Dom B | photo by Wave Lane | @shotbywave
Dom. B goes through the (e)motions on her new EP While It Lasted
Maybe your first introduction to New Jersey’s Dom .B was when she released her debut single “I Know.” Maybe it was when you saw her perform at venues like Voltage Lounge, Underground Arts, or Green Soul. Maybe it was when you heard dropped her debut project the Definition EP. Perhaps this article might be the first time you heard of the name Dom .B.
Either way, the common denominator ends with listeners falling in love with her voice. The beautiful melodies from the New Jersey singer have attracted the ears of many: local acts such as Joie Kathos, Noel Scales, and more to reach out to work with Dom .B. Over the past couple of years, the tri-state area has watched Dom B grow as a music artist with the release of a couple singles and her second EP While It Lasted.
My first introduction to Dom .B was after watching her Let Me Know Unplugged performance produced by Kam DeLa on YouTube two years ago. That video made me reach out to her and ask if she would perform at an open mic that I host called The Juice Jam. That same year, the two of them collaborated on other singles such as “About Me” and “How Does It Feel.” Looking back, I guess these were appetizers for what the two Garden State artists were cooking up, which turned out to be the While It Lasted EP, which dropped in the beginning of this month on April 9th.
It makes sense for the two of them to come together to work. Dom .B has shown herself to be a talented singer / songwriter, and with production credits coming from local acts like Ivy Sole and Franky Hill, Kam Dela has proven to be one of the upcoming go-to producers in New Jersey. With the assistance of Kam Dela’s production (along with Kenif Muse as the engineer), Dom .B finds herself reminiscing of her time in a toxic situation due to being distracted by the idea of love throughout the While It Lasted EP.
The project starts off with the song “If I Show You,” featuring Kam DeLa, where Dom .B is transparent about her insecurities. Lines like “And when you say I’m beautiful, I laugh cause I’m still insecure / and I can’t say I love you, because it hurts,” show how her history with love makes her skeptical about opening up to someone even if they seem legit. The next track, “About Me,” is a nice bop where Dom .B yearns to be the center of attention, even in the toxic situation she finds herself. We then come to “Wanna See,” where it slows down and listeners get an understanding of why this unhealthy relationship began. Dom .B ask her lover to take off their mask so she can see the real them. When that happened, Dom was willing to still give love to the scars from their past, leading to “Wanna See Interlude.” Listeners can hear the regrets of seeing the potential in someone you’re infatuated with and not reality they present.
The interlude then transitions to my favorite track on the project, “F.A.B.” Lines like “Making him the only one when I ain’t the only one,” display the aftermath feeling of liking a person so much that you ignore the flaws and hope that time changes them only to be disappointed in the route you chose. Things start to change on the next songs, however: with “How Does It Feel?” and “Ruins,” Dom .B seems to have sobered up after being drunk off love and lust. The EP ends with “Dark & Stormy” featuring KM where he plays the role of Dom .B’s old flame, and two go back and forth trading perspectives of their relationship.
On the All of the Above podcast, Dom .B once said that it’s hard to express herself without music, explaining how the best way to get things off her chest is through writing. The While It Lasted EP is a perfect example of her creative emotional outlet. Like many artists before her, she can vent how she feels about a certain situation on paper, then on a track so that those feelings are no longer cooped up and taking space in her head. That, plus having a enchanting voice, is why people have been drawn into Dom .B — whatever their first encounter with her might have been — and hopefully the While It Lasted EP keeps that allure strong.