allowed to listen to a lot of music growing up, so I didn’t have exposure to a lot of pop music that most kids grew up listening to,” Debbii admits, but hails the superproducer as being “so nice” on their session.She recalls: “It was an accident, actually. I was in a session, and Max came in to get a synthesiser from the room. And he asked to listen to what we were working on, and he said he really liked it. And then he came back and crashed the session.”Debbii reveals that Max also left her with some lasting words of advice.“Two minutes into meeting him, he was like, ‘I can tell you’re weird, you should lean into it’,” she says with a laugh.Debbii Dawson has revealed she got some lasting advice from Max Martin when they worked togetherAs for what’s next for her, Debbii reveals she’s learned to embrace performing live, something which she once found too triggering to contemplate.“Before, when someone would tell me to sing on stage or something, I’d literally start crying and hyperventilating. But when I started performing my own songs on stage, it felt like different,” she shares.“It doesn’t feel like me being on a stage and having people look at me, which I don’t really enjoy. It feels like I’m presenting something, like, ‘here’s this thing, look at this thing’.”Debbii continues: “I started touring with a band more recently, and we’re having so much fun. They’re just nerds and we play Pokémon all the time and play music – I’m very surprised how much I love being on stage right now.”And, of course, fans have plenty more bops to look forward to, as well.“I have a few things in the kitchen,” she teases. “I’m Little Miss Indecisive, I can’t decide, but there’s so much fun stuff. I can’t even keep track of how many songs there are…“But I’ve been having a lot of fun in the studio, I’ll say that. I’m still very new to performing on stage and stuff like that, but the studio, and making music, has always been like a playground for me. I literally feel like I’m at school, on the playground, when I make music.“So, going into rooms with other people who want to collaborate, it’s really important that other people I’m working with are having fun, and we’re all laughing the whole time, you know?“It sounds super cheesy and corny but we’re just all nerds having a lot of fun making music.”Listen to Debbii Dawson’s latest single I Want You below:MORE MUSIC INTERVIEWS:Self Esteem: ‘I Achieved Everything I Set Out To Do, And I Was Sadder Than Ever’Rufus Wainwright: Our Rights Are Being Decimated, We Have To Unite Jake Shears: It Really Feels Like The World Might Need Scissor Sisters Again

Latest News

Hashtags:   

Weird

 | 

Debbii

 | 

Dawson

 | 

Became

 | 

Thing

 | 

Sources