Davianah Advocates Female Militancy With ‘Do What I Want To’: Watch

Dancehall-reggae firebrand Davianah had tongues wagging earlier this week when she blasted a 60-second clip from her new video which showed her disheveled and resolute  —  lip bloodied from a beating and her face sporting purplish-black bruises — while pointing a gun at a male aggressor.

“The concept of the song is female liberation !” an ebullient Davianah told DancehallMag.

“The concept of the video is to keep the awareness of violence against women alive. Violence is never the answer, however, the great Malcolm X once said : ‘I don’t call it violence if it is in self defense, I call it intelligence”. And I subscribe to this notion,” Davianah, who is the rebellious daughter of reggae legend Tony Rebel, said.

Martin Luther King is the perfect hero who preached non-violence and love, and Malcolm X the perfect villain who served as his violent counterpart, preaching hate and militancy’. The US rights activist was violently assassinated on 21, February 1965, but some of his ideas stay relevant even today, after 55 years. At a time when local headlines too often scream narratives about women dying at the hands of jealous male lovers or opportunistic predators, these words of Malcolm deserve a second reading.

“To paraphrase Malcolm X, the government is responsible for the violence, as long as they don’t stop it. And if we have to get violent to protect ourselves, then it’s the government that should be charged with the crime”. Women have to start defending themselves and stop being victims, “I don’t advocate violence; but if a man steps on my toes, I’ll step on his”, ah so it go bredda,” she said unapologetically.

The video was directed and edited by Davianah herself and shot by Don McGregor of Banks Films. The song was produced by Johnny Wonder. The video will be released at 11:45 p.m on April 23rd.

“Johnny Wonder and I have a lot more projects coming. Shoutout to mi parri dem that assisted me by playing a part in the video. Big up and much love to the whole Seaview Gardens,” she said.

Davianah debuted at Reggae Sumfest 2011 during Tony Rebel’s set, doing a cover of Estelle’s ‘Come Over’ that elicited a huge response from the crowd. She performed on Reggae Sumfest 2017 and ‘Reggae on the Hill’ in Barbados, and she wowed fans during a controversial Rebel Salute set in 2019 that set tongues wagging because of her bold fashion choices.

Since her 2011 debut, the 25-year-old has been making steady progress on the music scene, Davianah has become known for her melodic attractive reggae freestyles and also controversial hard-hitting hardcore freestyles that have won her numerous fans through social media.