Dorothy Miranda Clark (born 11 April 1995), known mononymously as Dodie (stylised dodie), is an English singer, songwriter, author and YouTuber.[6] Dodie began her career uploading original songs and covers to YouTube. She[lower-alpha 1] has over 210 videos, over 2 million subscribers and over 415 million views on her main channel (as of October 2022).[2] On her side channel, she has over 190 videos, over 910k subscribers and over 98 million views.[4]
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![]() dodie performing at La Madeleine in Brussels, 2018 | ||||||||||
Born | Dorothy Miranda Clark (1995-04-11) 11 April 1995 (age 27) Enfield, London, England | |||||||||
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Also known as | dodie | |||||||||
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Years active | 2011–present | |||||||||
Subscribers | 2 million (main channel) 912,000 (vlog channel)[2][3] | |||||||||
Total views | 404 million (main channel) 98 million (vlog channel) [5][3] | |||||||||
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Last updated: 6 March 2022 | ||||||||||
Dodie has released four independent EPs—Intertwined (2016), You (2017), Human (2019), and Hot Mess (2022)—the first three of which charted within the top 40 of the official UK Albums Chart.[7] Her debut studio album, Build a Problem, was released in 2021 and peaked at number 3 on the UK Albums Chart.[8]
Dodie was born Dorothy Miranda Clark[9] in Enfield, London, to Ralph Clark and Astrid Caputa.[citation needed] She is the second child of three, including older brother Iain Clark, and younger sister Heather Penelope "Hedy" Clark. Hedy has appeared in several of dodie's earlier YouTube videos, the majority of which have now been privatised. Hedy has a YouTube channel of her own.[10]
Dodie attended The Leventhorpe School.[11] After leaving school, she moved to Bath with Jamie Jo, who is also a YouTuber and a painter.[12]
Dodie's first channel was called "Dodders5", now known as the "Alice and Dodie show!", which was created on 1 August 2007 and shared with her friend Alice Webb.[13]
Dodie's main channel "doddleoddle" was created on 7 February 2011; her first video on that channel, an original song called "Rain", was uploaded on 14 April that year. In addition to her main channel, dodie has a VEVO channel, "dodieVEVO", created on 5 December 2016,[5] and a side channel, "doddlevloggle", created on 28 January 2012.[14]
On 18 November 2016, dodie self-released her first EP, Intertwined.[15] Despite its unsigned status, the EP reached number 35 on the official UK album charts during its first week of release.[16]
On 9 December 2016, she released the first video on their Vevo channel, dodieVEVO, where they have over 75 million views. She has collaborated with many other musicians, including Tessa Violet, Julia Nunes, Lauren Aquilina, Orla Gartland, Thomas Sanders, Jacob Collier, Emma Blackery, Pomplamoose and Flashback.[5] In 2018, dodie collaborated with singer Tom Walker on "Human", the lead single from her third EP, also titled Human.[17]
Dodie also co-hosted Coca-Cola's CokeTV alongside fellow YouTuber Manny Brown, where they took part in various activities.[18]
Dodie's second EP, You, was released on 11 August 2017. In its opening week of release, the EP debuted at number 6 on the official UK Albums Chart—29 places higher than the peak of Intertwined, thereby marking a new personal best for dodie.[19] It also debuted at number 55 on the US Billboard 200.[20]
In June 2017, dodie announced that she was writing a book.[21] On 2 November 2017, dodie published her autobiographical book titled Secrets for the Mad: Obsessions, Confessions and Life Lessons.
In 2018, she was featured in a collaboration with Faultline, a cover of the song "All I Do Is Dream of You" which was featured in an advertising campaign by Audi in the United Kingdom.[22][23]
On 18 September 2018, dodie announced her third EP, entitled Human, which came out on 18 January 2019, with the title track being the lead single released on 21 September. The EP rose to number 5 on the official UK Albums Chart.[24]
In 2019, she was a part of the Moominvalley soundtrack with a song titled Ready Now. Later that year she released a single called Guiltless, as well as a collaboration with Jacob Collier, with a cover of Here Comes the Sun. Following the release of her collaboration with Jacob Collier, she announced the release of a new single "Boys Like You" on 6 September. It was released on 27 September.
