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It's not always easy to share your creative work with the world, especially when becoming an artist takes a lot more than making good music, and often requires a certain amount of world building, visual artistry and marketing. "… if it was just the music, we would have released years ago," says Edith Nelson of DAMEDAME* (pronounced dah-meh, dah-meh), a Brummie (from Birmingham, England) duo composed of Edith and her collaborator Barbara Boko. 

After years of being scared to be seen, making music anonymously and producing for other artists like Jorja Smith or Tems, they finally just released their debut album DREAMS ON THE PASSENGER SEAT. "There was a time when we were just like 'it has to be now'", says Edith. ¨All the fear and all the waiting around, it's not gonna do anything, so we might as well dive in headfirst and see what happens”. The result is a playful album that moves between R&B, neo-soul, pop and African rhythms, with textures and grooves that refuse to sit still. 

The duo first met as artists in their own right, before deciding to join forces in 2018. At first, Edith focused on producing and sound design, whilst Barbara did songwriting and vocals, but over time, those roles blurred, and the two began building a musical universe where neither really needs to explain what the other is thinking. ¨Sometimes we don't even have to communicate much, we kind of just understand each other."

The record is all about making sure to always take your dreams along for the ride, no matter where life takes you; and most importantly to always find your way back to yourself. Mostly though, the album functions as a time-capsule of everything they've made. “We didn't set out to put all these songs together, it kind of just happened … we just realized that the point is to just put it out and let people make their own ideas." And after seeing the overwhelmingly positive response, you can just tell they are glad they took the risk. "I always saw myself as someone that was meant to work behind the scenes … it's been 20 years of making music quite secretly and then suddenly to put this project out, I feel like I've been reborn," says Edith.

Which led us to a wonderful conversation with Barbara and Edith about the fear of putting yourself out there, making music for fun and playing characters through artistry. It made me reevaluate all of the considerations that one must have before plunging into a career as an artist and all that it entails. What was clear to me is that in the end all you can really do is take the leap, especially if you love music as much as DAMEDAME* does.

OnesToWatch: Hello DAMEDAME* ! When I first read your name, my mind in Spanish said, “dame, dame” (dah-meh), which means “give me, give me”. I’m sure I mispronounced it, so where does your name come from?

Edith: Actually, as it’s a word or expression that comes from Ghana, you pronounced it correctly. In Ghana, where my parents are from, they have all these symbols that have many aphorisms attached to them. When we were looking for a name I was very into that symbolism at the time, and “dame dame” means something like ingenuity, strategy and intelligence so, we liked it. Then when Barbara saw it, and because she’s French - where “dame, dame” means “lady, lady” - we loved that it had a double meaning.

Barbara: Actually, at first we were the only DAMEDAME, but then in 2020 another band with the same name appeared. We literally changed our name temporarily to Sandam because they released music before we did, even though we had been making music since 2018. However, the new name just wasn't sitting right, so we went back to DAMEDAME* and just added the asterisk to differentiate it. 

Do you know what happened to the other DAME DAME? 

DAMEDAME*: We don’t, but we should probably find out [Laughs]. 

How did you meet and how did you decide that you wanted to make music with each other? 

Barbara: So, originally we were actually our own artists. I was Barbella, and Edith was Lokui. We'd actually heard of each other musically on SoundCloud and we were huge fans of each other before we became friends. Then, a mutual friend introduced us and we started helping each other out musically here and there. Nothing really came out of it until around 2018. I was getting bored of the music I was making at the time, which was very neosoul and acoustic leaning, and I just wanted to make music that goes on the radio, is more pop-y and experimental. I was just too scared to do it under my old name so, I suggested we join forces and start something anonymous where we could do whatever we wanted.

How do you feel you complement each other?

Edith: I would say that at the start it was definitely a lot easier to define. I was more of a producer, and felt shy to use my voice. Arranging conventional songs was not my strong point either, I was more about world building, the sound design and just doing crazy production arrangements. Then, Barbara was more on the other songwriter side of things. 

Barbara: I was maybe 2 years into beat making at that point, so my beats were very basic. So, I was stronger when it came to the songwriting, the vocals and the layers. I loved the textures, the sound design, the grooves that Edith uses - just how she builds a sonic world. 

So slowly, over time, we've kind of crossed over and we can both do what the other does. We work amazingly together. Sometimes we don't even have to communicate much, we kind of just understand each other. 

The first song you ever released “A STRANGER” came out in 2023. Since then, how do you feel you've evolved? Especially, as the song is included in your debut album.

Edith: It's mad because it actually isn’t our oldest song. The oldest song on the project is actually “CINNAMON”, which I first made in 2016. I was singing and rapping in it, and then when I started working with Barbs, actually for a uni assignment, I got her to sing all the parts and I just kept my rap in. Since then, we’ve had about 30 different versions of that song.  

