Dinah Jane Appreciation Thread

[istersay]

1 minute ago, jdanton2 said:

snippet of new song. it may actual happen.

 

 

this sounds promising

[jdanton2]

Dinah teasing a release date . hope we get the announcement in the coming days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jdanton2]

this sounds like another song . snippet is longer.

 

 

[Camren]

On 3/6/2023 at 9:33 AM, jdanton2 said:

this sounds like another song . snippet is longer.

 

 

I like it. 

[istersay]

On 3/6/2023 at 12:33 AM, jdanton2 said:

this sounds like another song . snippet is longer.

 

 

this is catchy

[jdanton2]

 

[jdanton2]

insider?

 

 

Edited March 19, 2023 by jdanton2

[istersay]

30 minutes ago, jdanton2 said:

insider?

 

 

sounds like it's close to happening

[Camren]

On 3/19/2023 at 9:24 PM, jdanton2 said:

insider?

 

 

Summer release? Can't wait.

[jdanton2]

it is three years ago today that Dinah released her last single Missed A Spot. we have been teased many times since then on new music but are still waiting.

[istersay]

1 hour ago, jdanton2 said:

it is three years ago today that Dinah released her last single Missed A Spot. we have been teased many times since then on new music but are still waiting.

I know it's hard for them but it becomes frustrating if they wait years to do anything at all

[jdanton2]

Dinah sounds really good on this . she needs to release this or something.

 

 

[istersay]

16 minutes ago, jdanton2 said:

Dinah sounds really good on this . she needs to release this or something.

 

 

why doesn't she, she sounds great

[jdanton2]

i never knew that Dinah performed a song recently with potential Idol front runner this year Iam Tongi. he is one of my favorites as well.

 

 

 

also Dinah recently a gala for a school of arts where she performed a couple of 70's covers . there are only snippets though.

 

 

Edited May 10, 2023 by jdanton2

[istersay]

3 hours ago, jdanton2 said:

i never knew that Dinah performed a song recently with potential Idol front runner this year Iam Tongi. he is one of my favorites as well.

 

 

 

also Dinah recently a gala for a school of arts where she performed a couple of 70's covers . there are only snippets though.

 

 

that guy has a great tone, are they friends?

she sounds good at the gala, still can't believe she hasn't put out a bunch of music in all this time 

[jdanton2]

28 minutes ago, istersay said:

that guy has a great tone, are they friends?

she sounds good at the gala, still can't believe she hasn't put out a bunch of music in all this time 

could not find anything on how they know each other.

[jdanton2]

i would like to think new music will be performed though probably not.

 

 

[istersay]

5 hours ago, jdanton2 said:

i would like to think new music will be performed though probably not.

 

 

that'll be fun to watch

[jdanton2]

article with People about how Dinah quit music in 2020  but says new music is coming . no date mentioned but supposedly this year.

 

https://people.com/music/dinah-jane-quit-music-depression-polynesian-identity-fifth-harmony-exclusive-interview/

 

Dinah Jane Says She 'Quit' Music Due to Depression in 2020: 'I Just Had to Stop Completely' (Exclusive)

Jack Irvin Instagram Twitter Digital Music Writer, PEOPLE

5–6 minutes

---

After some time away from music, Dinah Jane is ready to get back in the studio — and create with her Polynesian identity at the forefront.

The former Fifth Harmony member is currently gearing up to attend a writing camp presented by Spotify, Warner Chappell and Mono Stereo Music, which will bring together several artists and songwriters to craft new music in honor of AAPI Heritage Month. "I've been a part of many writing camps, but this one's really special to me because it's me and my own people," Jane tells PEOPLE. "I'm really excited to tap into my native tongue, especially."

It's been three years since Jane, 25, released her most recent single "Missed a Spot," and a lot has happened in the interim. Leading up to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, she was preparing to embark on her first-ever world tour in support of her then-upcoming debut album. "Everything was lined up," says the California-born Tongan singer-songwriter, who postponed the plans several times before they were ultimately canceled as the world remained in lockdown.

