B2TW | Elif Dame & GANZ

Intro

I admire how relatable Elif Dame's song, Killing It, is. This summer, I wanted to take a break from the music blog after my trip to Montana, where my sister and her boyfriend live. I visited Yellowstone National Park during my trip to Montana. I saw a lot of things that most people don't experience in their lifetime.

The Yellowstone trip made me realize that I wasn't living my life.

I was not doing the activities I loved to do when I was getting the most out of life.

After returning home, I decided to go to as many hiking trails as I could with my dog, Leo. I also decided to work on getting back in shape so I can run again.

All of this is a work in progress, but I am doing it.

Who Is Elif Dame?

Elif's Upbringing: Elif Dame, who was born to a jazz pianist and retail clerk in Amsterdam, began practicing her creativity at a young age. Her initial songs were composed to match beat tapes of MF DOOM, J Dilla, Madlib, and other diverse sounds.

At a young age, her creativity was sparked by her musical interests in Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, and the gospel genre. Through the years, it would greatly expand and shift through the realms of countless genres.
Following her first batch of recordings, Dame gradually allowed her sound to develop into an eclectic form of alternative R&B.

Mental Health: The songs that were developed through alternative R&B touch on topics such as her battles with depression and anxiety, insecure attachment and relationship issues, trauma, family drama, and addiction.

After releasing a slew of singles from 2020-2021, it became clear that her lifelong battle against depression and the pressure to consistently put out new work had taken the joy away from releasing music. This brought to a tough decision for Elif to take a long overdue self-care hiatus from releasing music.
Elif made a commitment to prioritizing her mental health in the following year while documenting the process.

Securely Detached EP is the result of that hiatus. This release showcases her journey of learning to take back her life, differentiating her feelings from the feelings of her surroundings, and also learning to focus on herself instead of preoccupying her mind with making other people happy and comfortable.

Celexy (Buy Me Time) was the kickoff of the EP where Dame opened up about hitting rock bottom and weighing up the options of going on medication.

Killing It continues with part two of her story, and specifically focuses on letting go and starting to feel the benefits of medication, all whilst having doubts about being on the precipice of another manic episode.

Killing It (ftr. GANZ) by Elif Dame

The Release: On July 14th, 2023, Elif Dame released her song, Killing It, with the help of music producer GANZ. GANZ is well-known in the music industry for his collaboration with Alison Wonderland and other successful musicians.

On Spotify alone, the single has over 20k streams, making it the 2nd most popular Elif Dame song behind her Self-Care Pt. 2 single.
You can now stream the song on SoundCloud and other streaming platforms.

Going Deeper: To put it mildly, the song is both honest and vulnerable. The song's origins are fully explained in the first two lines of the song... To allow Elif to take a pause. A pause to reflect on how hard it's been for her for a year.

Baby it's time to stop stomping on your creativity, It's been a hard year for you As it's been a rough year for me.

In addition, the song encourages people to ask for help. Not to appear weak, but in a way that brings healing. She encourages herself to take care of herself in the same way she takes care of her work.
This is both inspirational and relatable. Burnout is a fact that applies to everyone, not just musicians.

The Beats by GANZ are a great addition to Elif's jazzy vocals. They are laid back and remind me of chilling in a coffee shop.

The beats are a perfect way to ease into the Fall, especially if your goal is to chill by the fire.

What You Should You Do: You can stream these wonderful rising stars in the music industry by following and liking them on all social media. You can also stream their music on all streaming platforms such as Spotify and SoundCloud.

Additionally, you can follow me on all socials, including Threads and X. You can also stream our brand new seasonal playlists on YT Music as well.
A special thank you to Lydia Reed, who requested the review, as well as you, the reader, for taking the time to read this article. We put a lot of time into these articles and appreciate you.

Linktrees

Elif Dame

GANZ