We had the good fortune of connecting with D’Asia Simone and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi D’Asia, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
I am from Cleveland, Ohio born and raised. I was raised in the inner city of Cleveland in a family of nine women and one male. My immediate family consisted of my great-grandfather and great-grandmother, who were the head of our family, my grandma, my mom, my two sisters, my great-aunt, and my two cousins. My family was always very close. We loved spending quality time together, from family dinners to outings, holidays, and more. Quality time was our love language. The love I witnessed from my great-grandparents was something out of a fairytale. I am so grateful to have had them as an example of real love and family values. They were best friends and had so much respect, admiration, and love for one another. My great-grandparents taught us the importance of love, family, faith, believing in yourself, and having dreams. My family was always a musical and artistic family even prior to us being born. My great-grandfather played various instruments and had a wonderful singing voice, although he’d pretend as if he didn’t. He was also a great photographer and videographer. He truly had an eye. My great-grandmother had a beautiful voice and sang in the church choir. My other family members either sang, played instruments, danced, modeled, and more. Since as early as I can remember, every single one of my family members were involved in music, dance, acting, modeling, and more. It was passed down to us. As a child, I loved dancing, singing, writing, acting, and performing all around. I enjoyed watching films and grew up on musicals like The Wiz and Hair. I was introduced to the world of arts as a baby and found an interest in it as soon as I could even form a conscious what I liked and disliked. I said my first word ‘Hi’ at 4 months, had a 15 word vocabulary at 12 months, singing earlier than that, and began to really dive deep into self expression through writing, drawing, and singing around the age of 4. My family created a safe and supportive space for all of us to express ourselves in the ways that we felt moved to. When I showed a serious interest was in singing, my family made sure to support that. I sang in the church choir and had vocal lessons. I attended my first guitar lesson in 3rd grade and learned piano by watching my great-grandfather, my cousin, and older sister who had lessons. When I showed interest in acting, my mom ensured that I had Drama class as apart of my school curriculum. When I showed my interest in dance, I was on dance and cheer teams. When I showed interest in the arts and performing arts altogether, my grandma made sure to send us to art camps, workshops, and more. I was performing and showcasing my art since elementary school, participating in talent shows and art shows. My creativity has been nurtured my entire life and I have had an amazing support system throughout my entire journey. With all the love and support I was surrounded around, being an artist and creative was destined for me. It’s in my DNA.

Please tell us more about your art. We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today professionally? Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way? What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
When I think of creativity and what that truly means, it feels infinite to me. It Is unlimited. I create from the soul and when that is transferred to the physical, it becomes art. I express myself through my art and that may translate through various mediums. Through singing, producing, dancing, writing, photography, modeling, directing, even the way I style myself from head to toe, it is all self expression, it is all art. I’ve been a creative since as early as a I can remember or from what I’ve seen on home videos. I was definitely in my infant and toddler years. I come from a musical and artistic family so all of our interests were nurtured, especially by our elders. We did not have a lot of money or resources, but we had family, we had love, and we had community. I would often find myself drawing or sketching clothes as a kid. I loved painting sunsets using the children’s painting kits. I wrote stories, books, poems, and songs in which I still have copies of. My cousins, sisters, and I made our own dance team in which we did choreography and performed at our family reunions. A few of us also joined a local cheer and dance team. My great-grandfather was really nice at photography and had a collection of photo and video cameras. He documented almost every aspect of our lives and I was inspired by that. We were all heavy into film and one of favorite past times was watching movies and musicals. I had my first camera in elementary school and would always take pictures whether in front of or behind the camera. As a teen I eventually bought my first camera with my own money and uploaded my photos to Tumblr.

Singing was my primary love though. I sang often and would participate in all of my schools’ talent shows from the 3rd grade all the way up to high school. I took my first guitar lessons in 3rd grade, learned to play piano by watching my grandfather, cousin, and sister who had lessons. I sang in my church’s teen choir as a kid and my school’s choir in middle school. In tandem, I would record song covers on my mom’s webcam and upload them to Youtube. I spent a lot of time doing that. I eventually had vocals lessons as a teen, had my first studio session where I narrated an intro to my mentor’s mixtape, and I was a theater kid too. I sang lead roles in musicals like Flapper, and really discovered my love for acting. After moving to Arizona at the end of my freshman year of high school, I spent a lot of time alone as I adapted to a new environment. I set up my keyboard in my room and would play, sing, and record song covers, upload them to Youtube, Soundcloud, and Tumblr. Once I adapted to my environment, I joined theater again and danced for one of the dance teams. My step brother set up a recording booth in his closet and acted as my engineer as I began recording audio-only covers for Soundcloud and YouTube. I expressed myself through almost every creative and artistic medium that I felt resonated with me. I watered my creativity and it was well supported. It has always been my nature.

