This feature is a part of Ocean State Sessions.
After graduating from Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA, Lainey Dionne’s career was off to a fast start. “Berklee is a huge networking connection school,” Dionne admits networking is only one building block of a successful music career. “A lot of hard work meets luck because you kind of have to meet people at the right time in the right place, and everything has to line up at that time.”
After taking classes with professors who have worked closely with Mariah Carey, Radiohead, and Outkast, the luck part finally caught up with the young Smithfield, RI native. Through her Berklee connections, Lainey Dionne’s music caught the ear of Atlantic Records. “I was lucky enough to get signed down in Nashville under an artist development deal. I got to write with the writers of the Jonas Brothers, Dua Lipa, tons of amazing people.”
Writing music with other people was something Dionne had to adapt to. “I think what’s scary about writing with other people for the first time is, you don’t know…'am I good enough to even be in the room with these people?’” Aside from the music composition, Dionne also found herself having to open up about personal subjects in front of these complete strangers. “I write a lot about boyfriends, ex-boyfriends, bad love, good love.”
Along with all the doubts, Dionne grew ill while recording her first record. “I felt like if I canceled on them and they were like ‘Oh, this girl’s not really into it.’ So I really, really pushed hard and stayed in all the sessions, got all the songs done. Turns out that I had meningitis, almost died, had to fly home.” The importance of the moment was not lost on Dionne. “I did not want to lose the opportunity of being in front of these amazing people, so I really pushed through it.”
Dionne’s determination paid off greatly. “One of my songs off the album is called ‘Skin.’ It got onto 40 radio stations, it was kind of booming. Sync Agency found it and they signed me and they signed my whole catalog after hearing that song.” Sync Agency curates music for ads, brands, film, and content among other things. “(‘Skin’) got placed in Teen Mom. And after you get your first placement of your song, being on TV kind of is like a snowball effect.” Aside from Teen Mom, Lainey Dionne’s music has been placed in “Making the Cut,” the “Real Housewives” series, and various programs on TLC and Bravo.
Lainey Dionne has seen continued success as of late, racking up countless nominations at the New England Music Awards, New England Songwriting Competition, and International Songwriting Competition. Despite the success, Lainey Dionne continues to work hard to achieve new goals. “I think I keep trying to one-up myself in my career and I’m just going to keep going with it.”
