Video premiere: Rising multilingual star Darja debuts 'Rise Up'

Darja is a New York-based singer-songwriter hailing from Riga, Latvia. She was raised in Germany and the UK, has lived in five different countries and speaks four languages, and has subsequently used her multicultural background to inform her impact on the international music scene.

Splitting time between her education and her music career, she appeared on a variety of TV music competitions, including Germany’s Popstars and ITV’s Pop Idol. During this time, she also began pursuing her solo career, which shows off her multidimensional approach to music.

Yahoo Music is pleased to debut her video for the single “Rise Up” for fans to get a taste of her sound.

“This song was inspired by my entire life’s journey up to date,” she explains. “I have always been a foreigner everywhere I lived, so I always felt a bit like an outsider trying to fit in. Today I feel like a citizen of the world. I identify with every race and every social class, because I have seen it all.”

As for the video, “I wanted this video to represent the ascent from darkness to the light place of strength. Together with Gaudens Zulu we came up with the concept of being woken up by the snake when lying on the floor as a symbol that it’s time to shed the old skin and leave the past behind,” she notes. “The snake is acting almost as a savior and reminder to wake up, and realize your own strength. With the beach scene we wanted to continue to show the transition from dark to light, which ultimately leads to the fierce dance scene to represent newfound confidence and power — a group of unstoppable warriors moving as one.”

If you’d like to keep up with Darja’s schedule, check here.