Danai Nielsen

About

" The dream pop version of Besson's ‘5th Element’ "

DIY costumes, a spacey-elf persona, a mermaid, a live doll. Downtempo, trip hop, dance, dream pop. This girl’s mind is full of colors and musical ideas. A visionary artist who effortlessly blends spacey pop and avant-garde elements, Greek-Danish musician Danai Nielsen launched her solo career in 2019, after the demise of her former band, Rosebleed, a local success in the mid-00s. 

She won critical praise with her sharp mix of downtempo and icy dance music through the singles ‘Mermaid’, ‘Lion Zion’ and ‘Recycled Feelings’. With her debut album ‘Who Are They’, released via United We Fly, she took her creativity to new heights, moving in a colorfully playful direction that’s both emotional and danceable, crafting highly personal electronic pop songs, like the bittersweet eponymous Greek/English track which she addressed to her generation, and everyone who is redefining themselves (“Who Are They/Are They to tell you/And who are they the ones that break your mind”). 

She even uses Middle Eastern vocals (‘Hide Away’) and voice FX to create sonic dialogues between a male and female persona on ‘Turn Back Time’. Though it seems weird to combine all these, it is indeed working.

The beginning of 2023 found her performing at ESNS, and on February 10th her much anticipated EP, ‘Off We Go’ was released, marking her collaboration with beatmaker and hip-hop producer Kill Emil. Danai is still wandering down the paths of dream pop through samples, loops and organic sounds but manages to evolve through them, adding textures and expanding her horizons. That’s what she does here with Kill Emil. Danai is an artist fascinated by the world’s diversity, reshaping it into a musical mix of idealism and realism.