Checking In w/ Dante Bowe

My next guest is pretty incredible. He is a Grammy Award winning singer, songwriter, y'all, fashion model. He is absolutely brilliant his writing. He has written for everybody new solo album out that's shaking tables, honey, and I'm excited. I'm looking forward to this conversation with don Tebom. Y'all. I'm excited because I've got a Grammy Award winning singer all things fashion, which I'm excited to talk to you about. Songwriter, musician.

It's an honor to be talking to you. You're leging yourself, so thanks for having me.

I have to say that I have been absolutely rooting for you. Oh thank you, excited for you, wanting to scream from the mountaintops for people to shut up. I see parts of my journey and your journey musically and the bridge that I believe you are being, the bridge that you are wanting to be. So congratulations on everything.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I really appreciate that. I appreciate you seeing me, and you know seeing yourself in me. For sure. It's not easy, you know what I mean, But somebody has to do it.

Somebody has to do it. Now. I went from R and B pop to gospel back to R and B. People you know might call me you're the flip the flip bopper. You went from Destiny shot to gospel, then you did more Destiny shod. Then y'all keep popping up blah blah blah blah blah. But it's rare to see someone from gospel making a transition, not y'all. Before y'all start rumors. I'm not saying Dante has left gospel and it's just straight to R and B unless that's an

Right right, right right, yeah.

Like I'm just trying to do what I feel like God has put on my life.

You know.

It's not like something that me and my team sat around and contemplated, like whether I was gonna leave gospel music and do R and B music. It kind of happened organically as I started working on my project, and I've been wanting to do more ARM because I started off doing R and B and kind of started doing gospel a little bit later. Just the gospel stuff is what I kind of took serious at the time, so it blew up.

But I feel like now I have a.

Yes to do R and B you know, and try to like see you know who I am in that space, you know what I mean.

I believe in influence and like God.

Is gonna give me influence in that in that arena, and I just want to, you know, take my fans.

Along that journey.

But I don't know if it's working or not as far as that's concerned, but I definitely see that it's doing well. It's the record is doing actually better than my last album, which was which was only gospel music.

Oh wow, yeah really not okay? So but did you say like gospel music? You're not said?

Yeah, Like, no, I haven't left gospel music. I'm still I'm gonna still do like gospel stuff. I feel like I am more focused now on this new style, you know, this, this R and B. I'm more focused here right now. I want to see it through. I want to see it be successful and make some significant moves in that arena.

So I'm focused there. Yeah right now.

Well, y'all, if you look way back to Dante's discography, well, I.

Like that word. That's a word.

It's pretty pretty, pretty long as far as how long you were in the gospel CCM space. So for me looking at that, it would almost make sense say, hey, I am going to sonically try something else.

Right exactly evolved.

Yeah, it definitely makes sense. So definitely congrats on the new self titled album Thank You. I was anticipating it, could not wait for it to drop. I love your voice, I love your style. Again, there was so much anticipation for the album and the energy of wind Me Up. Yeah, Okay, where did that vibe come from? Was it, like I think you said, it kind of happened later on in the process or yeah hear that correctly.

Yeah, for sure.

Me and me and Victoria Monnagt we have the same credit director, and so they were playing like her record somewhere. I think they were trying to figure out the video or something, and I'm like, this is crazy because I was doing this Island sound for my record, and I heard her song party Girls, So I started just dreaming of one more song.

I'm like, I need one more song. I'm like that can like get the party.

Lid or just something that me and my mama like when were chilling, like you know, my mom is like she a party girl, like you know what I mean. She loved to dance and stuff like that. So a lot of my fast records my mom inspires. So anyway, I went to the studio started making this Jamaican sound and it kind of came naturally, but it was definitely inspired by Victoria Monnette's last single for sure.

Yeah, and it just.

Came out, like, in my opinion, it came out of hit and so I wanted to explore it. We took it to Radio one and they fell in love with it, and so we.

Knew right then that we need to do a video and see it through.

M H. Well, so we can blame your mom for the fast music, right, My mom is.

Like, yeah, she's still you know, they call it twerky. I guess what they sitting under my comment, But my mom likes to wind it up, you know what I'm saying, And so I like, I want to make music that she feels you know, my mom's not super churchy, so I wanted to make music that she feels comfortable listening to when she in her car or shown flash, she got to listen to it just because I'm her son, you know what I'm saying.

