She first came to prominence in the US as a member of Danity Kane, a girl group manufactured to Sean Combs’s specifications on the MTV series Making the Band. The path from TV talent show pop star to edgy leftfield auteur is largely untrodden – or at least it was until Richard started gamely tramping down it. ‘Nothing can stop me,” sings Dawn Richard on the title track of New Breed, “I do what I wanna.” Of course, pop stars are always saying things like that, but Richard is more headstrong and unique than most.
