LOS ANGELES – Music has always been an emotional balm for Dawn Richard. Early in her career, she faced life’s adversities by dancing on stage and escaping into the grandeur of spectacle.

Now, the former Danity Kane member chooses to lean into calm, forcing herself to rest in the moments between pain and freedom. Richard’s latest album, “Quiet in a World Full of Noise,” is his moment of vulnerability, showcasing his journey to stay true to his truth, take time for himself, and find hope at the end of the tunnel.

“I promised myself that if I made this (album) with Spencer (Zahn), in the end there would be hope. And every musical journey I’ve been on, my music had this hope at the end,” Richard said.

Richard made headlines in September after she filed a complaint against Sean “Diddy” Combs, her former boss and colleague, alleging that he manipulated and assaulted her. In the lawsuit filed September 10, Richard is suing for unspecified damages as well as millions of dollars in income that she says she was denied. Combs’ representatives accused Richard of “attempting to rewrite history.”

Combs was charged with sex trafficking and has been held in a federal prison in Brooklyn since his arrest on September 16.

Richard does not directly address his lawsuit or his time with Combs during an interview to discuss his new album. She says her new music – melancholic and poetic – was inspired by the loss of a family member and the stress of having parents in and out of the hospital.

“There was a lot going on for me that added to the reality that if I don’t start speaking out, I’m not going to be in the right place,” she said. “And that’s something that I think for me, music has always been a therapy that has saved me.”

She says she’s been holding her own since the beginning of her career, both as a member of Combs’ “Making the Band 3” band, Danity Kane, and as a solo artist.

“As a black woman, I had my story in there and I talked a lot about what that was like,” Richard says. There were times when she felt more like a product than a human being. She says her album “Goldenheart” was a metaphor for her struggles in the industry.

“(It) was about a warrior who felt like David and Goliath, this person who has this little rock who is trying to fight these huge dragons,” she said. “And that was literally the story and the message that ran through most of my projects.”

Today, Richard wants others in the music industry to follow her on this new path of freedom, a path where she controls and creates music as a tool for healing and expression.

“I want people to feel like they can speak their truth and do it in whatever way they see fit. I want this change,” she said. “And I hope that every woman, queer person, whoever they are, feels safe enough to have that comfort to say, ‘I can talk about this.’ I have this calm in me to talk about it.

Released earlier this month, ‘Quiet in a World Full of Noise’ is Richard’s second album with Zahn, multi-instrumentalist. The musical duo, who met in 2018 through indie pop musician Kimbra, previously worked on 2022’s “Pigments.”

“We give each other the space to truly be ourselves,” Zahn said. “It’s a space that is perhaps more difficult to access if you make music that is more commercial. None of us ever thought about that, for better or worse.

Richard appreciated that Zahn didn’t judge his lyrics as they constructed songs: “On the contrary, he said, ‘Woo, OK, let me play.’ Let me build around that. And that’s what you hope for.

She sees “Quiet in a World Full of Noise” as a metamorphosis, a chance to reveal some of her most intimate moments in the hope that listeners can find solace and reassurance.

“I love the person I have become. I love the musical person I have become. And this project is a testament to what that journey has been and what I feel,” she said. “It’s an honest process about me as a person, less about the things I’ve done and what I’m doing, but about who I am as a person and who I aspire to be.”

___

The Associated Press generally does not name people who say they were sexually abused unless they come forward publicly, as Richard did.