A father and his 5-year-old daughter’s viral song called “I Love My Black So Much” was so impressive, that Michelle Obama praised the musical creation on Twitter.
Just last week, the former First Lady shared a video of the proud father, Daniel Johnson, who had posted on his Instagram page of him and his daughter, Dakota, singing a powerful and sweet song they co-wrote about Black joy. “I just love this!” Obama tweeted. “Kody and Daniel are so right: We are strong. #BlackJoy.”
Johnson of Queens, New York shares with Romper how he was “humbled and honored” that Obama shared their song. And for Dakota, she was “excited as well.”
A self-described “girl dad” of two, Johnson says he has been singing with his daughters for years and tells Romper the inspiration behind “I Love My Black So Much” came straight from them. “What inspired me to write the song was just admiring my daughters’ beauty,” Johnson says.
And when he asked his older daughter Dakota what she liked about being Black, her father says she just kept telling him “I love my Black so much,” which then inspired a song to be written by the father-daughter duo.
“I love my Black so much, so much. I love my Black so much, so much. I love my Black so much, so much. I love my Black so much, so much,” Johnson and his daughter sing together as he plays the piano.
“We are strong and we are powerful. We are strong and we are powerful. We are strong and we are powerful.”
Johnson then reveals to Romper how melodies have been the two’s mutal bond since the toddler began singing her ABCs. Johnson says how his daughter struggled with speech delays throughout her toddler years and by the time Dakota was 3 or 4 years old, “her words were coming out as infant talk.” But Dakota “always could sing melodies,” Johnson tells Romper.
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“So I used that as her advantage,” he says. “Music helped her express herself to me and my wife… Melodies saved her early stages in life.”
And since those earlier days, Dakota has continued to sing with her dad. Beyond, “I Love My Black So Much,” Johnson has shared videos of him along with his daughter rehearsing songs together and performing another piece titled “My Black Is Beautiful.”
Johnson’s video has gotten over 19,000 views on his Instagram since sharing it on June 12 and over 583,000 views from Obama’s share on Twitter.