DXINX Exclusive: Foundations, Freedom & the Future
The multi-talented creative talks about her early life, artistic evolution, and forgiveness.
DXINX (pronounced dah-ee-nah) is instantly recognizable for so many reasons. Whether it’s her unique aesthetic, distinct vocals, or undeniable online legacy, it seems DXINX – real name Dainá Clarke – is set to leave a mark you literally can’t ignore.
As one of the OG UK YouTube storytimers, her jaw-dropping tales together with other addictive uploads like challenges, pranks, style content, and videos showcasing her vocal talents, paved the way for more creativity and way more exposure.
If you’ve been following Dainá’s content for a while, you can’t help but be moved by her journey. After the breakdown of a very public marriage, Dainá’s openness online about her divorce – and some insane events afterward (#BitterBrokeBitch, if you know you know!)
– helped to uplift and support other women on the receiving end of narcissistic and manipulative behavior.
Some of these events inspired the 2022 8-track EP Fin, a powerfully raw work of art that signifies Dainá’s rebirth into a brand-new era. This EP was followed by a string of singles including Gxmesmind, Beside Em, and the massively popular (and catchy – we warned you) Juice, solidifying the artist as one of continuous and exciting growth.
We chatted with the unstoppable creative for an in-depth exploration into her early influences, experimenting with genre, her newfound excitement for life, and so much more.
So, you were born in the UK but raised in Florida and New Jersey…. How do you think that travel experience from such an early age influenced you?
So, for me, having this experience at such an early age meant I had no attachment. I had no attachment to a certain place. So now, if there was an opportunity for me to move to… to Poland tomorrow, I’d consider it. Like, I wouldn’t think twice. It’s just because I don’t really have…
I wouldn’t say I don’t have roots because I do have roots. I’ve just moved a lot, my family moved all over the world as well. I’ve got my uncle in Jamaica, my aunt in Florida, my uncle in New York, another in Bermuda, I’ve got cousins living in Manchester, in America, so it’s not like there’s family roots somewhere for me to feel like “Oh, I’ve got to be here because all my family is here.” From a young age, it was always traveling. It was normal, it was never different or weird to me.
Do you think that had any impact on the music you wanted to make and the sounds you wanted to create?
I think it definitely exposed me to different genres of music. When I was living in Florida, all my mom used to play was Silkk the Shocker, Master P, Mr Kool, early days Lil Wayne, I’m talking like braids Lil Wayne. And she used to play Snoop Dogg, Tupac, so I was listening to West Coast.
I was listening to Trina before everyone was on Trina, I was listening to Trina when I was like 6. So I’ve grown up with a lot of different music, and it was even my dad who introduced me to Michael Jackson. I’ve had loads of different music influences throughout my life, and I do believe that’s due to where I’ve lived and of course who’s been around me.
Speaking of your dad introducing you to Michael Jackson, what started your obsession with him and what songs got you hooked on MJ?
So my dad made me this cassette tape with a bunch of different random Michael Jackson songs, so it wasn’t like a full album. And there was a song on there that used to make me cry my eyes out. But not cry my eyes out because I was so taken aback by the song, it scared me! It was Little Susie, the intro of the song was like a jukebox. You know like the jukeboxes that go around?
Like the music boxes you wind?
Yeah, it was one of them. And then it was like a little girl singing over it, like *sings scary melody* and the song is basically about her being killed. And I was just oh my gosh.
Oh. That went left.
Right! That song was terrifying to me as a child, and I was scared of Michael Jackson! But I think it was when I saw the Bad video. The Michael Jackson Bad video changed everything for me. I was obsessed with it and still am.
Do you remember the first song you ever wrote?
I do, you know. I don’t think it’s the first one I ever wrote, but it’s a full song that I remember finishing. I wrote this song when I was 9 and I remember it lyric for lyric. I’ve actually rerecorded it a few times on different beats because the fact I still remember it is mad to me. It’s called Something.
How do you think your sound has changed since you first started out to now? Are there any sounds you want to explore in the future?
My sound has definitely changed because I’m the type of artist who doesn’t want to fit in one box. I like to experiment with loads of different things, sometimes I like to rap, sometimes I like to scream, sometimes I like to sing. In the beginning, my music was very experimental, it was very loud, flamboyant, in your face. It was very Rico Nasty-ish, it was… I don’t know, I just like to do something different. I wanted to be different.
I didn’t really care about the actual technical vocals of it all. And then when I started releasing music I guess properly in 2017 with August Twelfth, that was R&B, like just keep it simple. Pop & R&B, people can understand it easily, it is what it is.