But it's actually something that she would listen to in her day to day.

Yeah, and you grew up in North Carolina and there were some situations going on and your mother. You said, she's not churchy, but she did come to around the age of sixteen. Yeah, and so, but I'm assuming she has developed her own relationship with God since then.

Yeah.

Yeah, Yeah, she's very My mom is very confident and comfortable with who she is and who God is her life. You know, I definitely hope one day that I can get there. You know, she doesn't really live her life for people. You know, she would say, she would say she's one hundred percent of Christian, but she definitely is still Vicky.

From North Carolina, you know what I mean.

She's definitely stay true to her roots and game. Yeah, but yeah, like she's definitely a Christian, but you know, my mama's she refused to just be stale, you know what I'm saying.

In tradition, yeah, absolutely, absolutely, all right. So there are some folks, even one of my Samantha you know, I'm like, okay, we've got to get down table on his album just came on and she was like, I love Maverick Music. Now again, people don't know you were on the scene even before Maverick Music. And yes, we are going to talk about your debut album, but I need people to kind of know your journey a little bit so they can even see Oh okay, So this made his evolution make sense right.

Right for sure? For sure?

Yeah, Like, yeah, I was doing contemporary. I was the first black contemporary artist signed to Bethel Music, which was one of the biggest you had He'll song you had Bethel, And so I signed that deal and I was a part of that group, and I started making significant moves in the contemporary Christian space, which is hard to do as a black man, you know what I mean. And sometimes I do feel like that it's overlooked, you know what I mean. Me charting on CCM like all that,

We just created this group.

But it wasn't like this curated group, you know, like like labels would do today. It was definitely natural kind of how we came together and created that sound. And but yeah, I had been working for maybe like four years, four or five years before that and actually really making some significant, you know, moves on the radio, whatever the case may be. And so Maverick was just an extension.

Who have been your inspirations musically?

I mean, Destiny's Child was obviously one for sure. You know What's crazy though, Like I used to I was one of those. I was a video geek, like music video geek growing up, Like you know, it.

Makes sense, it makes sense you're creative.

And so what really pained me is when I got into Christian music, I was like these videos.

I knew I couldn't be as creative as I wanted.

To be. But yeah, like you guys were super influential in my life, and you had Lawrence Hill and Ty Trivia and Kirk and I mean I was really about the theatrics growing up. So anybody that was doing something that that felt inspiring a little bit out of the box, I probably was watching them and being inspired by them, like Usher in the list goes on and on and on. Yeah, yeah, these are the people that inspired me. Superstars really honestly.

And it's so funny that you named people in whom your sound is nothing like right right exactly, So how were you able to keep your own sound while yet being inspired by the folks you just named.

I used to hate the way my voice sounded like. I used to hate the sound of my voice for real, because it was just always even if though it was more clear when I was younger, it was still raspy.

You know, you could tell where I was.

Going smoking Newport right, right exactly.

Like my little my little nephew right now has a little raspy voice. It's definitely brighter, but he has a raspy voice. So anyway, I was insecure about it. But then you had people like Kimbarell that came along in Jazzmine Cullivant and Mali music.

You had John Legend, who I used to listen to a lot growing up.

And then I found, you know, this kind of confidence in it all. I knew what I could do and know what I couldn't do, and I stopped trying to be everybody else around me and just kind of, you know, owned my own voice, like this is what I'm gonna, you know, have for the rest of my life.

So I need to start owning it, you know what I mean.

And I feel like up until now, you know, maybe maybe the last few years, but definitely now, I'm more confident in doing this R and B stuff. I didn't know if I could sound cool or are like do it make sense?

Is it warm enough? You know what I mean?

So, and you know what I'm talking about because you have like you have that soul in your voice.

You have that like grit, you know what I'm saying.

So anytime you would sing on those records, like I'm sure people know what I'm talking about, Like you came with the grid, like you had the grit.

Can I say something to that?

Yeah?

Now I feel like I'm thankful for the love and the praise that folks are giving me. I felt like I've been hazed for twenty one years. I've been in this game twenty three now, but you know the revelation I got. But I see comments like, yo, her voice and tone is so rich and blah blah blah. Then I was like, but when Destiny's Child came out, y'all was like four. Not y'all as you, but the people.

Yeah, And I don't think it was normal.