In 2015, I moved back to Cleveland after graduating high school to be closer to my great-grandparents towards the later years of their life and finish college. Being in my hometown helped me to be closer to family and my roots. I was able to learn more about myself and really shape who I am as an artist. Cleveland is where and how I built my foundation. In 2015, I had my first studio experience with a producer who wanted me to be apart of his project. He listened to one of my cover songs on Soundcloud and liked what he had heard. I was new to this experience, and unfortunately, it did not go as I had thought it would. I had my first experience of being misled and my vocals never made it on the project. I was disappointed but because I wasn’t too involved in music at the time, it wasn’t a big deal for me. It was important for me to note that it was the first experience I had in the music and entertainment world that I wasn’t aware would be a common theme in this industry. Instead of focusing on that, I tapped back into dance and joined a dance group where we would spend a lot of time at the dance studio, doing performances, and also booking modeling gigs as well. I eventually went on to do a lot a background actor work in commercials and films, and briefly joined an agency. I connected with photographers and did a lot of modeling at that time as well. I would spend my first couple of years doing that. I met a lot of artists, producers, DJs, photographers, models, and other creatives in the city through networking events and mutual acquaintances. My circle of friends started to consist of people who reflected my passions and interests. I started my first recording sessions in a mutual friends’ basement recording songs I had written over my friend’s beats. My very first song was a song called ‘Right Now’ that I uploaded to Soundcloud in 2018. I connected with a cinematographer named Criss Davis and sent him a mood board for a music video idea I had. I uploaded the video to Youtube and it received such a good response. It was my very first project that I poured into and it set the tone for the type of artist I’d go on to become. After my official debut as an artist in 2018, my bestfriend Nicole (DJ NicNacc) set me up with my first performance gig at Grog Shop. That year, I connected with Rocki Laurenç and began working on my debut EP ‘Element’ released in 2019. After self directing my first music video for ‘Right Now’, I dove more into creative direction and began directing all of my music videos and visual projects. I also attracted a lot of opportunities and was booked to perform at various venues. Over the years, I’ve performed at the House of Blues, Beachland Ballroom, Grog Shop, Mahall’s, Brite Winter Fest, and more. I was very active early on in my journey and felt so energized during that part of my life. Despite that, the road hasn’t always been easy. I faced a lot of rejections, betrayals, and conflicts that were even more challenging being a woman in the world of music and entertainment. I experienced a lot of moments of people trying to take advantage of me, and some people were successful.

The year 2020 was a pivotal moment in my story. I went through a lot of ups and downs. While I had some good moments that year, the challenges hit me even harder. I experienced a rough breakup, losing my great grandparents one year after another, having my entire EP scrapped by a shady producer, long term health issues became a concern and I had to have sinus surgery, and more. I was processing a lot and eventually stepped away from my craft. I stepped even further away from myself. I hid from myself and everything I had loved so deeply felt like a trigger. I tried dabbling in and out of my art but nothing felt right. I felt disconnected from everything including the things I enjoyed. Getting dressed up, traveling, indulging in experiences, all in which gave me so much inspiration in my life and art, just didn’t feel the same anymore. The only thing that didn’t feel so painful was starting a business that serviced others, diving into photography, and into another relationship. It felt easier to give to others than to myself. Little did I realize that when you’re pouring into others’ cups when your cup is empty, it can cause even more damage. It’s almost like driving a car with no oil and potentially ruining the engine in the process. At the time, I was pretty numb anyways so it didn’t really matter. I felt like I had given up.

