IGiggIt! is delighted to announce that Dakota Wade is our Artist of the Month for this most glorious July! Ah, life’s great isn’t it? The sun’s up, the surf’s up and there’s a beer in the cooler. Not only that, there’s new music on the scene that livens up what has – in my humble opinion – become something of a barren, tired wasteland of sameness in recent months. Enter, Dakota Wade to renew my faith in new and energetic sound….

Her song, ‘Materialistic’, has received the most iGiggIt! votes this month, SO… who is Dakota Wade and what’s she about?

Well, I’ll tell you… because I’m just that kind to you, you crazy iGiggIt kids!

Dakota is, incredibly, only sixteen years old, but her music belies that fact. Dakota has been recording her own music since she was nine years old, so she’s already a seasoned professional. In 2007, Dakota won first place in the American Idol Underground song competition with her entry entitled, ‘Mistake’.

Since then, she’s played live venues all over LA, Hollywood and California, and I would bet a limb or two that we’re going to be seeing Dakota going global before long. Her already prestigious career is spiraling ever upward with the release of her self-titled album, ‘Kota’. Dakota co-wrote three of the tracks on her album with Danielle Brisebois, who co-wrote and produced Natasha Bedingfield’s huge hit, ‘Unwritten’ as well as her new single, ‘Pocketful of Sunshine’.

The Dakota/Danielle collaborations have been produced by Wayne Wilkins who’s worked with artists such as Natasha Bedingfield, Leona Lewis, Keri Hilson, Michelle Williams and Girlicious to name but a few.

Dakota’s sound is redolent of artists of the evolved Britney Spears kind; that is, with pop at the heart of the proceedings but demonstrating a seminal growth within the genre that takes her music from the merely ‘catchy’ to the sophisticated. There’s mercifully no sign of the tendancy of some comparable artists to write lyrics that merely rhyme, regardless of whether they make sense or not.

For someone of Dakota’s age to demonstrate the level of commitment and, let’s face it, business sense, to achieve all that she has at just sixteen makes us here at iGiggit! think that she’s going to be bigger than a big thing and demand audiences – and the appropriate revenue – of the Beyonce, Rhianna, All Saints and Gwen Stefani ilk.

Not an easy feat given the wealth of artists who dither on the edges of the music business until they are just too old to dither any longer without a zimmer. Mind you, being on the rock scene with zimmer frames hasn’t stopped the Rolling Stones, but they were well established before their back’s gave out… they just ask their groupies to go on top these days. Those young enough to do so without medical support hose are just as eager to worship at the altar of rock success as they were back in the day.

However, this iGiggIt groupie does not believe Dakota will dither on the edge of anything; she is as Venus ascending and her star will burn bright for a very long time, provided she doesn’t go the way of the Winehouse and the Spears and become so famous, so rich, so fast, that she loses her way.

I doubt that she will to be honest. She has those most rare qualities in a young and talented artiste; a sensible attitude and a determination to achieve via ACTUAL effort. She’s not been mass produced or spewed out of some indeterminate cloning factory somewhere out near Area 51… the kind of organization that specializes in the production of bimbettes who have breasts larger than their IQs.

It has to be said that luck always plays a part in the fall or rise of any new artiste, but the lady in charge of luck seems to have been smiling down on Dakota, and long may she. With a talent the size of Dakota’s the only time luck has been required to play a part is in putting her in the right place at the right time. It’s done well and Dakota Wade will continue to do so. Put money on it, take it to the bank… whatever euphemism for ‘guaranteed winner’ you prefer, they will all apply to Dakota.

Take care ’til next time my children, and hey, let’s be tuneful out there!

Lynn - IGiggIt! Junkie and Audio Slave