I do think it was something that was different out of the box. I think for people that have music appreciation, I feel like we always understood. You know. I was raised in church, so and I also loved Aretha Franklin and just soul like Glad It's Night. So I when I heard somebody that could sing you know what I mean. I just equated it to like, oh, their tone is different. You know, we use words like tone or like ooh, like you know.

What I mean?

Yeah, Like we're church kids, so we understood that. Honestly.

What was more difficult for me was hearing a pop voice like that was out of my comfort zone.

That was and something that I was raised around.

My family can sing, and so hearing you know, a traditional pop voice to me was just like WHOA, Like, I don't know if I could.

You know.

When I would get my demos, you know, even for this album, when I would get demos and people sending me songs, I'm like, how am I going to make sense of that?

You know, especially with my voyage.

I always heard you, and I always I always understood your tone, And I think now not only is it just people understood when they're older, I think now it's just a lot more acceptance in general. Like I feel like even a younger crowd understands more vocal ability because of Jazmine.

So just the different people that are out right now.

Any wine House came out and all these different you know, so now it's like it's cool when you sound different now, like people trying to make their voice sound different in.

The studio, people are like, smoke eight cigars before that.

No, real, Like people want to sound cool on the on the you know nowadays you.

Know, yeah, yep, folks got that natural squall or people are doing things like you said to make your voice be that. I' about one or two more questions before before I get into the meat of the debut album. You got a new album coming out already, Like you just put out your debut album. Now you've got something else coming out. But again, y'all, when I look at his discography, it always seems to have been a month or two after this comes out something else he drops.

Yeah, so I'm doing I have this collective a Man Music that we're dropping the worship album Friday, and so I want to do something special for the fans that I've been following my journey the whole time, you know what I mean. And that's what I wanted to say, Like people try to make you choose this or that, and I personally believe it's all going to be successful. And I think if I just stay true to who I am, you know what I mean, I ain't trying to be nothing I'm not already, you know.

That's the other thing.

People think I'm trying to chase something that I've never done before, whatever the case may be. I've never done it publicly, but this is not something that's new to me. And so yeah, next week, I'm doing something with my collective. I got a few songs on there, but it's not a Dante bo album.

Okay, Okay, Now, because you're able to drop new music. Fact, is it because you have your own label.

Yes, I'm my own label, functioning infrastructure. Like it's like God has been so good to me. Like we started maybe like eight months ago, and it's already a multimillion dollar label.

It's doing well.

We've worked our tails off to like make sure they did well.

And my release was successful. It theme that came around me.

It certainly was successful. Y'all. He was on a very very very top rated morning show. Okay, his face was everywhere. There were so many I don't know in our game, call them activations and partnership.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, yeah, we did.

We had we did the Today's Show the morning it came out. We you know, had deals with BT, Billboards, BT, Amazon, Spotify, Apple Music, ads, I mean it was, it was. And I don't say it's no shade because if my last label Bethel was great, you know what I mean. But I definitely think this was a better rollout. Yeah, it was definitely better rollout than I've ever done before.

Well, congratulations because it feels good where Okay, how do I say this? When you have a good roll out that means you had a budget are Yeah, you took great care and steward at the relationships that you've built along the way, very very well. So it takes a budget, But for people to if you don't know, if you don't have a budget, sometimes it's just nice to be nice to people because you never know. If you know a producer at the Today Show that can say, hey, up,

Definitely, you know what I mean.

I feel like I've always been looked at as someone that breaks the rules in a way.

Are you a trouble makers? What you're saying?

And that's one of the songs on the album's called trouble But it's like, I don't try to. I think I'm a lot more honest than my peers sometimes, so it makes me stand out. It's not that I am doing something different than my friends. Do you know I'm not like super edgy. You know what I mean to my friends, I'm not edgy. But I think because I will be on the on the sprinter dancing the Bad Bunny publicly, you know, it gives people to rate the rights to just tied me like, oh he's doing this.

It's not like now you brought it up. I didn't when it happened. When it happened and you posted it, were you shocked about the backlash and the fallout of what happened?

Yes, I mean here's the deal too, Like I've never been exposed. I'm only I the one that posted every everything that's happened to me is because I posted. It's not like I've never really been exposed, but I I posted it because it was such a good moment. We weren't on a party bus, first of all, we just not our own party buses. We're on a sprinter leaving our friends birthday party, and like any other you know, friend group, we just dancing whatever the DJ, like whatever the.

Person controlling the ox.

