2020 will be remembered for many things, good and bad. For 45.6 million TikTok users, 2020 will go down, amongst other things, as the year that Dixie D’Amelio launched her music career. After dropping her debut single and teaming up with a One Direction member to spread some holiday cheer, the social media sensation took the next step in her musical journey on Dec. 4. This time, Dixie teamed up with Wiz Khalifa for “One Whole Day,” a song about heartbreak…and how it might
“For one day, one day / I was really, really, really, really sad / For one day, one whole day / I missed you really, really, really, really bad,” Dixie sings on the chorus, per Genius. However, it seems she just needed 24 hours to weep before realizing she was better off. “I woke up and it was strange (I woke up and it was strange) All that I felt was relieved / No more feeling second best (No more feeling second best) / I’m cringing at those memories.”
Wiz seems to take the perspective of the boyfriend on his verse. “Late night, I stay up tryna get my money way up / Soon as I do some wrong, you approach me the day of / You tell me it’s over and you’re done and you can’t take no more / You’re walking out the door and I’m here like “What you waitin’ for?”
“It’s about changing how you talk about things,” Dixie said in a statement about the new single. “When you’re singing a sad song, it doesn’t need to be sad music.” The powerful track is about reckoning with past drama and moving forward to a brighter, more purposeful future.” She also announced that the music video would be out at 1pm EST.
“One Whole Day” comes five months after she made her professional music debut with “Be Happy.” The song – an uplifting anthem about the importance of mental health — reached racked up 3.1 million U.S. streams by the start of July, per Billboard, and No. 41 on the Billboard Emerging Artists charts. As of December 2020, the music video has over 94 million views. Dixie signed to HitCo Entertainment shortly after her debut and had blackbear and Lil Mosey jump on the “Be Happy” remix in September. In October, she teamed with Liam Payne for the holiday-themed “Naughty List.”
“I always loved singing, but I gave it up once I got to high school,” she told Billboard. “And then, once this whole TikTok thing started, I was like, ‘Why not try it again?’” Dixie connected with Grammy-nominated songwriter-producer Billy Mann, who sent over Dixie a demo of a song he co-wrote with Christian Medice, Joseph Davis Kirkland, and Samantha DeRosa. The song would go on to become “Be Happy,” and help launch Dixie’s music career.
“The combination of her vibrant, excited and engaged audience in the millions, and the song’s authentic message that’s reflective of the times, made for a really good alchemy to success,” Billy Mann, who signed on as D’Amelio’s music manager in January, told Billboard. He also pointed out that it’s not wise to discredit TikTok (a “particularly fertile place for talent”) for launching the next big music star. “Any executive who has kids and has reached this altitude in their career would be lying if they didn’t say that their kids were in many respects, their greatest A&R source.”
“I’ve been paying close attention to Dixie’s opinions because she’s more connected than I could ever be,” added Mann. “And it’s okay, because no executive is going to know better than a 19-year-old who’s living it in and out every day.”