Barbara: Actually, between 2023 when we first released “A STRANGER”, and now that we released the album, I feel like there hasn’t been too much evolving as most of the project was already there - we were just fine-tuning it. If anything, I’d say that most of the evolving took place prior to 2023. A lot of this music is very old, surprisingly, and we've kind of been sitting on it. 

That’s super interesting. What are the most recent songs then?

Barbara: The youngest songs are probably “ALL MY LIFE” and “FIRE BURNING THROUGH THE RAIN”.

Edith: Still, speaking of evolving, we have changed a lot. Our approach to production has been simplified, it’s now cleaner and more to the point. I think that back in the day we just used to try absolutely anything, throw loads of things at the wall and just see what sticks. The more we made songs, and started producing for others, the more we understood what was essential to get a story across. You don't need to overproduce it because sometimes that just takes away from the song as well. 

You mentioned that before releasing for yourselves, you were also helping other artists to create their own music. When did you feel like as a duo, you were ready to take that step to help someone else create their vision? 

Barbara: I don't think we ever formally decided, it kind of just happened. When we first got into the industry, many of our first opportunities were to be in sessions as producers and writers for other people. At the time, I guess, being female producers was quite a novelty, but it worked out as a selling-point for us. 

Edith: Back then we just weren't ready to be artists in the limelight and we didn't really have much of a visual identity. We were too scared to be seen, so we just wanted to be anonymous and faceless. I think it took time for us to realize that actually we always wanted it to be an artist proposition. 

Barbara: Over time, many people asked us why we didn’t just release something, but we would do photo shoots and test shoots and it would just look awful, it didn’t feel right. It took a lot of experimenting and just getting comfortable. It really is about trusting the process and, you know, things get better when you actually try. I think that was the first step, which we didn't do for quite a long time. We put off trying, but now I’m happy that we did. 

What was this moment when you kind of knew that you were ready to now be artists and to release all this stuff you'd been sitting on?

Edith: I would say after we finished Jorja (Smith)'s album. That’s when we had the strongest conviction to really go for it. We had most of the songs sitting there, but we were just a bit lost. 

Barbara: We loved helping Jorja make her project, but we wanted to experience what it was like to take a project out of the studio and all the way to market, and be able to add your visuals and all the other assets that go with the music. You kind of miss out on that part when you're just producing. With production you're still telling a story, but you're working with others, so it's a process of compromise, which is really beautiful.

Edith: I think doing your own version of that, but undiluted, was something that we've been dying to do for years, but the courage to do it held us back. All of the things that come with being an artist is something we had put on the back seat for a really long time. So, when it comes to it there's so many things to learn and there's so many things to do. It's not just the music. If it was just the music, we would have released years ago. There was a time when we were just like,”it has to be now. All the fear and all the waiting around, it's not gonna do anything, so we might as well dive in headfirst and see what happens."

What are some things that got you through and helped you build your world? 

Edith: Watching a lot of Netflix, I would say [Laughs], I think we thought we were doing research at the time. But in all honesty, we did take a lot of visual inspiration. I'm sure people can see the Severance reference in the “FIRE BURNING THROUGH THE RAIN” music video. 

Barbara: I think also just experimenting, actually being open to trying things because for a long time, we didn't have any answers for the creative and it was one of the biggest hurdles. I think just trying things and just seeing what we didn't like helped a lot. 

How would you best describe to someone the visual identity you landed with and what are important elements for you? 

Edith: Oh. That's a hard question. I don't think we've actually fully landed where we want to land right now. We’re figuring it out as we go. Even getting the music video done was extremely challenging. 

Barbara: We do like to play other characters. We feel most comfortable pretending to be, and I think that translates in the music. A lot of the times you come on the track as you'd want to hear, whichever character is singing the track to sound like. It has elements of ourselves, but it also has elements of these imaginary characters that were brought to life. The music becomes like the character’s soundtrack.

Edith: Exactly. For a lot of these things trying to come on the visuals as ourselves and it just wasn't clicking. In the music video it was really fun getting on screen and even though we were playing characters, it was just caricatures of ourselves almost. So it took off the pressure of just being exactly who you are.

What characters do you feel you were playing in this album? 

Edith: There's different ones. A lot of the characters are still versions of ourselves, 

Barbara: For example, in “BURRIED IN THE SAND” I definitely was playing a more dramatic telenovela version of myself. I was thinking of the TV show Jane the Virgin a lot. I just imagined it very theatrical, which is why the production goes into that world with the strings and the horns and it's very dramatic. 