It's like playing like we're having a good time thinking about it, and to the pure, all things are pure, like we weren't trying to. I don't know, they're like you're leading children down the wrong pad. I'm like, I wasn't even thinking about all that, Like I don't even think about that, you know what I mean? As far as like listening to a bad bunny song in the car, and I was shocked that people would use like kissing the guy beside me and like making it like a

I think I was naive, Okay, I think I've been very naive in this in this industry in general. You know what I mean.

When I do my interviews are when I talk because I feel like what I'm saying is not wrong because it's truth, and okay, sometimes discretion is better than the truth.

Well, it makes you want to not post certain things. It makes you only want to post stuff about your album. It don't if you're at a concert out to eat. If you post the burger that you had, the comments are going to be isn't beyond burger?

Yeah, no facts.

It almost makes you just not want to say anything. And I want to encourage you.

That anxiety about I have mad anxiety, like after all this stuff, like like crazy anxiety, Like I don't even like posting and saying anything on the internet.

I'm just now getting to.

The point where I where I can explain stuff on the internet or like be my normal self, Like I didn't go live for forever, which I used to love to do that, like.

Yeah it was a lie.

And listen and listen. You even took a break off of social media, which sometimes that digital detox, you know, is warranted. But I just want I don't know you, I just want to encourage you, and I'm glad you were. You're talking about this on my podcast because this is a safe space and you know, and people should be able to share, to share things. Don't explain yourself. Let your work speak for you, because the news cycle is what twenty four hours, somebody else gonna do something tomorrow

When yeah, yeah.

And I know that this is not something that you purposed, it's not something that you purposely did for even marketing and all that stuff. But it's like, well it's here. His album is out, and a lot of people have everything to say about what you've been doing, you know, the past few months. So I've seen it. I've been praying and I understand. I promise you. Michelle understands. You've been known to fans as a gospel singer, but unfairly you've also been pigeonholed into one way of singing buy

Yeah? Like I think it's both.

And you know, I get dms from young artists or they're not artists yet maybe, but they're in their local church and they're just like, thank you so much for you know, doing this, because this is something that I've

And so I think it's both.

And I could see the bridge happening with just different ideas and mindsets are being changed. And I think also I'm focused on my personal journey as an artist. You know, I really do think R and B looks good on me, and I think it sounds good on my voice, and so I'm just going with kind of the flow. I'm doing whatever I feel like God is allowing me to do.

Okay, all right, what do you have to say to people who feel like you've left them for secular music. You've abandoned us Dante, this is not true.

But at the end of the day, have I evolved?

Yes, I'll be reading comments like I missed, go back to the Dante that did, Wait on you go back to the Dante did I Thank god. I'm never going back to any Dante like that. I'm only moving forward. I don't want to go back to that guy. First of all, it's music, and then it has nothing to do with your personal life.

I was super depressed.

I had a lot of like anxieties, you know, getting big so quick in Christian music on the same things that are accessible when you're a secular artist are the same things that are accessible when you're a Christian artist, like girls, money, sex, like all like you know, lies, you know, backstabbing, all the stuff. It's still it's still the same thing. You still just have to have a personal relationship with God. At the end of the day,

Do you feel free?

I feel free? I'm being free. Actually, you know. The more I do this and why I talked to the Insider today, I talk to you today, and the more I just talk about it and I hang out, I'm finally hanging with the people I choose to hang out with, Like I finally learned how to say no and protect my space. And because I realize I'm a people pleaser, so if I could, if I put myself around people that like to be pleased, sometimes I can overwork and overdo.

All right, what's been your goal to for dealing with all the anxiety and stress that's been in response to what's been going on.

I take naps. Now, you know what's crazy. I'm a workaholic, you know, I'm a workaholic, you know. I enjoy working. It makes me feel valued, makes me feel like I'm doing something, And so naps to me, it's like all my friends know that's crazy. It's like whoa like do naps? Now, It's like, I'm gonna take it every day. And I also fill myself back up with affirmation. You know.

I used to never talk good about myself.

I was super critical, not just of others, but it was very critical of myself.

And I don't really do that anymore. I do give myself flowers.

I do, you know, talk about my success more and what I think God is doing in my life. And I've noticed that that's helped me with my confidence and just believing in myself, because sometimes you can just read what people are saying about you, and it's like, man, y'all love me, like like you know what I'm saying, even like you've probably been through this, Like I know what you're saying, but like, you know, look at my crew, look at my life, look at what I'm about to do.

