Diamond White: An Artist and Actress Challenging What Black Representation Looks Like on Stage and on Screen
At the intersection of music and film stands Diamond White, a singer and actress maintaining both resilience and authenticity. Diamond made her performance debut touring nationally with a musical production at just eight years old. She placed fifth on The X Factor at just age thirteen. Now, the 21-year-old is independently producing her own music and scoring roles on shows like The Bold and the Beautiful. Diamond speaks to Pulse Spikes about the challenges she has encountered as an artist and her thoughts on Black representation in film and on stage.
Growing up, how did you get into the arts?
When I was a little baby, my mom had all these stories of me singing before I’d ever even said a word. And then, I went to, I think, first grade, and one of my teachers heard me singing and she came up to my mom and she said, “Your daughter can actually sing, I don’t know if you knew that.” So, my mom was like, “Oh, word!” She started putting me in local competitions in Detroit, and that’s where it all started—just me and my mom hopping from place to place and me singing Whitney Houston at five years old.
You mentioned that Whitney Houston was an inspiration to you. Who were some of your other favorite singers growing up?
Well, I was into Motown; there were a lot of Motown singers in my house. Of course, this was like Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, The Temptations, and all of those people. But getting older, my brother was really into Fantasia from American Idol, so whenever he would be in the house, that was playing a lot. As an adult, now, it’s just Frank Ocean—that is the main person!
Could you describe your experience on The X Factor?
Definitely an amazing, crazy, unexpected situation. I had a lot of fun because I was just 12 and I got to perform and sing on stage every week, which was literally the only reason why it was so incredible because I wasn’t thinking about anything but “oh I get to perform this week, oh I get to dress up!” I was very much about the glitz and glam of it back then. But for my mom in the audience, because of all the liberation and everything that was nerve-wracking about it, she was just pulling her hair out, stressed out the whole time. It was weird because in my season, there wasn’t supposed to be a wild card because Simon had said there was no wild card this year, but then they go and flip the switch and make me the wild card! It was just a bunch of ups and downs, but it was cool. Sometimes it was just “wow” behind the scenes.
Now, with music, you’ve grown into writing your own songs. Are there any specific themes you hope to address through your music, or what messages do you hope to relay to your audience?
Well, I just write from my perspective, which is “young, Black girl with mental illness and emotional instability.” That is deadass the only perspective I can write from because that is what I live and breathe every day, but I just write whatever I’m going through. Like, Tomorrow is about when I was obsessed with my ex-boyfriend, and I went, “Wait, I don’t really like you anymore.” Yeah, I write whatever I’m going through, and that’s it!
I love that, because when it comes from the heart, the music is authentic and representative of things that, likely, not only you, but all of us can relate to. What are you most excited about with the release of Tomorrow, and what inspired it?
Yes, my ex inspired it. It wasn’t just him, though—I mushed a whole bunch of exes into that situation, people that I was obsessed with for a long time and then something happened when I was like, “Wait, you’re not really that cute, you treat women like shit, and you’re not paying attention to the other person’s emotions at all, so why am I even doing this?” But I’m just excited that it’s finally out. I’ve been working on it for three to four years, and I’m an independent artist, so you have to literally shape your whole plan and release. I still don’t even know what the fuck I’m doing—I’m just swimming along, treading water. But I’m just happy it’s out and that I can continue to move forward and work on the next thing.
Have you faced any struggles as an independent artist? Has that been difficult for you in any way?
It’s hard every day! Literally yesterday, I woke up and I was like, why? I didn’t even want to wake up. I was like, I’m sending in my resignation for all of this, and I just want to move out to the middle of a forest and build a cabin and not have to worry about paying bills. But, I feel like my creativity would drag so much more if I didn’t have all the pressure to do something with it. If I could just sit with myself and say “today I’m going to write a song about a tree,” it wouldn’t matter if it’s good or not because I’d live in a cabin! That is what I see as my ideal situation, but since there is social media and all these people who are like, “Where is your shit? Where is the music,” you put it out and it’s like, is it going to do well? Being independent, there is no label pushing you, and you don’t have the millions of dollars every other artist has to shoot the video and do all that shit. It’s a struggle every day, but luckily, I have some good friends that help me and people who are down to record, and I’m constantly writing. So, if it happens, it just happens. It’s all luck when it comes to being independent, so we’re all in this shit together, to be honest! But it’s fine, I really do enjoy it. When things do go well, and people actually do like it, it means way more because I don’t have all of these other people helping me out.