On 19 October 2020, dodie announced she would be releasing her first full-length studio album Build a Problem on 5 March 2021. The first single, "Cool Girl" was premiered on BBC Radio and released on multiple streaming platforms.[25] On 8 February 2021, it was announced that the album was to be delayed until 26 March 2021 due to complications from the COVID-19 pandemic and Brexit.[26] She later made an announcement on 11 March that it would be further delayed until 7 May 2021.[27] The album received positive reviews from critics upon release, and debuted at number three on the UK Albums Chart, her charting highest position to date.
On 29 July 2022, Dodie released "Got Weird", her first solo single since Build a Problem. On 2 September 2022, she released the follow-up single "Hot Mess", and announced that an EP of the same name would be released on 30 September 2022.[28]
Dodie songs cover several themes, one of the most prominent being romance. Her most popular EP is You, which heavily leans into this theme of love. She often sings about falling in love, such as in her song Would You Be So Kind, although she did state in the official YouTube video that the song no longer held the same meaning that it used to.[29] Other songs that fit into the theme of romance include Intertwined, Absolutely Smitten, You, and Boys Like You. These songs often are about people who she has fallen in love with, and sometimes the toxic parts of the relationships. An example of this would be in the song You where the lyrics state "Oh, I have a habit of searching for the damage / To share my love"[citation needed]
In many of dodie's romance songs, she explores the theme of bisexuality. An example of this in her song She, where dodie writes about the experience of being attracted to a girl rather than a boy. She explores the feelings and questions in the song whether it's wrong or not to be attracted to another female such as in the lyrics "Am I allowed to look at her like that / Could it be wrong when she's just so nice to look at?[30]
In dodie's song Rainbow, she specifically sings about the struggles that individuals who identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community face, including herself. This song specifically for dodie is her redefining her bisexuality compared to the time when she came out in 2017 with her video I'm bisexual - a coming out song. In an interview, she says "I think when I was younger I was so excited too because firstly it like it felt like a very exciting thing. I wanted to rush out and say it." In this interview, she also talks about how as she grew older she began to realize the difficulties of being bisexual, and the inner biphobia she faced which led to her writing Rainbow.[31]
In addition to themes about romance, dodie often sings about friendships, specifically about growing up with friends and losing them. Her song Sick of Losing Soulmates is specifically about this topic, as stated by dodie in her YouTube video Sick of Losing Soulmates - explanation, tutorial and karaoke! In the video, she talks about how this song is about how she is tired of losing friends, as she says "I'm done with losing my best friends like my soulmates"[32] Another song that explores the theme of friendship is Party Tattoos. Dodie writes on Genius Lyrics that as a child she often had strict regulations on what she could and could not do, so as a teenager she made friends with anyone who she connected with.[33]
Another theme that frequents dodie's songs is self-worth and mental health. Dodie openly talks about her anxiety and depression on her YouTube channel, such as in her videos depression, anxiety, depersonalization and What is derealization / depersonalization? In addition to these videos, the theme of self-worth can be found inside of her songs. In her EP Human, dodie released the song Burned Out which as the name suggests is about being burnt out. In her song Secret for the Mad, she sings about mental illness and the healing process that comes with it as it can be seen in the chorus "I've got a secret for the mad / In a little bit of time it wont hurt so bad". In dodie's first full-length album Build a Problem, she released Hate Myself, a song which as the name suggests is about her own self hate and insecurities and how they have impacted her relationships with others.[citation needed]
In May 2016, dodie came out as bisexual in a YouTube video,[34] and later, in 2017, she released a song entitled "I'm bisexual—a coming out song!".[35]
Dodie uses both she/her and they/them pronouns, according to her Twitter and Instagram accounts.[36][37]
Year | Award | Category | Nominee | Result |
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2017 | Shorty Awards | YouTube Musician | dodie | Won[38] |
Summer in the City Awards | Breakthrough Award | dodie | Won[39] | |
Song of the Year | "6/10" | Nominated | ||
Streamy Awards | Breakthrough Artist | dodie | Nominated | |
2018 | Summer in the City Awards | Book of the Year | Secrets For the Mad: Obsessions, Confessions and Life Lessons | Nominated[40] |
2019 | Independent Music Awards | Best Song - Folk/Singer-Songwriter | "If I'm Being Honest" | Nominated[41] |
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