The global pandemic has encouraged so many of us to look inside for what we need to be truly happy. In that current climate, “Movin’ On” by Dani Teveluwe, a singer-songwriter living on Yugambeh Country, really strikes a chord.
Releasing music is one of the things Dani’s realised makes her happy. A professional school teacher, she started releasing music last year. While the process was confronting, the positive feedback she received has helped her feel more confident sharing her music with others. Her new single “Movin’ On,” her third release for the year, celebrates living for yourself instead of existing to please others. The stripped-back instrumentation showcases Dani’s pure voice and stellar lyrics so beautifully. Dani wrote the song after visiting someone and deciding she needed to “move on” from relationships that no longer served her.
“I had just gotten back from catching up with someone who I thought was a friend and our time together that had left a real sour taste in my mouth. There was this feeling of resentment, judgement, disappointment that had reared its head during my visit. When I left, I didn’t feel like I had gotten to catch up with a friend, it was more of an obligatory visit to keep someone happy,” she explained.
“The real problem was me though. I had become such a people pleaser. I was so desperate for everyone to like me that I had become a chameleon, morphing and shifting my personality, opinions, and actions to meet their needs, to keep them happy. Stepping back from myself I saw how I’d change my personality around specific people, mirroring them, purely from a place of wanting to be liked. However, ‘they’ always changed, the goalposts always shifted and moved. It was impossible, exhausting and I wasn’t being me. I am forever grateful for that catch-up because it gave me this song and a valuable lesson.”
“Movin’ On” is out today.
Image used with permission from Dani Teveluwe; credit: Lauren Hooper
