JLS: You mentioned wanting to be less mysterious and more raw – what was the songwriting process like on this record?
DS: For the songwriting on my debut album, I got nervous, so I brought on a few songwriters that I’ve worked with. I wanted to get it right, and I didn’t want to be as obscure with my lyrics, and I feel like I tend to do that naturally as a form of self-protection. These other songwriters who are highly acclaimed have a lot of accolades and know how to express their truth to the public in a way that’s digestible. A lot of the songs were mainly my pen, but that was also me challenging myself to have an experience. I would have an experience, and then I would literally go into the studio and write about that specific experience. A good example of that would be playing games – that was about somebody I was talking to. Two days after I interacted with that person, I went to the studio and I wrote it all within twenty minutes, which was weird because it was blunt. Songwriters like Emma DD and Josef Lamercier are people who are less flowery with their words all the time, they know how to be honest and aren’t afraid of crying when the music comes out and that’s something that I’m afraid, which is funny because I’m so emotional. I cry all the time, but I don’t like crying in front of people. I feel like that’s where my vulnerability shines on this LP. That’s what I wanted the most out of this.

JLS: You mentioned you don’t like to cry. I’m the same way as a Pisces, I feel a lot, but don’t like people to see me cry. Is there a track that made you more emotional than expected after you recorded it?
DS: Actually, I’m glad that you said that you’re Pisces because I like Pisces’, and also because this song reminds me of a Piscean – internally, you’re processing a lot, but you have this hard exterior. I know because of one of my exes. The song 2excited reminds me of that. It has a hard exterior, but there are floods of emotions because it’s an allegory for the world falling apart as a result of environmental disasters, environmental decay, all of these things that are being put on as a result of human pollution – degradation of the earth and destruction of the earth. Also, it was about a relationship that was falling apart, it was just such a blast of heavy emotions. I’m literally screaming on the track. I’m processing everything in that relationship that I had. All of these things that were going on felt like a war happening inside of me. I’m also watching the world around me fall apart as I’m having this relationship.

JLS: How do you feel about the record?
DS: I feel proud. I really do feel like I’m developing as an artist and learning the ropes. I didn’t start early like most of my peers who are in music. A lot of people went to school for it, I was just kind of raw dogging my experience – pardon the expression – but I mainly feel really proud that I’m able to figure out and construct my own understanding of R&B. Specifically because it’s such an important genre for me growing up. I’m trying to figure out what cohesion means for an album and different ways to articulate R&B in ways that are true to myself. I’m creating even more music right now that is based on that extensive research on the world and also on R&B as a genre and the subgenres, the unexplored avenues of what it could be, and also the rich deep history that it has for people with the Black American invention of the genre and the ways that we have to hold up their sacred space within R&B. I’m figuring things out. I’m not there yet, but I’m getting there.

Dua Saleh’s debut record, SHOULD I CALL THEM is out now, check out Dua’s tour dates here.

Jonathan Saunders swimshorts: £158

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