Dixie D’Amelio’s Next Album Is Ready To Go, But She’s Not
“I kind of have taken a step back.”
Dixie D’Amelio is putting a pause on her next album. The MyMuse collaborator started working on her follow-up to 2022’s A Letter to Me last year, hoping to release it in early 2024. When D’Amelio spoke with Elite Daily in February about her sophomore album, she said, “I want to perform, I want to be on tour, and I really love the direction I’m going with my music,” but it seems she’s not ready to dive in just yet.
“I’ve been focusing on my mental health a lot these past couple months, so I kind of have taken a step back,” D’Amelio tells Elite Daily at VidCon 2024, her first as a featured influencer. The 22-year-old content creator admits “everything’s done” with the album — she just wants to be in a better headspace before starting the process of putting it out into the world.
There’s no doubt 2024 has been the year of pop girlies, with Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour still dominating overseas as Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, and Charli XCX battle it out for song of the summer. D’Amelio would like to join in on the party, but only when she’s ready to fully experience it.
“I experimented with so many different types of music and genres on this album that finding my way in, especially in this new era of pop girls and eras, is so fun,” she says. “I just want to make sure I’m having a great experience, so it gets more people excited.”
According to D’Amelio, it would be “very obvious” to her 56 million followers on TikTok and 20.8 million followers on Instagram if she released music before she was fully ready.
Dixie D’Amelio’s Second Album Has Folk, Fun, & A Timeline
The last time D’Amelio talked about her album, she said it was going in the “folk Americana” direction. That’s still what she’s aiming for, but she’s also been inspired by this pop girly era. “I kind of want some more uplifting music,” she says. “The album is still very singer-songwriter-y, but I’ve been having more fun now that I’m out and going places. It’s a big mix of music that blends well together as a project.”
D’Amelio was also influenced by a range of artists when heading into the studio. “I would go into a session listening to Kacey Musgraves, Dominic Fike, and Zach Bryan,” she says, but she also looked to rap for her lyricism. “I love listening to how other people describe stories, so I would listen to a rap song and read the lyrics. Then, I would go into the studio; I’d be like, ‘How did they tell their story? And how can I do something similar, but with a singer-songwriter song?’”
I am so in love with all of the songs that I’ve written, and I’m so connected to them that picking what’s going out first is very scary.
Aside from playing with genres, something different this time around is that D’Amelio’s album has a timeline. “It’s storytelling from the past couple years,” she says. “There’s a full start and end to it.” That makes it a little hard for her to pick a first single. “I am so in love with all of the songs that I’ve written, and I’m so connected to them that picking what’s going out first is very scary,” she says. “I can go with a pop thing, but that might not be what matches everything else.”
There isn’t a name for the album just yet, but D’Amelio has shared song titles on her spam IG account that she says could end up being what she goes with. When asked if she could describe the full album in three emojis, D’Amelio picks the alien, the “girl who stands by herself and awkward,” and a heart. “It’s a very loving album, and there’s a lot of love songs to my friends and family.”
She’s Just As Chronically Online As The Rest Of Us
D’Amelio has been spending a lot of time recently with her family. At VidCon, the entire crew — Charli, Heidi, and Marc D’Amelio — are there with her, supporting their Be Happy popcorn brand. “We have the opportunity to do some meet and greets today, which is so cool,” she says. “We never really had that opportunity besides a couple random pop-ups here and there. Being at a convention where all of these other influencers are here and everyone who is kind of chronically online is here is so fun.”
Being online is my job — that’s my excuse for my screen time — but I also just love being on the Internet.
Being “chronically online” is what D’Amelio would use to describe herself, too. “Something people don’t know about influencers is how much we are online as well,” she says. “I’ll post to a song, and someone will be like, ‘How do you know about that?’ I’m like, ‘Guys, I’m seeing all the same videos you are. I am in love with Chappell Roan just like you are.’”
So, until D’Amelio is fully ready to release music and go on tour, the best place to find her right now is on the FYP. “Being online is my job — that’s my excuse for my screen time — but I also just love being on the Internet.”