In 2021, I was self employed and threw myself into my business. In 2022, I got a job in classical music and that’s when things started to shift. I started to slowly but surely reconnect to music. I couldn’t hide from it anymore because I worked in it. Music became a part of my every day life again. I remember attending my first couple of concerts and hearing the orchestra practice and feeling so connected to my great-grandfather. He loved classical music and introduced us to the genre as kids, despite us not having any real interest at the time. I felt like he was watching over me heavily. If he had seen me give up on my dreams, I would never hear the end of it. I could hear his deep voice giving me a lecture in this most subtle way then bringing it up on every occasion. He always asked questions and would always remind you too. That year, I decided to tap back into back into music but on a smaller scale. I took some online courses on producing and mixing, watched Youtube videos, and started to work my way around Ableton. I would use free samples and loops from Splice and that’s how I started to learn how to produce. I took a trip to LA in August of 2022 with my best friend and went to see one of my favorite producers Flying Lotus perform at the Hollywood Bowl with the LA Philharmonic. That trip gave me such a sense of freedom, energy, and clarity. Later that year, I collaborated with a couple of photographers and my pictures were featured in two art exhibits. Seeing my photos displayed on those gallery walls helped me to see myself from a different perspective. It gave me a sense of self again. Everything that I had tried to run away from reappeared in my life. I knew that I could not run from myself any longer. That was the final moment that I knew I needed to reconnect with self.

After my two year relationship ended in January of 2023, I realized that it was my time for self discovery. It would go on to mark the start of the journey that healed me and brought me closer to the highest and best versions of myself. I had hidden from my self for so long that I knew I needed to reassess and reconnect. In February, I had my 27th birthday and went on a trip with my best friends. We did Vegas, Salt Lake City for All Star weekend, and after that I traveled over the next few months to Atlanta, Chicago, Miami, and LA. I love traveling and experiences so that year gave me so much inspiration and fuel. I took my laptop with me and would produce songs while on the plane or in the airport. I was writing again too. I started to feel inspired again. I reconnected with my friend and producer Rocki Laurenç and by July of 2023, we began working on a song that would eventually transform into my sophomore EP ‘Pluto’, released in May of 2024. The entire project was created over FaceTime with us having a 3 hour time difference and being over 2,000 miles away from one another. I created a small studio set up in my room and we virtually created the entire body of work. I also co-produced the project as well. Rocki created a formula and tuned the entire project to the Solfeggio frequencies, so each song is associated with the seven chakras: The End (Root), Omen (Third Eye), Surrender (Solar Plexus), The Beginning, Rebirth, Bad4U (Throat), Senses (Sacral), Crystallize (Heart), Pluto (Crown). The title of the project Pluto also represents the astrological meaning of the planet which is death, transformation, and rebirth. The EP takes you on a journey of the death of my old self, transformation, and rebirth. It has a lot of symbolism and healing properties to it while also fusing together various different sounds, instruments, and still meshing well with popular music. Additionally, I continued to tell the story through visuals, incorporating themes, colors, and symbolistic aspects to it. I creative directed each visualizer and music video for the project, flying to and from LA to film, and with the help of some amazing creatives. Shout out to Marla Rae, Criss Davis, Ryan Harris, Rocki, and every creative who collaborated with me on this project. Throughout the year that I worked on this EP, I faced almost every aspect of myself, my feelings, my traumas, unlearned, and relearned in ways that aligned more authentically with myself. I healed and connected with myself through this project. I learned a lot about myself as a person and artist, and enhanced my skills. I evolved in almost every sense.

My spirituality is a key factor in my art. It goes beyond all of the surface level experiences and dives deeper into the core. I am multidimensional and have so many layers, so my art is the best medium in which I can truly express the essence of who I am. Over the years, I expanded my mind and found myself discovering a deeper understanding of myself and spirituality through spiritual tools. I found an interest in astrology, human design, and more. I remember visiting a spiritual healer for the first time and the experience was so mind opening and liberating. I began diving deeper into energy work, quantum physics, and quantum mechanics. Over the past few years I became certified in crystal healing, and first and second degree Reiki.

I have always been a student of life and enjoy learning. It’s a trait that I shared from my great-grandfather. My great-grandfather was a Baptist Christian but would often read the Bible, Quran, and Torah to learn and educate himself. He never closed himself off to all of the knowledge the world has to offer. He held onto his beliefs, but he always kept his mind open because he was aware of the complexities of life and loved learning about them. I believe that there are so many tools that are available to us no matter what your beliefs are. Overall, tools are only tools. Yes, they are meant to help guide and aid us, but we are the ones walking the path. I take what I feel is applicable for me and leave what isn’t. My true foundation comes from within and the personal connection that I have to God (the source).

