Today we’d like to introduce you to Deanna DiLandro. They and their team shared their story with us below:
Deanna DiLandro is an LA-based alternative pop singer/songwriter whose powerful vocal presence explores themes that dance between sorrow and joy, love and heartbreak, and the choice between staying hidden or becoming seen. At ten years old, Deanna was struck by the soprano-pop force that is Kelly Clarkson and performed her A Moment Like This in the annual choir production, captivating the audience with her rare gift. She was catapulted on her own journey to pursue her unique vocal prowess. She went on to seek music education through high school in the theatre arts university program offered at Ramapo High School. Her most coveted role at that time being Mimi in Rent. Later, she hosted shows and performed amidst the cool, underground music scene of New Brunswick, New Jersey. Though attending Rutgers University on a track scholarship, her heart eventually led her to pivot and choose the pursuit of music fully. She engaged in music internships, sang as the lead vocalist for Powerlines, an expressive pop-rock band, and created spaces for the underground music scene to flourish by hosting shows of her own. She also managed a record store and managed an indie record label, EggHunt Records, her love of vinyl and music releases skyrocketing. After losing her mom to cancer and navigating the rigors of college life and love, Deanna continued to pursue her own artistic sound while supporting other artists—even starting her own record label for women, nonbinary, and trans artists to shine. She led with an unshakeable belief that there is nothing quite like the pulsing heart of the community and the ability to be suspended in a song.
Inspired by the likes of Florence & the Machine, Prince, Led Zepplin, Amy Winehouse, and Carole King, Deanna creates with heart-led passion. She’s written songs that have been featured in places like Rocket League’s main screen, the title sequence in Season 3 of Selling Sunset, and within recent Volvo campaigns. She tackles a range of genres with depth, dynamics, and distinctly catchy hooks. She holds a desire to create sounds that transport listeners to the same places these icons take a listener. Her voice offers a bright and bombastic yet almost androgynously smooth, smokey timbre. Derived from an ethereal alt-punk-pop wellspring, her sound invites a listener into moody introspection yet meets them with full, grounded depth. Lyrically, Deanna indulges in sensitivity around the experience of love and loss with an artfulness birthed from the close connection to herself. From there, her voice reached out to others with boldness. Drawn to funky electronic beats and punk-rock sounds as a backdrop to her deeply soulful voice, Deanna creates first from a place of deep feeling. With dynamic sound, lyrical color, depth, and vocal power, Deanna Dilandro’s music draws listeners into reflective, dark places to emerge on the other side of light and catharsis.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Challenges have included wading the waters of extreme grief while continuing to create. Toxic producer relationships keep my music from being released. Being wrongly credited for my work. Not being taken seriously in a professional music industry environment. Cease and desist letters with no room for coexistence.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I feel at this stage of my career, I am most known for the work I’ve done in the pop music world. My song “Don’t Stop The Party” was licensed in the video game Rocket League, and “Wild Thing” opens Season 3 Episode 9 of Selling Sunset. However, I’m most proud of my recent alt-pop debut EP, “firestarter” and the incredible audio/visual world it lives in. The visuals in the world of the EP were created by Jacqueline Brockel. The production from Ro Lorenzen makes this release so dynamic and unlike a lot of my previous work. Her work brought the EP to life in a way that marries pulsing electronics with the grit of rock and roll. She got it right away. It took a little over four years to complete this project because of unstable producer and engineer relationships. I made it a point after so much hardship to outsource all of the work involved in making this project happen to non-men. Not a single man has touched “firestarter.”
I am additionally most proud of the record label and collective I co-founded with Madison Hetterly. Weird Sister (soon-to-be Final Girl Records) is an independent record label + collective based in Brooklyn, NY, and Los Angeles, CA. Sick and tired of the white dude music business machine, we strive for a healthier label model to serve as a safer space for women, trans, and non-binary people in creative industries. We are committed to being an anti-racist organization that encourages equity, diversity, and anti-rac
ist actions in the music industry and to help amplify the voices of BIPOC artists + creators. We have released over 50 songs, accruing an incredibly diverse catalog in only two years. We host events, support artists we love, and so badly want to contribute to a beautiful femme sanctuary amidst the wild and often unsafe music industry ecosystem.
What were you like growing up?
I wanted to be a pop star so badly. I was obsessed with Brittney Spears and Cher. I was three different versions of the default pop star costume you could buy from those catalogs several Halloweens in a row from age 9-12. I was a performer by nature and by practice. I also loved sports and being with my friends. I loved to laugh. I still do.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deannadilandro/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkU-t9pisTSTgCboTKdxlSw
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/deannadilandro
Image Credits
Photos by Sarah Shen. Image with drawing is an image by Sarah Shen with illustrations by Jacqueline Brockel.