She made the best of the unintentional break from work but eventually, it took a toll on her mental health. "There was beauty in spending that amount of time with my family but then there was also that inner voice of, 'Who are you? Who do you want to be?'" says Jane, who recalls becoming fed up with the pressure of returning to her career. "All these questions started kicking me down at the time, and I was like, 'I honestly quit.' I told my family, 'I don't want this no more. I don't care for music.'"

Considering she'd dreamt of a career in music long before she auditioned for The X Factor and reached international success with Fifth Harmony, Jane's parents didn't understand why she wanted to leave it all behind. But she was struggling with depression. "I was honestly fighting my inner demons, and they had to understand that I was not OK," she says. "I couldn't keep going because I felt like if people in my career pushed me to keep going, I was going to destroy myself."

During that time, she couldn't even listen to music — let alone think about creating or performing her own. After pausing for a while to focus on herself, she eventually found the strength to get back up. However, she then felt bad for stepping away in the first place.

  "People were always pulling me left and right, like, 'Get back in the studio.' Or my fans, I felt like, in a way, I let them down. But they understood why I had to just stop completely," says Jane, who's since gained a more positive perspective. "I'm grateful for those hard times. I'm grateful for the relationships that have failed in my life. I'm grateful for things that didn't go as planned because they've brought me here, to a better understanding of who Dinah is."

Now, she's taking a new — and more personal — approach to music. The "Bottled Up" performer is working on launching her own record label, through which she'll release her own music and hopes to sign other artists who share her cultural background. "I'm the first female artist of Polynesian descent in the mainstream world to do this," says Jane. "I want to give that platform to the next generation of Polynesian kids."

While she's always felt personally connected to her heritage, the musician hasn't always felt that her background has been recognized in her professional life. During her time alongside Camila Cabello, Lauren Jauregui, Normani and Ally Brooke in Fifth Harmony, Jane was often assumed to be of "mixed" descent rather than Polynesian. "I would embrace [my background] here and there, but then there were times where I was just trying to fit in," she recalls.

 

When the girl group partnered with Barbie and a doll was created in each member's likeness, Jane provided representation for her community as the first-ever Polynesian Barbie. "Still to this day, it gives me chills," she says, noting that the moment helped her realize the importance of embracing her identity. "I remember when I received it, all my little cousins were like, 'We want the Dinah Jane Barbie.' They want to be seen too."

After nearly leaving music behind, she's not only decided to continue but plans to incorporate her culture into her upcoming releases. "The power I want to carry through this new chapter of my life is to embrace being Polynesian," says Jane. "There is beauty and power in that."

Fans can rest easy knowing she'll share new music with the world this year. She says the new songs will provide insight into her "unique journey," as she's been writing about everything from dating and relationships to family and mental health.

With her forthcoming music and beyond, she hopes to inspire other young women of AAPI backgrounds to pursue their dreams with confidence. "Don't be like me and be shy. Embrace your stories, embrace your truth, embrace your wounds," advises Jane. "That's when the music will make sense. That's when the passion kicks in — and not only the audience, but your ancestors will be very proud."

 

 

[istersay]

I'm glad she is back trying again

[jdanton2]

not sure when we are getting anything but there is a new snippet.

 

 

[istersay]

22 minutes ago, jdanton2 said:

not sure when we are getting anything but there is a new snippet.

 

 

ooo I like the little bit I heard on there, I hope she releases it

[jdanton2]

Dinah talks about new music coming  and keeping touch with the other 5H girls.some Dinah pics at the link .

 

https://www.teenvogue.com/story/dinah-jane-fifth-harmony-aapi-month-interview

 

Dinah Jane on Fifth Harmony, Polynesian Identity, and Solo Career Direction

 

 Shyama Kuver

Like Hannah Montana, Dinah Jane knows what it’s like to have the best of both worlds. As a member of renowned girl group Fifth Harmony, the 25-year-old spent a few years split between two contrasting realities. 

There’s Dinah Jane, the bubbly pop star, globetrotting around the world with her bandmates, and then there’s Dinah Jane Milika Ilaisaane Hansen, the shy and humble young Tongan woman who still lives in her family home in Santa Ana, California.

