DARLIN TALKS FREEZE FRAME
"Making things a little theatrical"
Daniel John
What can you tell us about the new song, when did you write this one and what is this song about?
For my new song 'Freeze Frame', I step into the role of a slightly unhinged girlfriend who is completely caught up in a one-sided relationship with her date. When it comes to songwriting, I enjoy creating characters and stories rather than drawing everything directly from my own life. I like to make things a little more theatrical and exaggerated and this is a concept I had wanted to explore for a long time. The song is part of my upcoming debut album, where each of the twelve songs is inspired by a different trait associated with the zodiac sign Scorpio. For this song, the assigned trait was “controlling”, which made the obsessive, overbearing girlfriend character a perfect fit. I wrote the song in January, but I intentionally wanted it to sound light, fresh, and almost spring-like. Berlin winters can feel very dark and gloomy, so creating these brighter, more playful sounds was a way for me to escape that atmosphere for a while.
How did you approach the visual side of the release?
For this release, we created a really fun music video that captures the dynamic of this one-sided relationship in a very humorous way. It reflects the dream world my character is living in and the way she pulls her self-appointed future husband into it. The video is bright, colorful, and almost overly idyllic, which further emphasizes her delusion since everything is shown from her perspective. I find it particularly interesting when the visual side of a project contrasts with the actual message of the song. While the lyrics become increasingly obsessive and unhinged, the video remains playful, vibrant, and romantic, making the character's distorted view of reality even more apparent.
All of these songs you're planting now are a part of a year-long journey towards your debut album, now halfway there what is it this album will ultimately come into full bloom as?
The album is called 'The Pluto Club', inspired by Pluto, the ruling planet traditionally associated with the zodiac sign Scorpio. Each song on the album explores a different Scorpio-trait, with all twelve characteristics defined from the very beginning of the project. That made the songwriting process particularly interesting, as I was not simply writing about whatever came to mind. Instead each song had to fit a specific theme, which became more challenging and creatively rewarding as the project progressed.
You made three EPs in just over a years’ time so you're not unfamiliar with connected bodies of work, is there still anything you find different in the process of growing an album?
Kind of! In a way it’s feels the same just a lot bigger. What makes writing this album especially unique is the way it has been released. I put out the first single on my birthday in November 2025, and all twelve tracks are being released as individual monthly singles. The project has become a twelve-month journey that mirrors an entire year of my life. The final song, and with it the full album, will be released on November 6th, bringing this chapter to a close exactly one year after it began. When I started releasing I only had three songs ready, so it was a bit of a race against time, but this is how I usually work, I’d rather release a song as fast as possible after I write it because I’m scared that I’ll be grown out of it by the release date when it is months or a year in the future.
From the inspirations that first led you to fall in love with it to finding your own sound and signature, how did your journey in music sprout and blossom?
I started my musical journey in musical theatre as a teenager, which is where I first fell in love with performing and music. After finishing school, I moved to Freiburg, Germany, to study jazz and popular music. At the time, I saw myself much more as a singer than as a musician, and I wanted to change that by gaining a deeper understanding of songwriting, composition, and production. Looking back, I think I achieved exactly that. Today, I write and compose all of my songs myself. Finding my own sound definitely took time but I believe the more you create, experiment, and challenge yourself, the faster you discover who you are as an artist. That mindset is also one of the reasons why I'm releasing this album in such an ambitious way. The monthly deadlines and constant creative pressure push me to keep growing as a songwriter, composer and producer. If I had to name my “signature element” it would probably be my backing vocals. I love to create vocal arrangements that add something unexpected to a song while still feeling accessible and distinctly pop.
Will this ongoing release journey continue to shape most of your time this summer or are you hoping to get some other things in. Maybe getting up on stage or maybe some downtime
The songwriting part of the project will be finished by July so there is still quite a bit of work to do until then. After that, things won't necessarily get any easier, as the monthly releases will continue throughout the summer. At the same time, I'm trying to take a step back every now and then, appreciate what I've accomplished so far, and make sure I enjoy the summer as well. I won't be playing many live shows this year, but I'm incredibly excited about the big album release concert at Badehaus in Berlin on November 6th. Preparations and rehearsals for that show will start towards the end of the summer, and I'm really looking forward to bringing the entire project to the stage, after spending a year releasing it, piece by piece. One thing is certain, though, once the album is finally out, I'll definitely need a vacation.
