Singer-songwriter, musician, and producer Dijon Duenas was born on June 9th, 1992, in Germany, although he is mainly from Baltimore, Maryland, where he attended high school. Dijon’s parents were both members of the United States Military and met in the Middle East. Dijon recalled feeling tossed back and forth between his mother and father throughout his early life. Dijon lived in California, Iowa, Hawaii, Kentucky, Washington, and Maryland. In an interview for SSENSE Dijon stated that he was obsessed with music from an early age, however, he said that he never truly learned how to play an instrument growing up, but that he, “…was always feeling around in the dark. I got my music on the bus or on the radio.” It would not be long before Dijon would step into the light of music and hear his own songs on the radio.
After high school, Dijon attended the University of Maryland to study literature and began his music career with his high school friend, Abhirath Raju. The two of them had some early success before disappearing briefly to finish up their education at the University of Maryland, Dijon pursuing a job in teaching and Abhirath pursuing a job in IT. The duo known as Abhi//Dijon collaborated on and released the album “2014” along with two EPs called “17” and “Montana”. In addition, there was an early mixtape the two released called “Stay Up” that has since been taken off all streaming services due to their own personal reasons. The two creatives came from different musical backgrounds making for a unique sound to their music “…rooted in R&B” said Abhirath Raju in an interview with Sydney Gore for the magazine Nylon. The duo moved their musical careers to Los Angeles before mysteriously parting ways.
In Los Angeles, Dijon began his solo career putting out several EPs from 2017 to 2021 in a true Frank Ocean-like fashion. Matt Champion, also known as BROCKHAMPTON, helped Dijon significantly with finding his sound when he first moved to Los Angeles. The first EP Dijon released was titled “Stranger” a very emotional song where Dijon seems to have a breakthrough moment with his unique vocal style at the end of the song. Dijon has an artistic way of almost screaming his lyrics, but almost in a yearning way, as if he’s on his knees singing the lyrics in desperation. Next Dijon put out the track “Violence” which is truly a yearning track further establishing his style of singing. “Skin” was the third EP Dijon put out that had extreme success due to the streaming algorithm on Spotify. Skin is still the most streamed song on Dijon’s discography, with 103,023,348 current Spotify streams. Although this track really put Dijon on the map, he said in an interview with Pitchfork that this caused severe imposter syndrome within himself as “he grew up listening to album-centric visionaries.” Following the extreme success of “Skin”, Dijon released “WILD” filled with intense vocal layering, echo, and reverb months later, but it would not come close to the success of “Skin”. Next, “Nico’s Red Truck” was released. This track focuses on the fear of growing older and forgetting precious memories. “Nico’s Red Truck” became a staple Dijon track. The next big EP was “Sci Fi 1.” This EP contained seven tracks mainly revolving around the positive and negative sides of being surrounded by fellow creatives in Los Angeles. Dijon would then go on to his first tour after the release of “Sci Fi 1.” However, Dijon felt a disconnect with his fans, who were a younger audience. This disconnect would lead to a reliance on consuming alcohol to perform. However, Dijon would still go on to open for artists such as Bon Iver, Clairo, Boy Genius, Harry Styles, and more. The next EP is called “Good Luck” another extremely well-done song. In a newer album “VULTURES” by Kanye West the first voice you hear on the track “STARS” is Dijon’s and a sample from his track “Goodluck” despite the fact that he never agreed to be on the track. The next notable EP would be “How Do You Feel About Getting Married?” This six-track EP established Dijon as an artist not bound to any specific genre of music as he explores both rock and roll, R&B, and neo-soul. Next came two EPs:“Many Times” and “Rodeo Clown,” which would be featured on the melodramatic album “Absolutely.”
