"Well, shit, this is who I am" with Donna Missal
Donna Missal is an artist who lights up the room the moment she enters. With her goosebump-inducing vocal range, powerful energy, and hypnotic stage presence, she knows how to make the packed dance floor fall silent with awe then belt out the lyrics to her pop-rock anthems. After her recent stop in Seattle with Joywave and Sir Sly, I talked to her about her name, history, and, most importantly, touring with her little brother. She was every bit as endearing and spellbinding as her social media presence insinuates.
The first thing I noticed about Donna Missal was the sheer impact she had on the people around her.
It was a Friday night and I was standing on the second story of The Neptune Theater in Seattle, where Donna had just performed an opening set that made the sold-out audience go wild. I dashed upstairs after her show, hoping to catch an up-close-and-personal glimpse of her, but apparently, I wasn’t the only person with that idea.
People filled the cozy second story of the theater and fanned out around a figure in the center of the room. I stood on my tiptoes.
Standing in the center of the room, looking adorable in low-cut Doc Martens, dark jeans and a white tank top, was Donna Missal. Her energy was magnetic, illustrious - the whole room felt like it was shining from the inside out, glowing simply because she was in it.
I made my way towards her to say hi and introduce myself. I tapped her shoulder when she had a break between greeting fans, and held my hand out to shake hers. “Hey! I’m Amelia - oh!”
I was caught off guard when she smiled at me wrapped me in a hug that was unexpected, and unexpectedly caring. She took the time to hug every single person who came to greet her. She posed for as many photos as they wanted, and spoke with everyone in the same way you’d catch up with an old friend.
After she hugged me (and made my night #fangirl), I asked if she would be interested in doing an interview for The Spectrum Apparel. She agreed, and asked if I could wait until she finished greeting her fans. I took my seat in the wings and watched. Honestly, watching the loving way she interacted with the crowd told me as much about her as the ensuing interview did.
She adopted no sense of inflated grandeur and bravado. She was the opposite. Even though Donna has toured with artists as big as Macklemore, King Princess, and Bishop Briggs, and her top-streamed songs have millions of listens, she treated everyone as if they’d come and watched her perform at a house show in her family’s basement.
Donna Missal at her Seattle show. Photo by Sophia Barkalakis on Facebook.
It was impactful to watch Donna Missal interact with different queer identifying fans. Person after person teared up at the opportunity to meet her, each sharing with Donna what an important role model she was to them. Donna Missal has always been an outspoken voice and champion of the LGBTQ community. In an Instagram post in September, she officially shared with her followers that she identifies as Bisexual. Many of her fans embraced her as a queer icon before she debuted herself as one. In the sea of people ebb and flowing around her, I overheard snippets of conversations: a proud mom of a transgender daughter telling Donna how much her public support to the trans community means to her, a young queer couple telling her how much they both loved her music, etc. etc.
By the time she finally worked her way through the crowd of eager fans, she turned to me. I was more than a little bit nervous. Although her warm and welcoming energy immediately made me feel comfortable in her presence, watching her sign autographs on people’s records, shirts, and even someone’s pants reminded me that she was a celebrity. I smiled nervously as she came over, my heart thumping loudly in my head over the booming background noise of Sir Sly’s performance downstairs. Awkwardly fumbling with my mic, I looked up at her and said “alright, Donna Missal, let’s do this interview - wait, that’s how you pronounce it, right?”
Of course I was going to start this interview off wrong by mispronouncing her last name.
I stumbled, nervously trying to remember to speak. “Your… uh… your last name. How I pronounced it. That’s how you do it, right? Missal like missile?”She looked at me for one more moment before bursting out into a laugh that was as musical as her singing voice and as warm as her personality.
“OH! Yes. Missal like missile. You literally did it right.”
Immediately, I felt more comfortable, and joined her in her laughter. She sat beside me on the cramped bench - and proceeded to earn the title of Most Fun Interviewee I’ve Ever Talked To.
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I went back to her name, after the fear that I’d mispronounced it.
“I get asked a lot if Donna Missal is my real name,” she told me, settling into the cozy space above the Neptune. Sir Sly made the walls of the music hall shake from the floor below. I smiled at her. “Is it?”
She laughed, once again, and responded with “It sure is! You think I chose that? You think that I’m some eight-year-old kid who’s like, ‘yeah, call me Donna?’ Probably not.” We both laughed.
“But,” she continued, “I’ve come to appreciate that it’s a little different than most of my generation.”
Donna Missal showing off her impressive vocal range with a live performance of Keep Lying.
I asked her if she ever would consider choosing a stage name, to which she responded that yes, she already had considered it, but decided not to.
“I feel like when I was deciding whether or not I wanted a stage name, I wanted to dissociate myself a little from my brand, because that concept really scared me, you know, turning myself into a brand. But I think I just came to really appreciate the idea that you can turn your ideas and beliefs and the things that motivate you and empower you and interest you into your message! And that’s all a part of being an artist… so I was kind of like, well, shit, this is who I am! I might as well put my true face forward and use my real name as an artist.”
We talked about the bands Donna was in before she started producing as a solo artist.
“Oh my God, I was in so many bands,” she quipped, laughing. “I was never consulted about what our band name was - like it was always some situation where it would be like, the drummer insisting that we were called whatever-whatever and it would always be SO bad. Like, I think my first band was called One Flew Over, based on One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.”
I laughed. “Who thought of that?” I asked, to which she responded,
“I dunno, girl. Obviously, someone who wasn’t keyed in to how important it is that a band name rolls off the tongue… You know, I was in so many bands that I think I was just ready to go by Donna Missal when the time came to go solo.”
We talked about her prior stops in Seattle, her tours with everyone from Macklemore to King Princess, which naturally led to the question of who was her favorite person to tour with. She paused for a beat, looking up at the intricate paintings on the ceiling, before breaking out into a sly smile.
Donna Missal and her little brother. Photo courtesy of the artist’s twitter