Dondria & Jermaine Dupri at Southside Studios in Atlanta, GA
Some people are born to sing! Others are even destined for greatness! Then there is DONDRIA; SoSo Def’s self-made rising star. Early; in the first quarter of her career, it seems as if she is definitely ordained to be our next Legendary Entertainer.
“I’m new; I’m learning!” Dondria humbly said.
Dondria has one of the most impressive stories on how she was discovered by mogul, Jermaine Dupri. She didn’t do what everybody else does, her approach was one of creativity & moxie. And, it is paying off in a huge way for the Dallas, Texas native. As a matter of fact, the day after I talked to Dondria at Southside Studios in Atlanta, she headed to 106th & Park (NYC) to drop off her new video, ‘Shawty Wus Up’. “Well, in 2006 I decided to put videos on YouTube to get an unbiased opinion of my singing. I knew that youtube would give me the opportunity to get the truth out of people, because they don’t care what I think. Dondria explained. “The response was great! It was amazing! I started getting requests to put up more videos. I would post a video everyday. Then a year into it, I reached one million views and a lot of people started reaching out to me saying they wanted to sign me; to write, and to collaborate. One of those people was Jermaine Dupri.” Her page was named: Phatfffat (a childhood nickname) and it became a huge success right before her eyes. She would basically do covers of songs that were popular on the radio at the time. Her niche was that she would make the songs her own; put her own spin on them. “I just picked songs that I liked, because I knew that people would be looking for them on youtube.” I guess all her childhood days in the Church Choir, vocal training and simply singing at every given moment really did give her the upper hand.
It’s been a mere 4 years since her first youtube post as Phatfffat, and Dondria is already a chart-topping new artist. Her unofficial debut single, ‘Can’t Stop’ completely burned up the internet in 2008. This let everybody know that Phatfffat was no joke!!! Once her official single, ‘You’re the One’ dropped in late 2009, Dondria became America’s Sweetheart. They shot the video, and the single skyrocketed to #14 on the Billboard Charts. This is an extremely big thing for a new artist. “We knew we wanted it to be a classic/timeless video, because the song is to the point and you can relate to it. We knew we didn’t want to do too much. We wanted it to be simple, but still have an impact!” Dondria shared. In such a short amount of time, this 21-year-old’s life has changed in a major way. Dondria has garnered so much success already without dropping an album. She has just dropped her second single ‘Shawty Wus Up’ featuring Johnta Austin and Diamond (formerly of Crime Mob). To add another notch to her belt, Dondria has been invited out to join Monica & Trey Songz’ ‘Passion, Pain & Pleasure’ Tour, which starts August 6th in Mobile, AL. This is big!!! “To be a new artist now, with only one record out and even to be considered for this tour is amazing! It feels grrreat! The glory story is already there for me by getting signed. I’m excited and ready to go out there. This is what I’m here to do!” Dondria said in confidence. She has also performed on the BET Awards Pre-Show and the ASCAP Awards in June, and has been booked for various summer concerts across the country. Dondria is currently preparing for the main event: Dondria vs Phatfffat dropping on August 17, 2010.
The anticipation mounts as we are less than a month away from the release date of Dondria’s debut album, ‘Dondria vs. Phatfffat’. Expectations are high and we are all well aware of the fact that A LEGEND IS BEING BORN!!! Pay attention world. The title of the album lends to the assumption that this album will be about Dondria battling with her alter-ego, Phatfffat. However, that is not the case at all. “The title is not really an alter-ego thing. It’s just showing people that Dondria is more than Phatfffat from YouTube. She can also be an artist! She can also have a top 10 record & video on 106th & Park. So, it’s really just saying to look beyond Phatfffat”. Dondria stressed.
Mark my words: Dondria is here!!! Legendary Status…
Stay tuned for more Dondria news, videos, etc. Also, look out for the album dropping August 17, 2010. Tour starts August 6, 2010.
***Follow Dondria on Youtube:
www.YouTube/Phatfffat
***Follow Dondria on Twitter:
www.Twitter.com/Dondria
***Follow Dondria on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/Dondria
***Check out all Dondria info at:
www.global14.com
*photo credit: Jakeem Smith
