Following the success of last year’s Party Hard album, Donaeo has been busy holed up in the studio working on new music for his upcoming album. Nardene Scott caught up with the producer/singer extraordinaire briefly to see what we can expect from him this year, find out his ideal collaborations and the possibilities of beginning a career in acting.

How do you feel 2009 went with the release of your first album and all of the heavy gigging?

2009 was quite hectic; it was the first time I actually brought out an album. For years I’ve been saying I’m going to bring out an album and I never actually did. And then in 2009 I finally fulfilled the promise. It was a good look, it was independent but it was nice to know I had structure there and I had a way to bond with my team, find out what works, what doesn’t work and with people who really appreciate the music as well. 2009 was a good year especially the ending of 2009 because I got to perform in Ghana in a concert with me Sway, Lethal B, Sarcoze and a few other acts as well. And I got to meet up with Tinie and Selimi and I’ve done tunes with them for their projects so, I’m very happy about how the situation occurred.

So you’ve got a new album due out this year what can we expect, are you still going down the independent route, what’s the production like, any collaborations you can tell us about?

It’s still independent for now, I mean if someone was interested in signing me and they approached me and came up with the right sort of situation in regards to how they’re going to push the album and they had faith in the product then, yes I’d be interested, but up until now we’re independent until someone comes in and puts in an offer. After that the album itself is all produced by me apart from one track from Breakage called Speechless. Production-wise my music is always going to have a dance music base at like 128bpm so that I can mix the tracks together. In regards to collaborations the’re technically aren’t any, I’ve never really done the collaboration thing; I’ve only just started now. I’ve only wanted my albums to be like CVs for other artists and so when they’re ready to approach me they know what I’m about.

Are there any dream collaborations that would be interested in the future?

There’s Shy FX but I’m already working with him now, I’m working with Marvell at the moment too, then there’s Jay Z, I’d like to work with Dizzee Rascal, and an artist called Hoodman because I think he’s heavy, as a rapper he’s banging and a good singer as well.

Have you got any tour plans around the new album?

Yes, we have for later this year once we start pushing the new single Check My Swagger Out we’re going to go in. I like gigging as well. I know some artists do one or two songs, but I like to do like nine songs in a set, a few party tracks then take it back to some of my older tracks then finish with something new.

In the Breakage Speechless video we see you doing a spot of acting, how did you feel about doing that and does this mark the beginning of Donaeo the actor?

That’s what everyone has been saying you know! I don’t know, I wasn’t trying to aim for that, it’s like Shy FX put so much money and effort into it with all the directors and actors so like I was just trying my best I just didn’t want to let anyone down being that the video was mainly focused on me. I probably would go into acting but my main thing is music so I’d want to do a film that was about music at least then it’s not too far away from what I do because I wouldn’t say that I’m an actor. I wouldn’t want to take anything away from people who are because I’ve never taken acting lessons in my life. I reckon I could act in a film which could be maybe something similar to what I do in my own life like I would like to do something like that.

Look out for Donaeo brushin’ his shoulders off and poppin’ his collar on upcoming single Check My Swagger Out

Tags: Breakage, Donaeo, Grime, House, R&B