Meet DENI

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

Hi DENI, how has your work-life balance changed over time?
When I was young, I had all the time in the world. I lived with my parents, and I did not have to pay any bills. It’s crazy how much opportunity one can have when they don’t have to worry about money. You can spend more hours on your craft instead of a job. You can take lower paying gigs since there aren’t any ends you have to meet. Music was purely enjoyable, it didn’t really feel like a job because…it wasn’t. When I attended Belmont, a music school in Nashville, I spent over 6-8 hours a day on my craft. And it wasn’t until my 3rd year that I realized it had become my entire life. Belmont’s standards of spending half of your day on their schoolwork was no longer desirable to me. I wanted to be out there actually doing it, not just learning about it.

Work and life balance is tricky when your work is something you are truly passionate about. You don’t realize that you aren’t taking care of yourself, or tending to the other aspects of your life. For me, I spent so long living in this dream that I forgot how to live normally, how to form long-lasting relationships, and how to maintain a home. As blessed as I was to have a family that took care of everything for me (health insurance, taxes, bills, doctors appointments), the consequence was that I never learned how to do those things myself. The hardest part was not the actual learning of the skill. There’s Youtube for that. The hardest part was the acceptance of the time it took away from what I truly loved to do: music.

So once I was left with all my responsibilities, completely off my dad’s payroll and living on my own, that’s when the magic of what I loved started to fade. Music was no longer a creative freedom, but a financial responsibility. I had to drop clients who didn’t pay me enough. I had to change my setlist not based on songs I loved playing, but songs other people wanted to hear. I had to do gigs I hated doing because they paid more. I had to choose gig work over releasing music, because I was just not making enough in streams to balance out the time and money I spent on studio time. Once that changed for me, I was no longer able to dedicate as much of my time on it as I did in the past, because if I spent too much time on it, I harboured resentment and anger at the way playing music changed for me. The creative itch that music used to scratch was no longer scratching it. I had to find it somewhere else.

That’s where songwriting came in. Seeing how performing and gigging changed so drastically when I made it a career, I still debate whether I want my songwriting to go in that direction. As of right now, I no longer try to pursue it as a career. I approach it with creative freedom, no time restraints or obligations to reach certain numbers. There has to be one aspect of this music life for me that is completely free of pressure or obligation, and for me that is songwriting. If one day someone discovers it and offers an amazing deal where I can quit gigging and do it full time, that’s great. Until then, I want songwriting to be on the “life” side of that “work-life” balance, not on the work.

I have definitely become more mindful about how often I work. The biggest fear in a musician’s line of work is not knowing if you will be able to get any gigs, especially in seasons that are typically slow like Fall and Winter. So it’s very tempting to take every opportunity that comes your way. But the ability to trust the universe and trust the network you have developed in the music scene is very important. Having weeks where you are working every day all day may get you a lot of money, but at the expense of your mental health, and possibly even physical. So I have definitely developed the skill to decline work when I need to take care of myself. How we take care of ourselves determines how much we are able to lean on the “work” side more often than the life. Going to the gym 3-4 times a week is a requirement for me. If I don’t stay on top of back, core, and leg exercises, I lose the ability to gig as often as I do. I lift about 40-50lbs of equipment 4-5 times a week. I am constantly bending over to set up my speakers and mixing board. If I stay out of the gym too long, my back and knee starts to become very painful. Instead of lessening the amount of gig work I do, I instead stay on top of my diet and physical health, so that I don’t have to give up what I do. It’s a nice workaround when it comes to the “work-life” balance.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I am a singer/songwriter from Atlanta Georgia. I’ve been playing and singing for 14 years, and am where I am today because of the amazing love and support from my family and friends. My parents were the people that got me my first guitar, my first sound speaker, and even my first gig. They believed in me before anyone else. The music industry is competitive and cut throat, so saying I worked my ass off would undermine the support, luck, and love I have experienced in my career.

I perform at restaurants, bars, festivals, weddings, and corporate events all around Georgia. My main thing is I play guitar while I sing. I also perform as a duo with my wonderful, talented bass-playing boyfriend, Will Giannini. The stuff I play ranges from old jazz standards to modern RnB hits. I play almost every genre with the exception of metal. I would say I’m the best at songwriter styled pop. Natalie Merchant, Norah Jones, Billie Eilish, and Joni Mitchell are a few of my influences. I like to bounce between story-telling songs and emotional ballads, but after an espresso martini, I’m all about powerful singing and high energy.

The biggest obstacles I’ve faced were my own self-hatred and self-doubt. I’ve always had a good ear for pitch, and I have inherited some of my dad’s perfectionism, so I’ve always been aware and obsessed over the mistakes I make while performing. When a singer is sick, it affects the vocal cords directly, and sometimes we have no control over how our voice sounds on certain days. This is a harsh reality I have beens struggling to accept, that we can not always be perfect 100% of the time. Once I invested in therapy and my physical health, it became easier to find peace in that. When you are a performer, the audience feels and matches the energy of the performer. If the performer does not like themselves, it’s very difficult for people watching to like them as well. Once I became more confident, people responded to it, and it helped me advance in my career. Audiences are mostly there to have a good time, to have fun. If they had to choose between listening to someone sound mediocre but they are smiling and excited over someone being perfectly on pitch with a scowl on their face the entire time, they are going to choose the first option.

I think the biggest thing I want people to know is…I am human. I am on the same journey as everyone that listens to me. The lessons we learn, the way we change and grow, the way we reflect and strive to do better, are all elements I strive to produce in my music.

In layman’s terms, it’s easy to feel like we are alone in our struggles. I want my music to remind us that we aren’t.

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.
Atlanta is a fun city, so my top picks would be:
1. Georgia Aquarium
2. Six Flags Over Georgia
3. Margaritaville at Lake Lanier
4. Eddie’s Attic in Decateur
5. Stone Mountain Park
6. Merchantile Social in Alpharetta
7. High Museum of Art

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would like to shout out my wonderful boyfriend, Will Giannini. He is a working audio engineer and bass player, and has inspired me musically, career-wise, and creatively.

Website: https://www.musicbydeni.com

Instagram: @deni_music

Facebook: @musicbydeni

Image Credits
Art: instagram: @merelymekka
Photography: instagram: @kaleylackeyphotos