Djanaba: 'It's Very Important To F*ck With Your Own Sh*t'

Djanaba is not the type to mince her words. “Bitch, did I stutter?” she demands on the third track of her debut album, over a pulsing, high-octane beat.

And the answer is obvious. “Stop looking at her, look at me,” she continues, and it is easy to imagine her punctuating the words with a slick, assertive hair-flip.

The Bundjalung pop songwriter, DJ, and vocalist detonated the scene with Did I Stutter? in 2025.

The album is seared through with an infectious energy, boasting the kind of music that can inflame a tequila-wet dance floor. I mean, it’s impossible not to sing along to – or shake rump to – a line like, “Big titties in the city. Round real, real pretty,” which she delivers with rhinestoned humour and flair.

Now - fresh from having wrapped a national tour run with Laneway Festival – she expands on the album with the project Did We Stutter?, which sees her re-envision a handful of the debut’s original tracks through collaboration with other artists, such as Māori/Samoan force Jamaica Moana and Australian/Mauritian R&B artist Anieszka, amongst others. 

In life, Djanaba seems to easily mirror her music’s overt confidence. Over a Zoom call, she flashes her tooth gems and laughs easily, but is still considered in her responses.

“The chance to collaborate with so many other people was something I was really keen to do,” she says. “I really wanted an opportunity to create with a bunch of new people, and I feel so grateful that there were so many people who wanted to be involved.

“We really just wanted people to put their own spin on it and let it be their own experience. That was the main goal – we wanted it to be everyone’s own creative journey.”

This mentality seems to be reflected in the way that the involved artists sing her praises – she was clearly an easy person to work with.

Jamaica Moana says, “Shout out to Djanaba who had so much patience for me and waited for me to hand in my verse months late after my annual Aotearoa hiatus. Safe to say we ate that!”

“It was the mood first, the production, the elusiveness of the lyrics, the way the melodies sat,” echoes Anieszka. “I just followed that feeling when I wrote my verse and it flowed. Such a cool song to be a part of!”

Djanaba admits that it was “a little bit scary at first” to involve other artists in music that she is incredibly proud of.

“That element of fear is natural,” she explains. “But at the same time, I feel like everybody that’s been part of the project, their values align with my values, my values align with their values. So I was just so willing to give them creative control, in a way that was positive for everybody involved.”

After all, as she knows, everybody creates at their own pace, in their own way. “Songwriting is so different for everybody. There’s no wrong or right way to write a song. I do think that’s really interesting, watching that unfold.”

Collaboration occurred “mostly” online. “We’re all based all over. I think after COVID everyone started to embrace that medium,” she explains. She also believes that working over the web, rather than in-person in a studio everyday, allowed the other artists to explore exactly how they felt.

“It can allow them to be vulnerable on their own and then share what they’ve created when they’re ready. It gives them more space. I don’t want to be hovering over them!”

She did not want to impart too much of her own personal relationship to the experiences that inspired the songs – she wanted to facilitate total creative and emotional freedom.

“Their experience mattered more than anything else. For me, I didn’t want to take away from whatever they were going to create. It wasn’t really about how I viewed the experience, it was about what they were going to create.”

Working together, in a society that doesn’t necessarily prioritise the value of connection, appears to be the thesis statement of Did We Stutter?

Modern Western society is incredibly hyper-individualistic – especially within the music industry, which breeds a rabid every-man-for-himself mentality. That is why a project that is defined by collaboration is so significant.

“It’s actually a great reflection of how I’m feeling right now in my personal life,” she explains. “In a capitalist society, we’re kind of forced to do things in a way that’s singular. And it’s never about the community.” 

Being an Indigenous woman growing up in community instilled these values within her. “If you don’t have your community, you don’t have anything. So it’s like going back to remind myself of the importance of that.

“I feel like I’m really revisiting that in every kind of way in my own life.”

Did We Stutter? proudly displays Djanaba’s signature confidence, with its slapping beats, with its fiery lyrics. 

It is not a persona that she has to put on. “I’m not going to lie to you, that is 100% me,” she admits, laughingly raucously. “I actually think I am the most incredible person in the world. I feel like it’s very important to fuck with your own shit. It’s so important to rep yourself.”

The confidence has always been there, but it has evolved over the years. “I have gone to therapy and have developed myself emotionally, so I’m confident in a different way, I guess,” she muses.

“But when I was younger I was confident just because I thought I was amazing. It wasn’t actually based on evidence or fact,” she giggles, shaking her head at Young Djanaba. “I’ve always been confident, but now as an adult, the confidence is valid.”

But, she specifies, “I’m also not an arsehole!” An important distinction.

Did We Stutter? arrives today, April 10th, via etcetc music. The next day, April 11th, Djanaba will be performing at Ability Fest, the sixth edition of Australia's first inclusive and accessible music festival, at The Timber Yard in Melbourne/Naarm.

“I really love performing. I love singing, I love everything about it,” she gushes. But she has to be conservative with her energy during shows. “It’s a lot. It’s such a high-energy environment. I’ll get really overstimulated or I’ll get really tired really quickly.”

The buildup to an album release can often be a nerve-wracking one for artists. Albums require blood, sweat, and tears – and these projects that require so much heart and labour can be ravaged and critiqued by audiences all over the world.

But Djanaba is cool-headed. “I’m not nervous about how it’s going to be received, I’m more so just nervous because it’s hard being an independent artist,” she says.

“I think it’s a really cool project, and I’m really excited about it, and I’m so appreciative of literally every single person that was involved with it.

“There’s a level of nerves, naturally but, releasing music… I don’t do it for a response. I do it for me. As long as I know that it’s good, that’s all that matters.”

Djanaba’s Did We Stutter? is out now.

This piece of content has been assisted by the Australian Government through Music Australia and Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body