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A triple threat of confidence, grace, and talent, DaniLeigh gave us the pleasure of an exclusive convo on her latest single, “G.O.D.” The rapper, singer, and songwriter is already a force to be reckoned with in the musical world, but also a role model of a sister, and daughter, and new since the first time we showcased her in 2018, a mother, too. In this vulnerable chat, we learned about the lessons DaniLeigh holds close from the passing of her father, and the faith that got her family through the grief, and helped to influence “G.O.D.” Read on for your daily dose of inspiration:

OnesToWatch: DaniLeigh, how are you? How have you been since 2018 when I last saw you? 

DaniLeigh: Ooh, I've been great, honestly. I’m in a very, very good space in my life right now. Very appreciative of everything and where I am in life. 

That begs a question, though. Were you in a bad space back then? 


I mean, back in 2018, no. That was definitely the highlight of my career where I was getting to experience a lot of different things – getting to travel, getting accolades, just working hard and doing what I love. So I don't think I was depressed. I don't think I was in a bad space. 

Then what changed? 


Just different decisions, you know? I think I was a very young girl. 2018, I was how old? It's 2026, I'm 31 now. I was probably like 25. I was just young. I was living a very fast life. I was heavily involved in drinking and partying and wanting to have fun and not really super focused on the goal. 


I think a lot of people have had that place in their life where they just want to have fun. The pandemic definitely shifted it for me. Did it change anything for you? 


I had a child. 

That'll do it. 


So that really started the maturing process in my life and made me have to give up a lot that I was doing as far as the lifestyle. I'm very grateful for it because it opened up another love of love in my life.

You know, I think one of the many things the music industry does wrong is it doesn't celebrate mothers and the work that they have to put in. As an artist, how do you balance that? 

I think it varies for different people, but for me, having a great support system is really important. My family's in my life very closely. So I feel like having my mom to take care of my child at times, or my sister… support is very important. I wouldn't be able to do anything if I didn't have my family around. So, yeah, I find ways to balance it and make sure that if I have something coming up, she's set up and taken care of. But I'm very hands on. I take her to school every day, pick her up, cook for her. I'm very there. I'm very present. So I find my moments to have my time to go record in the studio and I'll plan it properly. 

Can you be creative on demand like that? 


Yeah, yeah. It also depends on who I'm working with. I try to put myself in a space where I know the people, so it's easy. But if I don't know the person, I guess it is a little bit more of figuring it out and seeing what can we can create. Sometimes it goes perfectly and sometimes it’s weird. It's always weird meeting strangers and then just being like, yeah, let’s make a song and deep dive into an emotion. 

Let’s go back to when we were hanging in 2018, OnesToWatch superstar. What was your writing process back then and how is it different now?

My lifestyle has changed so much that. Back then I was making songs that were a little bit more vulgar and a genre spectrum. I would say I'm in a different space in life now and really want my music to have the most substance ever and be so truthful on where I am in life. I would do that back then, and it was authentic, but I'm just at a different place in my life. I always say like before we get in the studio, I'm like, listen, I want to make music that my daughter can listen to. So it needs to be clean. It needs to be positive. We can speak on love, but I'm not really speaking sexually. I just want to make music that's positive. 

In terms of the process, has anything changed? 

I used to be so lit back then. Now, I’m completely sober. I would rely on being lit in the studio to make music, and now I don’t at all. So I’m more present. 

I think the music reflects that. How do you start a song? 


It's always different. Sometimes, I'll have an idea, a concept and work from that. Or I’ll go in the studio with no idea what I'm about to write about and have the producer make me a beat that I’ll write melodies over. I'm definitely a melody queen. I love freestyling melodies. 


That sounds like fun. Let's talk about your more recent singles. What inspired “G.O.D.” 

Man, I think I was in LA when I created that. My sister and her producer actually co-produced it. She's only 22, she's super talented. I had a session scheduled with them. They did the beat before and when I got there, they played the record, and I was like, oh, this is fire. I freestyled the melody and then we just started putting it all together. It was really fun. I have that whole thing recorded too. I'm going to post it. 


How old is this song? 

It's fairly new, honestly. It's probably from six, seven, eight months ago. 


We know you're working towards an upcoming project; how much of that is done yet?

I would have said months ago that it's completely finished, but I want to give myself another month of locking in and creating a couple more records that maybe I can maybe swap out or add in there. 

How many songs are you pulling from to put the album together? 


I have about 13 songs right now. 

Is there a thematic narrative that's binding these songs together? 


I’m kind of narrating it with the sound. My sound is pretty versatile, so I'll have some R&B records and then I'll have a couple rap type of records. Also some Afro international vibes too. The sound is defining the mood, I would say. 


Given you've obviously accomplished so much already in your career, but you're coming at it from a very different approach now. Have your goals changed, your ambitions, what you're looking to do? 

