Exclusive Interview with Dana McCoy

With her debut EP “To Those Who Wait” receiving a lot of love, we got the opportunity to speak with Dana McCoy. Her EP consists of four beautiful R&B songs with a hint of electronic soul. We spoke to the R&B act about the origin of her EP as well as other tracks in her catalogue.

Let us in on who Dana McCoy is.

Born and raised in Bowie, MD I  am a 1st generation Ghanian- American. The product of my mother’s love for the girl groups of the 60’s, car rides when my father played Prince, TLC, and Earth Wind & Fire, moments in my sister’s room learning Darrin’s Dance Groove choreography and trying to hit Mariah Carey’s high notes, and finally my own burgeoning love for artists like Beyoncé, SZA, and Alicia Keys.

Describe your sound in 5 words

Like a warm bubble bath

Our initial intro to your sound was via your most recent release ‘Important‘. Which we’re digging by the way! How did this song come about?

Thank you! I have a sort of TED Talk I give my friends about being the “main character” in their own life, and making sure you’re doing the things and being around the people they want. Having autonomy, and making yourself a priority.  So, during quarantine, my friends Madeline Boreham and Jack Kleinick facetimed me, and we started working on the track and playing around with ideas for the song.

Your debut EP, ‘To Those Who Wait’ is now out and receiving some serious love. We’re particularly fond of the last track, ‘Tethered’. What was the inspiration behind this EP?

This EP came together after just writing for fun with my friends in quarantine. We started doing a song-a-week challenge to stay in contact and do something we all love honestly with no expectations of putting out any of the songs. Then there were a few songs I was really drawn to and that I felt were in conversation with each other and it became To Those Who Wait. Looking back I would say the EP was inspired by circumstance. We were all stuck in this period of waiting and on a personal level, I was also I felt like I was waiting to come into myself as an artist.

Reviewing your catalogue, we came across ‘Night After Night‘  We’re into the upbeat soulful vibe this song gives off. What brought you to the place to create this song?

“Night After Night” was really fun to create. My best friend, Madeline Boreham, and I were facetiming just about everyday during quarantine and two weeks before we had written ‘Garage Sale.’ I had written the first verse of the song and then we just started writing, changed chords around, and sent the rough demo to our other friend Austin Brenner. We really just wanted to do something fun, and this song is special to me because I got to have so many people I care about work on it. The background vocals are all of my closest friends and I even made my mom sing on it.

Who would be your dream artist to collaborate with?

Very tough question, there are so many! One person I’d love to collaborate with is Lucky Daye.

What event is on your bucket list to perform at?

I would love to perform at Afropunk!

What’s the next step for Dana?

EP #2!