Gabrielle Domont Is Just Getting Started
Interview★ Leanna Hubers ★ @leannagirly ★ 6 Minutes
Inspiration can strike anywhere; for Gabrielle Domont, it could be behind the wheel of her car, at work, in a store, or even just sitting down with a beat and giving herself room to create. Her recent song, “Homegirl,” grew from a story shared by a friend and became what she describes as a girl anthem about heartbreak and the feeling of not being chosen. As Gabrielle begins building her career, she is drawing a range of musical influences and culture of the ’70s. Gabrielle is just getting started.
Photos via jtc.jpeg on InstagramLEANNA: I'd love to start with some questions about your new song, Homegirl. What was the first spark that led to writing Homegirl?
GABRIELLE: So Homegirl came about by me driving in my car to keep the creativity going when I would leave my first job, which was not music related. I go through YouTube where I find beats and all that other good stuff, or I just look around and try to find inspiration.
This one particular beat, to me, was playing in my head after I listened. I played like a plethora of them, and then one of them stuck out to me. I'm like, okay, I don't know why I'm feeling this funky beat, but let me harp on it. So then I took it, and as I always say, my song inspos come from other people's stories, so at times, it can't be my own stories, but it could be a story I heard about a while back.
So I'm pretty sure Homegirl is about a story that a friend told me, and I translated it into a song, and I think the whole song was just from driving. I did it in my voice notes and at the time I went to my cousin's house, and I was like, ‘Hey, um, I have a song. Just tell me what you think. I think it's a little cheesy or something, but, you know…’ and I played it; she was like, ‘What? You gotta drop this.’
LEANNA: So what are you hoping listeners take away after listening to it?
GABRIELLE: I think. Hmm, it's like a girl anthem. I think, of course, I want everyone to listen to this song. I think everyone can relate to it, but I'm always vouching for the girls. And I'm just always making sure that we're heard, whether that's through heartbreak, that's through love, betrayal, delusion, you know, we all have those; we all fall in that realm before, and that feeling of, you know, just feeling not chosen by the one that you want.
I want to be able to translate that through song, 'cause I know sometimes girls don't want to admit it out loud, like, you know, yeah, he's the one for me, but he's not claiming me. So I want to, you know, not promote it, but just tell the story out so that it's not like, ‘Oh, I can relate to that right now,’ and maybe they can start the process of moving away from the man that's making them feel that way.
LEANNA: I also really love your other song, Bella's Blind. Would you say your song ideas typically come from other people's stories? Is your songwriting process typically spontaneous?
GABRIELLE: Oh, it could be anywhere. It could be at my job. It could be at a store. It's not completely spontaneous all the time. There could be times where I'm home, and I'm like, I'm going to write a song this morning. I would shut off everything, take away Instagram and TikTok and all the other distractions, and then I will sit down and listen to beats and find inspiration and just, you know, write down stuff.
And then I think at those times, that's where my personal sound, like my personal experiences, start coming out of my art 'cause I sit down and I jot, and I have time to think about it like ‘oh, that's something that happened to me’, but it's always, you know, it's always someone else's story.
LEANNA: Were there any artists that heavily influenced your sound?
GABRIELLE: Um, wow, I think it'd be criminal just to put one person. It's just… I mean, of course, I always talk about how the '70s influenced me tremendously, but I would say, currently at the moment: a lot of Aretha Franklin, a lot of Marvin Gaye, and actually, oddly enough, Maria Callas. She’s an opera singer and I am obsessed with her technique and I've been listening to her for a while, and of course, classical music, but that's the oddball out of the bunch.
LEANNA: Yeah, I love that so much. I feel like your voice kind of replicates hers in a way, you know? I actually saw, I think, on TikTok before I actually reached out to you, because I saw you a second time on Instagram, but you were like singing, and it went viral, and that was so beautiful. Outside of music, what inspires your creativity?
GABRIELLE: Um. I don't want to sound like a total hippie when I say this. But definitely nature. The human experience, you see, I keep going back to, like, human. I just love! I love people.
I know a lot of people today are more nonchalant, you know, or more antisocial. I'm the opposite! Like, I love even our ugly moments, you know, and not that I love it, but I like observing it and translating it into something we can consume.
And other inspirations? I love Disney. Definitely Michael Jackson.
I’m probably at this stage right now where I'm building my career and, you know, of course, with the movie and everything, I definitely draw a lot of inspiration. Not musically, but in perseverance and just learning how to show up for yourself every single day even when no one else is showing up for you or you feel like someone is on your back, you show up for you, and that's what matters.
LEANNA: Yeah, I get it. I could talk about him for forever, honestly.
GABRIELLE: Oh, yeah, same, actually.
LEANNA: What are you hoping to explore with your future releases? What's next for you?
GABRIELLE: For my future releases, because they are coming soon, I think I wouldn't want to find a lane for myself and pigeonhole myself, because in my drafts of music, there's tons of genres. I have rock and soul, I have ballads, I have upbeat catchy songs, you know, but in how I want to launch myself into the career, I want to make sure I have a distinct lane and make sure that it has variety in there, but also familiarity so that people can connect me to my sound. That's my goal as of right now.
LEANNA: When you say you have more releases, are you thinking more singles, are you hoping to come out with like, an EP?
GABRIELLE: Definitely with EP.
LEANNA: Okay.
GABRIELLE: I would like to just throw out singles out there. Um, because I have a million. I have a million and one things to do right now. Like, I have so many hats on. Performing around the city and then I have a couple of other things that I have planned to do.
And with my page growing and everything, people are asking me for music. I'm like, okay, let me just drop this and give it to them, but I always pride myself on giving everyone the best version of me. And I think the best version of me would be a body of art that they can connect to where it's not just one little thing they can enjoy, but an entire body of art that they can come back to, you know?
LEANNA: I love that. I'm super excited for whatever you got next.
GABRIELLE: Thank you.
LEANNA: Before we wrap this up, is there anything you'd like our magazine readers to know about you?
GABRIELLE: That, um, that I'm coming. Most humbly, I'm just coming, you know? I'm starting now.