The dream-like and soulful debut album “Absolutely” came in buzzing with reverb and static with the first track “Big Mike’s” which set the soul-folk meets country meets alternative R&B meets indie rock. It is important to note the association of the adjective soul or soulful with Dijon. A quote by Claude Brown reads,
“‘Soul is not black, not blue, sass, anger, and rage. It is not just a feeling but conviction. Not just intensity but involvement. A force as well as a style, an accolade as well as identification. It is an expressive explosiveness, ignited by a people’s discovery of self-pride, power, and potential for growth.’”
As boundless as Dijon is, I think that neo-soul is the best summary of his genre. This album solidified that Dijon cannot be bound to a specific genre but that he prefers to venture into crossovers without true definition. In the interview by Pitchfork it was said that, “As Dijon came of age in the 2000s, music moved to the forefront of his universe. He sucked up everything he could on the file-sharing program LimeWire, his tastes unbound by genre or style.” Dijon being a sponge for all sorts of styles and genres, it’s no surprise he’s carried that variety into his own music. The greatest display of Dijon’s diversity is on his website, dijondijon.com. On the website, there is a display of varying forms of media that can fall into several different genres. On his website, you also can see the cover photo to the EP “Many Times” which has Michael Gordon, also known as Mk.gee in it. Mk.gee, also known for his genre-blending style, helped with more than half of the songs on the album “Absolutely”. The first two tracks “Big Mike’s” and “Scratching” are tracks about Dijon’s fiancé at the time and are overflowing with character and raw emotion. The third track “Many Times” steers away from the slower-paced introduction to the album and dives into a previous failed relationship Dijon experienced. Along with the change of inspiration for this song the instrumentals also take a different approach with an extremely soulful piano solo at the end of the track that blends seamlessly into the next track on the album “Annie,” which is an instrumentally focused track. Next on the album is “Noah’s Highlight Reel” a very atmospheric track also full of instrumentals harmonizing with Dijon’s voice. Following “Noah’s Highlight Reel” falling directly in the middle of the album is the track “The Dress” which is truly the heart of the album. The staple slow jam, “The Dress” is also Dijon’s second most streamed song on Spotify closely following “Skin” with 89,669,582 streams. Less tailored tracks “God In Wilson” and “Did You See It?” follow after the middle of the album. These tracks are rather anticlimactic compared to another major track on the album titled “Talk Down” which crosses between an upbeat yet yearnful track. Next on the album is another earlier EP, “Rodeo Clown”. Possibly the most emotional song on the album, “Rodeo Clown” features the sounds of Dijon sobbing as he steps into the perspective of a woman who’s been stood up by a man. The “End of Record” is a slower-paced track with hints of celebration associated with it as people cheer and celebrate in the background, which again seamlessly blend into the very upbeat track “Credits” closing out the very theatre-of-the-mind debut album.
Following the “Absolutely” album, the short film “Absolutely” directed by Jack Karaszewski was released and can be found on Dijon’s YouTube channel. Through this project, Dijon accomplished his long-inspired concept album effectively. The film displays the behind-the-production side of music that many people don’t get to see. In a set designed to look like the rundown apartment in Los Angeles where the album was recorded, Jack Karaszewski creatively captures essentially a jam session between Dijon and his friends from all angles. The most notable friend in the film is Mk.gee who interacts with Dijon strictly through the language of music as they push themselves to new creative levels. It is obvious that Dijon and his band have a great deal of chemistry in this film, where their visceral energy is showcased to drive the emotions in the songs out even more than before. Specifically, Mk.gee’s energy aided in making the film “Absolutely” what it is, as he guided the tempo and energy in the room.
Dijon has been off the grid for about two years following the release of his newest EP “Coogie”. Perhaps he is working on a new project or tying up loose ends in his life as he did when graduating college, or maybe he is homing in on his craft, as he said in an interview with Pitchfork.
“I have to home in and get to Prince’s level,” he says at one point, talking about his most meaningful inspiration, before adding, “never sonically, and especially not lyrically, but in the spirit that he had in respecting music.”
There is a certainty in the waiting that his new music certainly will be unique with its own style.