This past Friday, New Haven’s very own solo powerhouse artist Dakotaxela released two electric singles: “Everyone’s Waiting” and “True Colors.” These numbers not only highlight artistic nuance through musicality, but also incredible depth in lyricism and intent.

His music hits hard not only in your speakers but also in your head as you hear Dakotaxela reflect on the world around him.

Dakotaxela, who more casually goes by Alex and is a University of New Haven student, took the opportunity to speak deeper on the process of the creation of his latest releases.

The process of writing the first single, “Everyone’s Waiting,” started last June. The song was the first time that Dakotaxela used a live instrument, as he played the guitar for this track.

The verse, “my self awareness is my clout,” in Dakotaxela’s first single reflects on the power that he holds in self-awareness of his neurological disorder and how that awareness reflects on his intellect in the eyes of those around him. This is incredibly powerful as Dakotaxela said “it’s a very loaded sentence” towards how he looks at humanity. Here, he reflects on society in a production that he described as “an amalgamation of everything that’s going on in the world put into one song.”

Dakotaxela highlighted the ways in which he likes to reflect on broad concepts and personal experiences combined.

“True Colors” is about finding out who will be around to support you versus who is not true to you. The single pulls from negative experiences where people let you down with a lack of support.

Dakotaxela writes, records and produces entirely independently, right out of a university residential room.

Dakotaxela reflected on his production style and discussed how stylistic choices are constantly shifting and evolving so much so that nothing is ever the same anymore. With his newly released songs, Dakotaxela explained how he wanted his music to mirror an “atmospheric” theme.

Further discussing his style, Dakotaxela said “I remember one person said to me that my music is a ‘genre-defying enigma in the best way possible.’”

“Everyone’s Waiting” has an incredible story and tempo build and the passion behind the singer’s voice shines through unwaveringly. The vocal and instrumental reverb adds incredible layers to the audio here.

“True Colors” is definitely a song that holds a darker hue to its sounds. This song feels like staring into a holographic hypnotic spiral and you absolutely will have it playing on a loop after your first listen.

Around the halfway point of the song, there’s this incredible volume juxtaposition, where Dakotaxela goes from a rapid whisper to a sudden eruptive and earth-shattering metal scream. It’s wicked, to say the least.

Dakotaxela is an artist that really lets you inside his head, and normalizes the human experience incredibly artistically.

His thoughts truly do manifest into his music. His goal of wanting “people to see things from a different point of view,” is absolutely achieved ten times over.

There’s this incredible nuance that weaves its way through the music Dakotaxela produces. Even this early on in their career, it is clear his name will make itself much bigger before any of us know it.

“If I get fifteen minutes [on stage] I am going to make those fifteen minutes count. You are going to remember me,” Dakotaxela said. “Just put me on a stage once and I will show you that I am a driving force in this industry.”

Nothing is more powerful than an artist who is able to recognize the raw talent that they possess and to have found their artistic calling so early in life.

Dakotaxela’s passion radiates through everything he does, along with how he speaks so intently about the content he creates. His artistry is ahead of its time in the music scene, and he is a force to be reckoned with.