I would say back then I was really striving to just be the number one artist ever. And of course, that's an amazing goal, and I would still love to be super successful, but I feel like my values have changed so much that I truly just want to just settle down and be very stable in my home life and buy a house, have my kids, be married and probably have a studio in the house where I can just work and travel. Back then when I didn't have a kid, I just wanted to travel the world and be the biggest star in the world. I wasn't thinking about the things I just said. 

What do you hope your audience takes away from this album? 

I feel like God gives us a gift. Everybody has a gift in their own life, and God gave you that gift for a purpose. I feel like my gift is influence and my voice and dance and everything. So I feel like I want to inspire people to find God and do their thing and find their own purpose and do it to serve God. 

Do you find that like post-pandemic, those types of topics are easier to navigate musically? 


I feel like people are more open to God really having his light right now. The pandemic was very hard on a lot of people and it gave people testimonies to find God. I’m very happy that that's what's happening because following God is, I feel the best way of living. It's like the most healthiest way to me. 

Couple of big questions. What was your biggest fear back then and did it come true? 

That's a good question. I don't know if I've ever been asked that before. Damn. It probably happened for me. I lost my dad, and I would say my biggest fear was losing a family member. 

Rest in peace. How did you overcome that, if you have? 


I would say our family's still in a season of grieving. But the way it all went down was how I found God. I feel like if it wouldn't have happened, I would still be lost in the sauce in the world. God was so present during that entire time and revealing so many things that my dad was battling with. And, you know, cancer isn't sent from God. It's really sent from the enemy. He pretty much opened that door for the enemy to enter his life with the way he was living. A lot of that was revealed to my family. And then we were taking care of him and cancer is the worst thing ever. It literally kills your entire body, your walking, seeing, talking, everything. It was very, very hard to see my dad go through all of that. But God revealed so much to show how real he was during that time for our family and even giving us that chance to be together as a family during that moment. We’ve all been through a lot within the last years and we really needed that moment to take care of a loved one together as a family and overcome a lot of things. 

Even though he passed away, it felt like we saved him. Because if he wouldn't have gotten the cancer, he would have been living that life still. 
And I feel like he wouldn't have made it to heaven. God gave us the craziest examples for us to know he went to heaven. Like, he, when he passed away, we were all together and we were just praying over him and knew he was about to pass away. It was four in the morning. Everybody had their time to say something. My mom ended it, and then he passed away right away, with his mouth open. My mom tried closing his mouth, but he didn't. And then we placed the blanket over him and had our moments just speaking over everything. We were just honestly glad that he wasn’t suffering because he was in so much pain. And then a couple hours later, we lifted the blanket and he was smiling. 

That’s beautiful. If you could kind of go back in time and talk to yourself, what advice would you give yourself? 

I would say keep my family close to me. The industry kind of pulled me away from my family and steered me into the wrong things and being around the wrong people a lot. It made me make decisions that I can say I regret. Obviously, they taught me a lot. But certain things I just wouldn't have done. I know if I would have had the right people and my family with me I wouldn’t have done them. So I would say to stay close to my family. 

Love that. Alright, let’s get some more fun questions since we've hit on some big emotional topics. Your daughter's hungry. You got to whip her up a meal. What are you making?

Either rice and beans and chicken or some pasta. 

If you could create a dream concert, who would you love to perform with? 
They can be dead or alive. 

Missy Elliot. I just want it to be so creative and cool. I would put Aliyah in there. Kendrick Lamar. Michael Jackson. 

Especially as a mom, this must be important, when you need to give yourself some Zen time, some flowers. What do you do? 


I'd probably go take workout classes, pilates. I love that. 

If you could sort of go anywhere that you haven't been before, is there somewhere you haven't been that you really want to get to? 


I've always said Bali. I'm a beach girl. I've always wanted to go to Jamaica. 

Last couple of questions. I would love a non-music recommendation, so it can be literally anything. Something to do, something to read, somewhere to visit, whatever you would put on a friend. 

The word of God. I know it's difficult. I feel like the Bible is really hard to read. Proverbs is very poetic. Also, though, this book called Soul Care, it'll unveil so much about yourself that'll make you dive into your past that could be holding things back from your growth and things that you haven't healed from. It’s just so revealing, it's so good.

Now how about a music recommendation? 

It’s not super specific, but honestly Christian music be so fire. They be having artists that sound like R&B and they're talking about God. Alex Jean is really good, Isaac Mansfield too. His production is so cool. Also, Sstedi is great. 

I love that. So good. I want to end on your own words. So, advice, wisdom, shouting outs, quotes, whatever you want to end on. 

Just keep going, because life is hard, but there's always reasons behind what you're going through. 


That was beautiful. Thank you so much for your time.