“I would go on tour with the girls, and I really felt like I was living a double life,” she says with a strawberry paleta in hand, sitting at her favorite paletería in her hometown. “It was real because I'm over here like, ‘Oh gosh, everything is luxurious.’ Then I'd go back home and I'm sharing a room with my sisters.” 

Jane embraces me immediately, as if we were family, when I arrive at Mexican ice cream parlor La Michoacana. She offers guidance on which paleta to choose, asking what flavors I like. I tell her anything with chocolate, and she suggests a Ferrero Rocher, one of her go-tos. She's spot-on — it's delicious. Her warm and inviting energy feels both familiar yet refreshing as we talk more about our shared experiences as Pasifika women, which includes sharing a room with multiple people in your family as a young adult. It’s not uncommon for many in the Polynesian community to live at home well into your 20s — even if Billboard refers to your band as "the biggest girl group of the 2010s." 

“I feel like people don't really know what Polynesian homes are like. This is the reality of how the majority of us live. I've learned to embrace it and not to be ashamed of how we as people carry ourselves and how our community helps each other,” Jane says. “We're there for each other. It's such a tight-knit community [and] we don’t let anyone fall. And if you do fall, you have so many other family members to run to.”

As she tells me this, I am immediately reminded of her 2012 X Factor audition and the shock on the judge’s faces when she tells them she lives in a four-bedroom house shared with more than 12 people. While she says some people thought of her living situation as “weird,” she praises her grandparents for building a strong foundation that keeps their family close. “My grandparents created such a safe space where it's like, ‘This is home. You don't need to go anywhere. If you need anything, we can rely on each other.’”

Jane is the eldest child of eight, born and raised in Orange County’s second largest city in a predominantly Latino neighborhood. Her family hails from the Kingdom of Tonga, a Polynesian country made up of over 100 islands in the South Pacific. She had an active childhood; her grandfather would take her to a nearby park to play tennis or basketball.  Beyond sports, Dinah was always surrounded by music, as her mom and uncle are also singers. However, she credits her grandmother as being the biggest influence in her career.

“She believed I was something before anyone believed that I could be who [I am] now,” she says before sharing stories about the endearing ways that her grandmother encouraged her to pursue singing, including praying for her every night. Those prayers were answered as Dinah became one of the first Tongan students to attend OCSA (Orange County School of the Arts), won third place with Fifth Harmony on The X Factor, and eventually, became a global superstar. 

To honor her grandmother, Dinah often pays tribute within her music. She wants to remember the journey, and the people, that got her here. “Sometimes you get lost in the noise, and the noise gets too loud,” Jane says. “Home is such a great tool for me to remember who I am. No matter where I go, no matter how loud life gets, it humbles me and resets my mindset of, ‘keep going’ or ‘this is bigger than me.’”

While she has always kept her family at the forefront of her life, Dinah found herself on a new path of self-discovery and healing during the height of the pandemic. She spent the last three years away from the spotlight, using that time to work on getting herself out of a difficult mental headspace after losing several important people in her life, including her grandfather. “When 2020 happened, [it was a] reset for me where I changed my ‘whys’ and who I do it for. It became more of, ‘I'm doing it for me,’” she says. “It's been three years since I've dropped music and I'm glad that I didn't during that time, because I was not ready. I was broken, I was running, I was shattered. I just didn't know how to feel, but I liked it. I liked that I was feeling broken, I liked that I was feeling things. Because before, being so busy in the group and then going solo, I just kept going, kept going, kept going.”

To commemorate both AAPI Heritage Month and Mental Health Awareness month, the singer shared a moving post to her seven million Instagram followers on May 4, detailing her mental health journey and the “learning and unlearning” she experienced along the way. 

“There’s this word [in Tongan] called laupisi,” Jane reflects now. “It was a word that stuck with me throughout my childhood [that meant], ‘stop being weak’. And I think hearing that so much growing up, that's when I started suppressing how I felt, because I wasn't allowed to speak on how I felt. I hope we can move away from [this] for the next generation. Stop telling them to stop being weak. Let them be vulnerable. Allow them to be vulnerable, allow them a space where they can say, ‘I'm hurting. I can't carry this weight anymore,’ or ‘I want to cry.’” 

