DANIEL MOLYNEAUX is an outspoken music artist who has released a new dancehall EP to tackle homophobia in dancehall music.
With witty lyrics and rhythmic beats, Dance For Your Man is considered the first LGBT dancehall anthem in a genre that has historically made it a scarcity.
Growing up gay in a Caribbean family, Daniel embraced the music that shaped his culture and heritage, while dealing with some of the common anti-LGBT slurs found in some of the most popular dancehall songs.
“I was born gay, first and foremost. So, that’s where the journey really begins from birth,” he said once asked about his own venture into dancehall.
“I started doing music when I was around 14-years-old, but I wasn’t always out. So, the person who I am now was always who I am inside, but I wasn’t always out”
“I’ve always loved bashment and dancehall music. I don’t know if that is because I’m of Caribbean descent, but I’ve just always loved it.
“If I wasn’t, I just think I would still love it the same way because it’s just it takes my body to another level – it’s just up there for me.”
At the age of 19, the North London singer released his first album and admits that all of his songs were about men.
He wrestled with the fact that he “wasn’t out of the closet,” leaving out the pronoun “he” throughout his lyrics.
It was the passing of his mother only five years earlier and the death of a close friend that prompted him to start recording the album, refusing to hide himself any longer.
“I went through a situation with some other family members and I lost a lot of relationships with people,” he said.
“I’ve experienced betrayal beyond belief from people I never expected it from. I was at rock bottom and I just didn’t want to hide anymore because we live in such a messed up world.
“So I said to my producers – I hadn’t told them I was gay but they already knew – that I’m not doing this anymore, that the music I make from this point onwards is going to be using the word ‘he’ and that’s what I’ve done since.”
Daniel’s sophomore album of eleven songs, Free was released last year but the creation of Dance For Your Man came much later as he felt something was missing from his collection of music.
“I love bashment, anyone who knows me knows that I can’t help but whine up myself when it’s on. I wanted that bashment sound where wherever you’re in a club or your heard good vibes, you’re just in a whole different world,” he said.
Dance For Your Man was born and became a pioneering EP in celebration of February’s LGBTQ+ History Month, combining both the flags of his Jamaican heritage and Pride on his single cover.
Daniel described it as a “freeing moment” that inspired the title of his first album.
The reaction from his friends, he said, was beautiful too – but with homophobic slurs like ‘batty man’ and ‘chi chi man’ only now being dubbed, and with Buju Banton’s Boom Bye Bye and Vybz Kartel’s Turn and Wine lauded as anthems, he believes the cultural undercurrent is still present in 2021.
“I do care how homophobic the lyrics are in bashment, but like I said it takes my waistline to another level. It’s the beat that does it for me, that’s what’s inspired it,” he said.
“I didn’t even say to myself let me do a song to combat homophobia, I was just being my natural self – I’m a gay man who loves dancehall music.
“I didn’t have an agenda behind the song, but I want to use my song to combat homophobia.”
Daniel’s EP of Dance For Your Man, also produced as an energetic remix featuring Nallie and an intimate piano-led version, has already garnered reaction from those outside of the LGBTQ+ community.
He said: “I’ve received loads of messages from people like me who are gay saying they’ve waited for this for a long time, and even heterosexual people have to admit that the song slaps. Even if you’re homophobic you have to admit that it’s a good song. Even if it’s from a gay person, I write songs and work with the best producers – I don’t mess about when it comes to my music. It represents expressing myself openly about who I am within a genre I both love and make.”
Dance For Your Man EP is available to listen to on Spotify and YouTube.
