DeAndre Wright, R&B Star On The Rise

Each Wednesday, Rocks Off arbitrarily appoints one lucky local performer or group "Artist of the Week," bestowing upon them all the fame and grandeur such a lofty title implies. Know a band or artist that isn't awful? Email their particulars to sheaserrano@gmail.com.

​Sometimes when you meet someone, you can automatically tell that you're talking to a shitty person (books... covers... judging... whatever). We got the opposite feeling when we stumbled into meeting R&B star-to-be DeAndre Wright.

She was nice and humble and polite to speak with without any of those qualities undermining her confidence at all. It's a quality that extends through her music, which is mostly that poppy, poppy pop music you'd expect a thin woman with perfectly straight teeth to sing.

So we reached out to have her answer questions about jackals, Encino Man and football players. Treat a lady like a lady, we've always been taught.

Rocks Off: Tell everyone everything they need to know about you and your music in exactly six words.

DeAndre Wright: Honest, heartfelt, personal, yet relatable, Pop-R&B. Didn't think I could do it did you?

RO: The very first line of your song "Freedom Cry" is "Unleash me from these jackals." Now, what is this a metaphor for? Or, fingers crossed, were you actually once attacked by jackals and have a really awesome story to tell us right now?

DeAndre Wright, "Freedom Cry"

DW: Ha! Well, I might have to go back and clean up those lyrics now, because the phrase is "Unleash me from these shackles, let me out to be free." I'm sure a great jackal-attack story is a tad more interesting, but I was honestly going for self liberation there. I might have to consider this jackal thing now.

RO: Where exactly is Macedonia? Is it located anywhere near Estonia? That's an Encino Man reference, by the way.

DW: I love Encino Man, but from what I can remember it's near Greece and Bulgaria, nowhere near Estonia. Also, I want to say hey to Robert Bilbilov and everyone in Macedonia that is supporting me. I'm so stoked about working with RB, he's a great singer/producer and you guys should check him out.