Montreal’s Bedroom-Pop Sensation dee holt Releases “Nobody Like You”
Photo by Gaëlle Leroyer
Emerging bedroom-pop songstress dee holt exudes an irresistible charm in the certified heartbreaker single “Nobody Like You,” produced by long-term collaborator Benjamin Nadeau. The striking nature of the single and its music video plays off the songstress’ mischievous, flirtatious side where dee warns a new love interest about the dangers in starting something new, “... knowing that you’ll only end up hurting the person but wanting to have fun while it lasts.”
Despite coming from an artistic family, dee never thought she would become a performer until an emotional performance in front of her boyfriend and both of their parents. The songstress has grown in her music and developed an eye for creative aesthetics in her visuals saying, “With my cover art and visuals, I like to say that it’s fully me. It’s more authentic. It pushes me to learn new things and push myself.”
The accompanying music video features dee’s airy melodies and sultry instrumentals as she’s seen contemplating romantic advances coming in the form of mysterious notes from someone named “boy” on her phone. She enjoys moments of self-care as she’s sipping wine and daydreaming whether or not to pursue the mysterious “boy.” The video was directed by fredcl and features animations done by dee.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Can you introduce yourself to our readers, what type of music you make and where did your musical journey start?
[DEE]: I mainly do the pop type of vibe. Music has always been a part of my life ever since I was a kid and I dance around the kitchen while my dad would play guitar. I would love to sing songs and be part of the glee club at school and become part of the music program in high school and do concerts. That program pushed me towards concerts and performing on stage, but I never thought of doing anything with it [music] … It was never something that I pushed until I met my boyfriend and we were having supper so that my parents could meet his parents. The subject of music came up and nobody knew that I sang. I'd been dating my boyfriend for about three months at the time and he didn't realize. He ended up pulling out my guitar and I’m facing the wall because I hated performing in front of smaller crowds because I felt like I was being watched. I feel more comfortable performing in front of an entire crowd. I sang and then I turned around and his mom and brother were crying. Long story short, they have a family friend, which turns out to be my producer. And then my second single just exploded a lot more than we had expected, and so everything sort of started unwrapping from there.
[UNPUBLISHED]: I've read your music is bedroom-pop inspired, but how would you describe your own music?
[DEE]: I don't really know because I think I have about four or five songs out now and they're all really different. The ones that I've recorded and that we have not released yet, are also very different. So I feel right now, I'm in the process of sort of discovering what my sound is. I feel it's a mix of a bunch of things and heavily pop-influenced.
[UNPUBLISHED]: What does your usual writing or creative process look like? Does it differ for you based on the song or environment you're in or the emotions you're experiencing?
[DEE]: Honestly, it's about the same every single time. I go into the studio, and usually, my producer and I play around with different sounds and different instruments. We really start from scratch and we start with the music, the melody, and the feeling, and then come up with a melody together. We sit on it for a while and then we come back to it and I usually write the lyrics with his girlfriend.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Touching on your newest single, “Nobody Like You” just released, congratulations on the release, can you talk us through the inspiration behind the single and what were some emotions you faced while writing this?
[DEE]: “Nobody Like You'' was recorded and written all in one day. I go into the studio with absolutely nothing, we come up with a beat and melody. It was summer and we went outside and we’re feeling inspired and it’s warm out, so we wrote the entire song. But then we figured, okay, let's step back from it. Then the next time I came in and I recorded, it was a really easy song to write. I feel that’s because the lyrics aren't really like any of my other songs and they don't really represent me as a person, but it was a storyline and a character that I put myself into, sort of like a persona. I really enjoyed it because it was something new and it pushed me out of my comfort zone. I'm really happy with the responses and the reactions to it. I'm really glad that it sort of pushed me out of my shell and I tried a new genre and style.
[UNPUBLISHED]: How has your style or sound evolved in “Nobody Like You” from your previous single “Drive Around?”
[DEE]: “Drive Around” had a completely different vibe. In “Nobody Like You,” I really tried to push myself, to try new things, and to write about something different, something that I wouldn't usually write about. I feel it helped me develop and learn what I like and what I don't like.
[UNPUBLISHED]: What message do you want your listeners to take away from “Nobody Like You?”
[DEE]: I feel like people interpret songs in so many different ways like someone will listen to a song and hear it in a certain way and understand certain things from it and then someone else will take something totally different away from it. So I hope that people enjoy listening to it and that they associate it to themselves in whatever way that they feel is right.
[UNPUBLISHED]: You've collaborated with other musicians, such as Thomas Porter, in your songs. How has the collaboration process been like for you and do you enjoy collaborations more compared to making music individually?
[DEE]: I wouldn't say that I enjoy it more because both are really different. I would say however, Thomas Porter was all the way in Australia so that was absolutely crazy, and I find it so cool that we're able to do that [collaboration]. But my very first single was a collaboration and he's not too far away from me, and because of COVID we weren't able to actually sit and I never really saw him face-to-face and so that wasn't the same vibe. Whereas my single this time with Pelch, he lives in the same area as me, and we were in the studio together and filmed the music video together and it was a completely different process because we sat down and wrote the lyrics together. We each put in like our input whereas the other one was sort of like hearing the song, but the lyrics that you want, it wasn't the same kind of collab.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Who are some of your dream artists that you would love to collaborate within the industry in the future?
[DEE]: I think the first name that comes to mind is Lizzie McAlpine. I really, really have loved her music for so long and I feel like she relates to my style in a way, like we're not too far from each other on certain songs. I feel Rex Orange County would be crazy as well. I don't think he does many collabs and that would be crazy.
[UNPUBLISHED]: What are some upcoming projects or releases that fans can expect from you for the rest of the year?
[DEE]: There’s my EP When I Close My Eyes that's coming out soon. My next single is coming out on March 11, which I'm really excited about. It's collaborative, and I also have a French version coming out here in Montreal, and hopefully, it gets on the radio, which can be really fun as well. And that one was fun to record as well because my producer is featured on the French version.
