Breaking Through Concrete
The flower that grows out of the sidewalk is a metaphor for beauty being able to break through any threshold of adversity and is a phrase that perfectly encapsulates how Dali Rose’s music can inject hope into darkness.
Born Drake Hunt, the 22-year-old Atlanta native has been surrounded by music his entire life. His father, Van Hunt, is a Grammy-award-winning vocalist and musician, and a close family friend is the prodigious Dionne Farris - two people he cites as early musical inspirations.
Growing up, Drake listened to a lot of Earl Sweatshirt, King Krule, Mac Miller, Sly Stone and Nina Simone, which, of course, helped inform his personal songwriting style. But despite being raised around music, Dali didn’t dive into making music until his late teens.
“I was around [music] my whole life,” Dali explains. “I grew up in the church. I was singing in the choir, but I only started to gravitate towards it when I got to college, and then I ended up switching majors much to my mother’s chagrin.”
Finding His Voice
Dali Rose's musical journey started when the rest of the world stopped amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Initially enrolling at New York University as a Political Science major, he soon admitted his true passion and transitioned to Tisch School of the Arts to study music.
Dali dove headfirst into his commitment to the craft. He learned how to produce and soon began producing his own tracks and eventually playing live shows with his friends from university. Dali uses his music as an outlet for his emotions but presents his experiences in a relatable way so that the music feels inclusive.
Healing Through Sound
Self-written and produced, Dali’s debut EP Heaven mirrors his own young journey. Each track reflects his own personal struggles with alcohol, mental health, personal acceptance and yet also captures the resilience he found to overcome.
Songs like “Stray” and “Losing Faith” grapple with abandonment and emptiness, while tracks like “Big Bear” offer up hope.
“I’m drawn to dark themes, but don’t like to be left there – so now I always try to find that crack of light,” Dali says. “I hope my music makes people my age feel understood, appreciated, and know that someone out there is going through the same things as them.”