Edith: I always imagined “A STRANGER" to be like a Bonnie and Clyde type situation. This toxic, rebellious duo or couple on the run. And for “FIRE BURNING THROUGH THE RAIN” we saw ourselves breaking out of this corporate prison that we went into. Just thinking about our previous selves and like the jobs that we'd had 

Barbara: I think the vocal production on that one, and choosing to sample the main vocal instead of singing it as ourselves was what the song needed. Bringing it up to a high key, so it had the energy of this uplifting, good mood kind of song helped to kind of convey that energy. On the other hand songs like “PROMISE”, I needed to sing that myself so that it felt more sincere.

What is the common thread that ties all the songs in this album together? 

Edith: I would say that the thread is us. It's all made and produced by us. Honestly, it's really just a compilation of our favorite songs over time, like some sort of a time capsule for 8 years of DAMEDAME*. It's just our first offering.

Barbara: I think we did actually struggle creatively with it because there wasn't any specific theme. We didn't set out to put all these songs together, it kind of just happened. So it was like, “How do we package this? Will anyone get it”? But then we just realized that the point is to just put it out and let people make their own ideas.

What led you to choose the name DREAMS ON THE PASSENGER SEAT? 

Barbara: Honestly, it was an old song title that Edith had made for a song that's not on the project. We were searching for a title for a really long time and we couldn't think of one. I think at one point we were literally thinking of calling it Project X (laughs). And then I came across that song and it felt so powerful and it just sounds like a great project name. 

Edith: Back when I was in uni and I was working at Domino's, delivering pizza. I used to bring my laptop and put it on the seat next to me and just work on songs in between delivering the pizza. So, when I made that other song, I was just reflecting on life. I remembered that time and I kind of just saw it as a time where no matter what I was doing, I always kind of brought my dreams with me, even when I was kind of feeling a bit lost or off track. As long as I had my laptop with all my creations on there, I was bringing my dreams along for the ride. It was relevant to our journey. We've been through a lot of obstacles and a lot of side quests.

Barbara: We've been through a lot to get here. I think just always holding onto this feeling of dreams, even if we didn't know if DAMEDAME* was going to be our route to doing music for a living. We kind of just started it as two friends and it was a form of escapism for us. It wasn't supposed to be our main reality, but it's been a vessel for us to chase our dreams. 

Edith: And somehow we've ended up in the same place, Barbs all the way from France, me from London. We both ended up in the Midlands somehow and just ended up chasing this mutual dream. 

You literally had your dream on the passenger seat. You've been speaking all along of feeling scared to show this album to us, but now that it is out there and people know it's you, how are you feeling? 

Barbara: Ah, it feels like a big relief. It feels really good to finally just have completed something. It's honestly one of the things that I'm the proudest of because in general in my life, I have struggled to complete things or just really commit to seeing something through. I think this is the first time that's happened for me personally. So I'm really proud that we got to the end of it and that we overcame a lot of our fears and didn't just turn away when it got hard. I'm really relieved and I'm excited for what’s to come.

Edith: I've always hidden artistically. I've always been hidden behind my production and I always saw myself as someone that was meant to work behind the scenes. So for me, it's the first time I've put myself out there, singing and even rapping, it’s crazy. It's been 20 years of making music quite secretly and then suddenly to put this project out, I feel like I've been reborn. I just didn't think the response was going to be like this (positive). I'm so blown away and just had to just re-assess my self-perception in some way, and the perception of what we're doing and realizing how important it actually is in the world. 

My last question would be, a bit of a reflection. You've been saying that you feel like in a way you're playing sort of a cartoon version of yourself in some songs or an alternative version of yourself. But don't you think in a way that artistry or being an artist is about, in a way, playing a version of yourself or creating a universe that is somewhat separate from yourself? 

Edith: Yeah, 100%. I would say before DAMEDAME* I definitely held myself to this standard where I thought I had to bring only what was exactly myself. The essence of DAMEDAME* was to step out of that and just do whatever you wanted to do, we kind of freed ourselves. 

Barbara: Yeah, it's definitely like breaking free from the perceptions that we had of ourselves before.I took myself so seriously as Barbella. I was like “there's no way I can use Auto -Tune, it would be the worst if people found out”. And now, with this project I was so free to explore and have fun. Because of it, at first we were trying to do everything that was the opposite to who we were, and then we slowly started bringing back elements of ourselves back into it. That's when it became really fun because our original inspirations and influences came through, but then we remixed it with this new world, new textures and these new vocal techniques. It just opened up the world to this brand new universe that didn't have a name and that was DAMEDAME*. 

Because we are OnesToWatch we always want to know: who are the artists that you are watching?

Natanya, we absolutely love Natanya. Just the whole world that she's building is just beautiful. Then plusamari, who is a friend of ours. Then, a French friend that we met actually online. He's an amazing director and also producer and artist, his name is N8SHO. And finally, Sade Olutola, she is insane.

Listen to DREAMS ON THE PASSENGER SEAT below: