Meet deegie | Pop punk princess

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

Hi deegie, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I was making music with my partner Joseph as Only Bricks for the past five years, and we decided to start a fresh page. deegie has been a nickname of mine (for my last name, DiGiovanni) forever, and it felt like the right name to put new songs out under. And we wanted to do something in a style that feels as true to me and my personality as possible, so we landed on pop punk because it’s energetic and fierce sonically, the lyrics are often sharp and clever, and melodically it’s anthemic – almost a distant cousin of musical theater, which is what I grew up worshipping as a kid. deegie as an artist, conceptually, is giving me a platform to say what I really want to say without holding back. There’s a freedom in taking on this badass, straight-talking persona that I’m really enjoying inhabiting.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I just released my first single called Like a Guy. It calls out the gendered double standard that persists in dating and heterosexuality: men are free to sleep around, while women are expected to be monogamous. It’s the anthem I wish I had in my twenties when I was obsessed with having a boyfriend so I wouldn’t be alone, and just wasn’t ok exploring my sexuality outside the confines of a relationship. Hopefully this is something that’s not as rigid nowadays as slut shaming becomes less acceptable, but I want to give whoever needs to hear it the permission to fuck like a guy, and not owe anyone an explanation. The song has become about more than sex for me, too. It touches on gender dynamics in all aspects of our society, with men getting to do whatever they want without question and women being told to behave and being judged and punished when they don’t fall in line with expectations of femininity. Like a Guy flips the script by embodying our feminine power to go after what we want. We don’t have to swallow the shame that gets associated with serving our own needs instead of putting someone else first.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
My ideal west side (where I live) day would be: I would take you on a hike in the Palisades to Santa Inez Falls, which was going strong pretty late into the summer this year with all the rain we got last winter. Then we would head to Topanga Canyon to Cafe Mimosa, a cute little coffee shop, and Spiral Staircase, a new age bookstore. We would have lunch at Tartine and oysters and wine at Ester’s Wine Shop and Bar in Santa Monica. I would probably cook you dinner at my place, where we’re constantly cooking, and then we’d get vegan ice cream at Frozen Fruit Co. on Montana.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I have been radicalized by The Artist’s Way, the book and 12 week creativity program by Julia Cameron, in the past few years. Reading it has been responsible for me gaining the courage to quit my first career (as a lawyer) to focus on music full time, and I have done a few rounds of the program in the last year that have unlocked poetry, essays, short stories, and even more songs. Julia’s encouragement to take small steps consistently and to make peace with being a beginner have been game-changing. I really embrace the notion that my long term goal is to live a creative life, not to achieve certain outward milestones or accolades or invitations into “the industry.” Highly recommend reading The Artist’s Way if you have even slight creative inclinations.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deegiemusic/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOilCpFJySqBm96UWhv4RFA

Image Credits
Chris Ram