And then I started to go back into my old ways and started to experiment again and dropping like rap songs and drill songs, and all these different type of songs. And now, I was just in Manchester this week, and we were working on a kind of dark, rock-ish, type vibe. It's mad, It’s not a genre. I’m making my own sound and it’s not a genre.
I was in the studio with Ghostface6000 and he just works in a mad way. Like he doesn’t write things down, he doesn’t listen to a beat over and over and think of things. No. He throws on the beat, throws on the record, and just freestyles. I don’t work like that. That was extremely hard for me and pushed me out of my comfort zone. But we came up with some bangers, I’m not gonna lie.
You’ve been very open online about your divorce and it’s clear it’s helping to support women who are dealing with a similar situation. Some of it has been really difficult to listen to. Where you’re at now, do you feel any forgiveness?
No. I don’t. I feel like I don’t have to forgive, and that’s okay. I have no hatred in my heart, there’s no ill will, there’s still love there. If I was on the street and I saw him in danger, I’m not gonna walk past like an evil cow.
Right, because forgiveness is something different to you choosing you. You can still have love for a person and not want to forgive them.
Yeah. And I feel like I would have been able to forgive before if things were different after we had split. But things weren’t different.
What’s life been like since you left this situation? Do you think it’s kind of paved the way for more opportunities?
I feel like… do you know what? It’s not an opportunities or open doors thing. It’s given me the freedom to be and do what I need to do. It’s not that I was trapped and told I couldn’t do something before in a sense. But I was stifled. I was very stifled in… for example who I could work with, how long I could be away. You have to consider that when you’re in a marriage. So yeah, it’s definitely given me a lot of freedom, and I’m meeting so many new people, and I’m excited. For once, I’m excited about life.
I’ve been watching your content for a really long time and some of the storytimes were wilddd. Were all the stories fully genuine?
Yes, all of my stories were 100% real! I remember my storytime era on YouTube, that was my main thing. Everyone would always say please another storytime another storytime. I would say you lot keep asking for more storytimes but my stories are actually real, and there’s other people out here telling you rubbish on their channels. I would tell them I need more things to happen in my life so I have something to tell you. I’m not gonna make something up. And then I started doing storytime parodies where I did make shit up.
You haven’t always been DXINX. The OG’s will remember Tootsie Time. What are the reasons behind your name changes?
So, Tootsie Time, that was the persona I created. I used to go by the name Tootsie Jackson for music before I started YouTube. So everyone knew me as Tootsie Jackson. Tootsie was just the nickname I had. And Jackson, obviously Michael Jackson, love him. So that was that.
When I joined YouTube, I didn't wanna come on YouTube as Tootsie Jackson. Because Tootsie Jackson to me was my artist name and I wasn’t coming on YouTube right away to be an artist. So I was like let me think. It was my time, so I changed it to Tootsie Time. When I started releasing music in 2017, that’s when I changed my name to Dainá with the accent on the ‘a’ because I didn’t wanna go by Tootsie Time for music.
It was fine for a while, the only reason my Instagram handles and all of that was dainamurel is because I couldn’t get Dainá. Murel is one of my middle names. Someone's handle was just the name Dainá and they weren't even using the page!
It's always the way! It’s like all best handles have been inactive since like 2013.
Exactly. So I had Dainá Murel - Murel’s one of my middle names. THEN, there’s this band or this techno-pop-kinda-sounding thing, their songs started to be uploaded to my Spotify, Apple Music, my Tidal. Their music would be on my profile saying it's by me and I remember someone said to me is this you? I was like this ain’t me!!
They’re called Daina and the somethings, something like that, they’re like a band. I distribute my music myself through Ditto, so I reached out to my distributor and they ended up getting it all off my Ditto. But any time they release music, it would just go back on my profile anyway. And people still kept calling me Diana.
My names not Diana, it's Dainá, and it was annoying. I was like people are spelling my name wrong, mispronouncing it, people’s songs are going on my profile, so let’s just change my name. But I didn’t want to make up another name. Like, what am I gonna call myself now? Pixie? So, I thought let me call still myself Dainá but I’m gonna remove the a’s and replace them with x’s. You can call me DXINX or you can still call me Dainá. I don’t pronounce DXINX like D-X-I-N-X, I still pronounce it Dainá.
So, what’s next?
You can expect to see new music, an album. You can expect to see new music videos, you can expect to see a tour. And it could be sooner than you think. Stay posted on all my socials, I’ll be updating everybody what’s going on. And yeah. It’s time to have some fun up in this bitch.
Twitter: @ItsDXINX
Instagram: @DainaMurel
Soundcloud: DXINX
YouTube: DXINX
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