Growing up, did you feel that there was enough Black representation on the screen or on the stage? Did it excite you to see a person of color with a lead role in film?
That’s a really interesting question, because growing up, I was obsessed with Tumblr. And Tumblr did not have any Black people—it was just white girls! Just white girls with cat ears, and everyone would flip out over that shit. I’d be sitting in bed, looking at these Tumblr girls and thinking, I want to look like this! But I was 14, and obviously I didn’t know that, bro, you’re cute as shit, why are you looking at these white girls on Tumblr! That came with time. But as for movies and TV shows, I still kind of have an issue with where things are now because say there is a show or movie that’s being casted and they want a Black girl. They hire a mixed girl! They say, “This is Black, she has curly hair and darker skin, so they’ll completely eat this up,” but no! I get it, we love Zendaya, we love all of these light-skinned Black women, and it’s a step in the right direction, but I want to see some of me, you know. Not even myself, just darker tones. They’re just so specific and selective, it irks me to death. Hopefully, we’ll get there. I just saw, I don’t know if it was real or not, that the main girl in Henry Danger got cast as some Marvel superhero. She has a darker skin tone and has curly, coarse hair. I was like, you go! Because I want my kids to be like, wow, look at the screen! It’s not just white bitches. That’s what I would love.
As a woman of color yourself, what do you perceive your role as an actress to be? How do you hope to serve as a role model for other young women of color entering the film industry?
Honestly, I don’t really see myself acting that much. I know I’ve done a lot of acting, but it’s never been my first love. I still enjoy getting to do it because I do get to be that dark-skinned girl. But I feel like my role is honestly just to be myself. When I cut my hair, my mom made a whole deal out of it. She was like, “What are you going to do for acting?” I was like… if they don’t like it, then they just don’t hire me! Because it’s not that they hired me before, so what’s going to change? So then I cut my hair and I got The Bold and the Beautiful, and I was like, yes! Because I love seeing Black women in general, but I also love seeing the weird ones. I think I’m pretty weird, and I wanted to express how I felt about myself. Before, when I was younger, it was all about long hair—I was still being influenced by these Tumblr girls. The long, straight hair, the long eyelashes… but then I cut my hair, and I was like, oh, this is me. I just want to see people of color represented authentically. I think that Euphoria did a good job of that with their whole cast; they did a great job showing that you can still express yourself and live in that world. It’s interesting to watch. I want to be the one who’s dark-skinned and not being told she’s pretty for a Black girl, or all these different things. That’s what I want.
I love that you take it into your own hands—it’s not about what people think the ideal Black girl should look like, but about what you feel looks good on you. On that, is there a favorite role you have that you’ve played or voiced on television?
My favorite is one that I can’t even talk about, so I’m not going to talk about it. But it’s so important for the culture, and I can’t wait until it’s released. I’m so excited. But I did guest star on Fresh off the Boat, and I was this bartender who was into the main girl on the show. We were flirting, and I was like, this is great! At the time my hair was blue, and I loved it. I want to do more roles like that. It was great being able to do that on a show like Fresh off the Boat, because that’s ABC and people are very like, “What’s going on over there?” It was nice. I’m glad that they hired me to play that role.
What advice would you share with young girls who are attempting to make their way through either the film or the music industry?
Honestly, it’s literally just to have the toughest skin possible. You are going to get a lot of no’s, because everyone does—not just women of color, but women in general in this business. It’s shady, it’s icky, it’s weird. But find your people, keep good energy around you, and don’t have a jealous bone in your body because you’re not going to get a lot of the roles that you think you’re perfect for. Then you’re going to get that one role or one thing, and you’re going to think, oh, this was what was so worth it. So, just keep going because you’re going to get shut down so many times. Bounce all the bullets off you, and proceed, proceed, just proceed. Proceed with the magic and beautifulness that is you. Because it does take you somewhere, it really does.
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