For short, but you know, and I pray more.

Yes, I pray more than I read the Bible when i've been you know, people get mad when I say that.

It's not I'm not proud of it.

It's just something that I've learned that it's immediate help. Like when I pray, it's like immediately I feel better, Immediately, I feel more encouraged, you know.

And it is it's very convenient.

To pray, you know, it's you know, to read the Bible, you got to be sitting down doing you know whatever. But I could be in my car when I'm praying, I could be about to go on in an interview and pray.

And it's just it's very convenient and it's been helping me.

And you have probably already found that your relationship with God is going to be cultivated probably more outside of a church than it is going to be inside. We put so much pressure on the four walls with the church. Sunday and should not be the only day that you're praying and reading your Bible.

Right, right? Is yeah, I think I think it's all personal. I do enjoy doing it corporately, right, Yes, I.

Love charge that. Okay, I've got a couple more minutes with you. But y'all, I'm guilty of just sitting on YouTube searching praise breaks and putting it on my surround speakers and letting that base and I be shouting right with the people. Please, and especially if it's like a fifteen minute praise break. I can run through my house. I can annoy my dog. I don't care if the I don't care if the praise break happened in the funeral. If I'm going to press play. So I get you.

I gotta go to church with you.

You are welcome. Listen. I think for me where I say where I say that, I'm singing parts of my journey and your journey, your journey and my journey. I just remember, my relationship with Christ was not fortified until I got on the road in nineteen ninety nine because we couldn't be in church all the time. We could not, and people don't leave it. But Beyonce's mom is Tina. She did not play about Sundays if we couldn't go to church. We were reading our Bibles. Our vocal coach

You like the record.

I love the record. I'm telling you, every single every single song, I'm different because I understand. I understand the journey, I understand the R and B I love. And then you bring in majesty. You bring you bring in the worship songs. You bring in the songs that people can still sing on a Sunday, and then you bring in the song where. Okay, if you're in love, there is a song on here for you. If you if you're

Yeah, yeah, so.

I feel like also y'all listen to the lyrics to see if what you think was said was said.

Come on, that's a word. That's a word.

That's a word. That's a word. And I have I have, I have many other thoughts, but I know you've got to go just the thing with your fashion. Yeah, I really like the shirt you got on now.

Kids super addressed me come.

On, kid, super kid super If that shirt comes in a small let me know. If not, I'll belted and maybe put put some boots on and and senshit. I don't know, but kid super DM me. So I can see where he got it, where he got it? How did that happen for you professionally, because you're not only in music, but you're in fashion. You've been modeling the pictures, Eve, The textures and the tones on the photos are.

Beautiful, Thank you so much.

I mean maybe a few years ago I got into fashion and now you know, my stylist is the men's editor above. Shout out to Michael and so he you know, has opened a lot of doors for me. In Vogue, I walk for Tommy, He'll figure I've been, you know, dressed by Dorcha Kavana and uh if the list goes on and on. Now, really, at this point, it's been three years of consistency. Next week I will go to raff Laren do raf Loren and not next week, sorry, in two weeks I would do Reffloren in.

London and Vogue World And it's just been a world.

When I truly do feel like God is being super nice and gracious to me because I've always loved fashion, but didn't expect it to happen on this scale until a lot later in my career because a lot of gospel artists aren't allowed to even attend certain shows, let alone walk or do anything like that. You know, they don't usually think about us when they're dressing people for carpets.

Yeah, and sort and.

Because but you've I mean, you've been there, done that, You've done all of it. So but I just I feel grateful that that I am allowed to do it and also show my Christian my fellow Christian brothers and sisters too that like yo, like this is accessible to us, but you have to dream. Sometimes a lot of people don't want to dream big because of fear and anxiety and what people might say or do.

But you know, I think I want to be the post of yall for that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, Dante, thank you for being with us. We're excited about the collective, the music that you've got that's coming out, and just excited about what it is that you do in music, fashion acting like do it all.

Thank you so much, Michelle, this is awesome.

All do it all. I don't know if you've got a fashion line coming out, but do it all. Okay, all right, love you so much. Hey, y'all, listen. You know, it's so good to talk to people for yourself. You know. I truly enjoyed my conversation with Dante, certainly too because I enjoy his music. I enjoy his writing style, his arranging and as you heard, we were even talking about the tone of his voice. It's so unique. When you