Los Angeles, artist, and entrepreneur Dom Jones does her part to raise awareness for the Black Lives Matter movement by releasing her truthful single “Sayin Nothin.” After graduating from Berklee College of Music, Dom Jones’ music was featured as a beacon for social change through a Boston-based non-profit organization at the Boston Arts & Music Soul Festival. We can hear every ounce of her emotion pour through with her latest single “Sayin Nothin,” as Dom Jones rides the soulful R&B beat while expressing the need for social change as many people turn a blind eye. Tying in politics, human rights, and the disappointment of seeing others’ true colors towards their views of systemic oppression, we’re left preaching “Sayin Nothin.”
Opening with a laid back R&B beat, Dom Jones jumps right into “Sayin Nothin” with incredibly wise words that we can all take away from. She explains that systemic racism is something that has been pushed on children of color and automatically had to fight for equal treatment. Dom Jones’ lyricism is so well-crafted and poetic; it’s evident she’s taken time to highlight the right and most effective words in order to raise awareness and continue this fight. She emphasizes that even with protests going on to help the BLM movement, there are still many innocent lives being taken, arrested, and harassed. Yet our ‘protectors’ seem to turn a blind eye and are failing to listen. A track that every single one of us can take away from Dom Jones’ “Sayin Nothin” lets you realize if you’re saying enough.
Discover “Sayin Nothin” here.
Welcome to BuzzMusic, Dom Jones! We’re truly moved by your latest gut-wrenching single “Sayin Nothin”. When did you realize that you had to do what you do best, and create a single that serves a broader lesson?
To be completely transparent, "Sayin Nothin" was already scheduled for release on JUNETEENTH prior to the most current onslaught of police brutality, protests, and uprisings. Throughout my journey as an artist, I have created music that speaks to the time we are living in. Just because it wasn't receiving worldwide media coverage doesn't mean that black people in America haven't been under siege by police departments and racist vigilantes. This is not a new song, created in response to what's happening. The fact that it just happens to be being released and its message continues to be so timely drives home the point that sustainable change and equitable society for all is long past due.
Seeing as “Sayin Nothin” is a genuine and honest track surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement, could Dom Jones take us through your songwriting process for this single, and how it was emotionally different from creating your other songs?
Again, the song is about the state of black life throughout history. We call it the Black Lives Matter movement today. We called it the Black Panther Party movement and the Pan-Africanism movement in the 70s, and 80s. We called it the Civil Rights movement in the 50s and 60s. What did we call it before that? The songwriting process, as far as technique, is similar to my approach with all of my music. The difference when writing songs that have deep historical and political meaning is that I am not only calling upon my historical and political intellect, I am also looking to musical ancestors for guidance for how to best serve the purpose of the music. I'm listening to Marvin Gaye's "Make Me Wanna Holler" and Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground" and Nina Simone's "Mississippi Goddam," and I'm also listening to Tupac's "Changes" and present-day artists such as Rapsody's "Serena" and Kendrick Lamar's "Dying of Thirst/Sing About Me." I'm also reading the writings of Octavia Butler, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, James Baldwin, and Audre Lorde. It's important to me that this music is done with thoughtfulness and study and not simply the raw emotions that come with being black in America.
Seeing how Dom Jones’ music was a beacon for social change through Berklee College's Songs for Social Change and BAMSFest (Boston Arts & Music Soul Festival), what fueled your initial inspiration to take your music career deeper and challenge change across society?
Songs for Social Change was a songwriting competition at Berklee that focused on giving students the opportunity to write about social issues that we cared deeply about. It was something that I participated in each year, though my work with this kind of music preceded my time at Berklee.
BAMSFest, and its founder Catherine Morris, really gave me a big opportunity to connect with the broader Boston community while I was there for school, and I have tremendous gratitude for that. I think that it's so important to engage the community you're living in as an artist, to listen to the social challenges that community may be facing, and to create art as one voice and one way of acknowledging those challenges and standing in solidarity with that community. Being featured in BAMSFest really taught me that I can take these messages anywhere and they will be relevant, they will be embraced, and that they can impart hope.
On a more personal note, seeing as the BLM movement is still heavily underway and is constantly creating change, might we hear more music from Dom Jones surrounding this cause in the near future?
This song isn't being released to be trendy. It's a real part of my work as a musician, creative, and entrepreneur. I'm releasing it on Juneteenth to acknowledge how far we have come and how far we still have to go, and absolutely have more music in the pipeline to continue this messaging in the future because the truth is that none of us are free until we all are free.