Respect for our elders is held in such high regard for many Polynesian communities, and it’s often coupled with a reluctance to talk about mental health openly. Jane shares that growing up, “I wasn't allowed to speak on how I felt. It's in our culture, we have to respect our elders.” She explains that if someone is older than you, it’s an expectation not to “talk back.” 

According to the American Psychiatric Association, studies have shown that the AAPI community were three times less likely to seek mental health services than any other racial/ethnic group. In 2019, the U.S. Office of Minority Health reported that suicide was the leading cause of death for Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders ages 15-24. “I want to be better for the next generation and create that safe space where your feelings are very much valid,” she says. “It doesn't matter who is above you, title or age. May we all respect each other as people and have that boundary of, ‘if this is how they feel, allow them to.’”

Her path of healing eventually led her to rediscovering who she was as an artist. She excitedly shares that new music is on the way, influenced by a variety of genres. “I love reggae, I love country, I love indie music, I love classical music,” she says. “I love that during this downtime, I was able to embrace that a little bit more and not stay driven in the same direction that people above me wanted me to go.” 

After Fifth Harmony announced their indefinite hiatus in early 2018, Jane went on to release her debut solo single “Bottled Up” featuring Ty Dolla Sign and Marc E. Bassey later that year. In 2019, she dropped her debut solo EP, Dinah Jane 1, and had a few headline shows before announcing a world tour in 2020. Unfortunately, the tour was postponed due to the pandemic. As she reflects on her solo journey, she shares that there was a “struggle of direction” during this time period. “I feel like there's so much you could do with me. Executives and chairmans did not know what to do with me because there was so much you could do. And I mean that in a very humble way.” Dinah is very aware of her own potential and shares that she didn’t want to box herself in as an artist. “There were a lot of failures while trying to figure out who I was as a solo artist,” she adds. “And with those failures, I learned a lot.”

That downtime also helped merge her “double life” into one, ready to embrace her cultural identity within her own music: “It hurt me that [executives] couldn't really tap in and understand that there is a market for Polynesian people. So I feel like I've always been in this race trying to figure it out by myself as a Polynesian woman in the mainstream world.”

Now that she’s a fully-fledged solo artist, Dinah shares that the transition was intimidating after leaning on the support of her bandmates in Fifth Harmony for so long. “I was scared of just being alone. [...] Having that friendship and that sisterhood beside me the whole journey through, we were each other's [support]. Being out there alone and not having that companionship is what I missed.” 

Though the group has gone their separate ways, she says they all still keep in touch. She tells me a sweet story about how she saw a photo of Normani at the mall and immediately made a video to send to her. Camila Cabello checks up on her sporadically, and she recently reunited with Lauren Jauregui for the first time since the band’s hiatus to celebrate Jauregui’s EP release. Life gets busy when you’re a pop star, but the support between them is still there. “I miss them and I love them. I love that we're all finding ourselves and allowing that freedom for each other to just go do what we can and figure that out.”

Dinah Jane’s future looks bright as she eases back into the limelight, ready to release new music and share a more vulnerable and authentic version of herself. She also coyly shares that she’s working on starting her own record label to help create a path for the next generation of artists. With a plethora of new projects currently on her plate, I ask how she would describe this era of her life. She simply says it’s a “rebirth.”

“I'm not shying away from who I am anymore,” she says. “And I want it to be known that I'm coming out strong. This is who I am. I'm a Polynesian girl and I'm not afraid to hide it, and I'm not afraid to speak my voice, and I'm not afraid for you to hear my voice.”

[5h_lova]

Not about Dinah but related to her, literally n figuratively, but her sis Mila opened an onlyfan account. something i would not have seen coming, I DON'T EVEN KNOW how long it will be up but im intrigued

[jdanton2]

Dinah the youngest of the 5H girls is 26 years old today.