The most important aspect that I’ve learned in my life is that being whole within self is key. We are all multidimensional and every single aspect of us are designed differently and very specifically. No one is the same. You have to find out who you are, what makes you special, what works best for you, tap into that, and live in that confidently as your most authentic self. That is it. That is the key. When you are whole and so connected to who you are, life flows so naturally. You begin to ebb and flow with it instead of against it. You will discover that the only validation you ever need is from within. You learn that all of the answers that you’ve ever needed come from you. Confidence, freedom, sovereignty, and autonomy comes with being whole. When you are certain of who you are and live confidently in that, life begins to unfold based on that story. We are the architects of our lives. We are the authors of our story. The physical world and our lives are only a mirror of our internal world. This journey that I have been on is a reflection of taking my authority back, being the author of my own story, and owning that, which is displayed in my daily life and through my art. I think that answers all of the questions above, to make a short story long.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
In true D’Asia fashion, of course I have a Guide in my Apple maps for every single city I want to visit or have visited. Of course I have one for my hometown Cleveland, and of course it’s primarily food. I don’t want to make this super long so I’ll include a few of my favorite places. For brunch, we’d go to 17 River Grille in Chagrin Falls or The Last Page. For a sit down lunch, we’d go to Northstar, Summer Place in Lakewood, or even Provenance inside of the Cleveland Museum of Art for a more elevated experience. Brassica is an honorable mention for a quick lunch. For dinner, Amba is in my top 5. Summer Place, JaJa, and or Marble Room for a nice steak. For a more relaxed vibe, Cent’s Pizza, Good Company, and Pioneer are always good choices. For a good happy hour and vibes, we’d go to Luxe Lounge in Gordon Square or Fahrenheit in downtown Cleveland. For wine, cocktails, and a good atmosphere, La Cave du Vin in Tremont or Whiskey Bar on Coventry are the places to go. Cleveland has a lot of museums so we could visit the Botanical Gardens, Cleveland Museum of Art, MOCA, Rock Hall, and other indie art exhibits. For entertainment, we can always catch a sports game downtown if they’re into that, hear live music at the House of Blues, Agora, or Jacob’s Pavilion on the water, attend an orchestra concert where they play the film score along with the movie, or attend a dance party by my friends DJ NicNacc, Theo, SmoothTalk, and my other friends. There’s also a lot of events hosted by creatives in the community. There are so many options to choose from. Cleveland has a lot of hidden gems and is really a nice place to visit especially during summer.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I dedicate all that I do to my great-grandparents who are with me in the spiritual realm. I have had the honor of knowing them, loving them, receiving their love, support, the values, talent, and gifts that they have instilled in me and passed down to me. I am continuing their legacy. I also want to dedicate this to my family and specifically the lineage of my amazing great-grandparents: my grandma, auntie, mom, two cousins and sisters, my niece, and two nephews. I am blessed to have been born into such a loving and supportive family.

To my close friends, bestfriends, and mentors – Nicole (NicNacc), Theo, Kelvin, Rocki, Trav, Coco, Jami, Alice, Ms. Annette. thank you for always holding me down, for showing up, for supporting me, for encouraging me, uplifting me, and for loving me through every single moment and phase of my life. I am grateful to know you and to experience you in this lifetime.

To every single creative that I have created with – in the moments where dreaming was the only motivation that kept me going, you showed up for me and offered your gifts, your support, and wisdom to help bring my visions to life. Thank you for trusting me and my vision, believing in me, and adding your special touch. I am forever grateful. And more specifically in terms of creating over this past year, I shoutout Marla Rae, Ryan Harris, Criss Davis, Rocki Laurenç, Shadonis, and Jamal who played such a pivotal role in the birth and after birth of my EP ‘Pluto’. Thank you so much Marla for referring me.

I wish I could mention everyone but this list would be long. Nonethless, I am forever grateful for every single person who I have the privilege of experiencing and sharing moments with.

Website: https://www.dasiasimone.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/dasiasimone

Twitter: https://twitter.com/dasiasimone

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DAsia.Simone

Other: Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5lpq3q15BZlmuCo1ubSuwc?si=I4Mi3_9WQ8SF2kiaXDn5HQ

Apple Music
https://music.apple.com/us/artist/dasia-simone/1454972843

Amazon Music

Tidal
https://tidal.com/browse/artist/15178447

Bandcamp
https://dasiasimone.bandcamp.com/

Image Credits
Ryan Harris
Deon Oliver

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