(Photo: Acacia Evans)
Nashville artist Dana Rogers goes by the stage name “daena” – and her debut album Alter Ego feels destined to make a lot of “Best of 2024” lists.
The new album is a showcase not just for daena’s superb songwriting but for her incredibly versatile voice as well. It’s hard to convey tenderness, but daena is a master at it. Songs like “Lucky Number” and “Bri” are intimate and touching.
Yet the album has plenty of uptempo delights, too – like the album’s title song that has a Sabrina Carpenter-style Big Chorus.
We spoke with daena about the new album and her plans to promote it:
“Lucky Number” is SO beautiful and sounds like a hit to my ears. What’s the backstory on this great song?
Thank you so much! This one is definitely one of the most special on the album to me. My fiancée and I are getting married in April, and by the time we do, we’ll have been together for 10 years. But, when I wrote this song we were about to hit our 7-year dating anniversary. Almost overnight, I felt a shift and realized that not only did I want to spend the rest of my life with her, but I was actually ready to get engaged and start the next chapter of our life together.
I wanted to write about how the best love doesn’t have to be grandiose or over-the-top to be beautiful. And that safe, comfortable love can keep getting better and better year after year. I came to my co-writer Kate Yeager with the idea, and after talking both about my future in-laws’ love of gambling (LOL) and the soft and sweet way we love our respective partners day-to-day, we found our way to “Lucky Number”.
“Bri” is also a very special song. What led to you writing that one?
This was a tough one to write. I wrote it as an apology to my childhood best friend, Bri, at a time when I felt like I hadn’t been as good a friend as I should have been to her. I think it’s hard for anyone to admit something like that, and it actually took me a few years to write. There’s an early version of the song from around 2018 that I then brought to my co-writer Kären McCormick in 2022, and she helped me shape it into what you hear on the record. And yes – Bri and I are STILL best friends! I’ve never once worried that we wouldn’t be. I think it’s just a testament to how strong our friendship and trust with each other is, and I’m so lucky that she gave me her blessing to release this one.
Will you be doing any shows this fall to promote the new album?
I just had my album release show last Friday at The Lipstick Lounge in Nashville, which was an absolute blast! I’m still riding the high and have to say I’m kind of itching to plan some more now… so keep your eyes peeled on my social media for any new dates being announced.
