Exploring the ideas and motivations behind the musical collective ‘Dwizzle D.’ 

One of the last shows of DePaul Theatre School’s “Messfest,” a student-driven comedy festival, was the musical collective “Dwizzle D.” I had never seen so many people in one room at the Annoyance Theater like that before — and with that much energy. It was nearly 1 a.m., yet the crowd was nowhere near tired. Fans boasted passion and energy, lurching forward onto the stage to sing and celebrate with the performers themselves. In between songs, the performers gave presents — beauty products, Plan B and more — to an evidently adoring crowd.  

It felt like I took the most miraculous drug. I was awash in a sea of swaying bodies and the sound of deep bass and energetically syncopated rhythms. The crowd’s dancing arms and smiling faces were scattered between bursts of vibrant, frenetic light.

The performers on stage moved as silhouettes in front of a screen displaying intense projections of mutilated color and image. Everyone moved and sang together. A single sentence at the back of the room lit up a scene I could only describe as human harmony. It read, “We are all Dwizzle D.”  

Ledger against different projections during the show. Photos by Meredith Bach.

Intoxicating, illuminating, and incredibly impressive, I wondered how Dwizzle D had curated the environment inside that theater. What had they done right to get to this point? What kind of behind-the-scenes work could produce such an effect?  

I sat down with four of the members of the Dwizzle D project: Director Dwight Bellisimo, performers Averie Ledger and Chava Novogrodsky–Godt, and producer Jacob Meyerson. As we spoke in the DePaul projection studio, they shed light on their passions and visions behind the project. By the end of the hour, I learned of the genesis of Dwizzle D and all the trust and teamwork that lay years behind it.  

Music for the Immoral 

Before it was alive on a stage with frenzies of light and color, the project had stemmed from a much darker, quieter place. The subtlety of this truth skips around in the shocking and raunchy lyrics of Dwizzle D’s songs, which explore vivid sexual tales or scandalous drug use. Other tracks, like “This Pussy Has a Gun” utilize astonishing language to satirize current politics, whereas “Unhinged” lists all the erratic and uninhibited ways we can use the internet.  

In every case, Bellisimo said the comedic style of songwriting was a way to cope with several heavy or traumatizing events in his life.  

“It’s always been me sort of reckoning with the dissonances of my life in terms of my relationship with my own gay identity, my relationship with the Catholic church and also my relationship with the various drug addicts in my life as well,” he said. “Laughing it off is really the only way I could process.”  

Through the songwriting, the abrasiveness of his concerns started to soften, turning rather serious affairs into more manageable feats. When Bellisimo began writing songs with collective member Averie Ledger, the comedic songwriting approach only expanded itself further. The two began commenting on everything that stirred them, from mental illness to pop culture.  

“I’m really interested in combining these really intense lyrics, themes, motifs and energy with lightheartedness and fun,” said Bellisimo.  

In doing so, they not only lifted a weight off themselves, but they eased a moral pressure they felt had been placed on young adults in an increasingly tense world. Bellisimo sourced social media as a keystone of this tension, explaining how an excess of deeply emotional or influential content online can constantly overwhelm our senses and feelings — confusing how we should react and feel all the time.  

“We’re all living in this world where you’re supposed to make all these value judgments and feel some sort of empathy towards everything,” he said. “Dwizzle D is just a reflection on more of the moral-less — the zero morality — we kind of have in this society.”  

As a result, Dwizzle D’s lyrics don’t necessarily fall under that pressure. Instead, their songs are intentionally charged with a jarring shock factor and openly remark on societally questionable topics like substance use and promiscuity. The main character in the collective, “Dwizzle D,” represents a persona unrestrained by moral filters or expectations. He serves as an alter ego of Bellisimo, who performs as this character in the shows.  

“A lot of the motifs we play with in Dwizzle D are these possessing voices that come through your head,” said Bellisimo. “[Dwizzle D] slips into a lot of these different internalized narratives that he is both creating in his own head the whole time.”  

The collective suggested that when fans sing along with Dwizzle D, they are given the opportunity to express thoughts they may fear to say or feelings they secretly share. One of the reasons there is so much liberation in the crowds of Dwizzle D is because the music itself chips away at a burden we carry to be so virtuous and abiding all the time. 

“It’s by freaks, for freaks,” said Ledger. “Everyone in that audience is just as crazy as we are up on stage, and that’s really fun.” 

 A start, a spark, then a standstill   

The beginnings of the collective can be traced back to 2020, when Bellisimo met current member Chava Novogrodsky–Godt in a “Comedy during Covid-Times” class at DePaul. After solely collaborating on assignments for school, the two’s creative electricity brought the bond outside of the classroom.

“There was something about working with Dwight that brought out this creative side in both of us that we were only tapping into when we were together … so it felt really good,” said Novogrodsky–Godt. “It was like we got to be the craziest, most absurd versions of ourselves in saying whatever we wanted. It’s like a sense of freedom that I hadn’t felt in any other process.” 

Together, they began producing comedic songs, visual skits and music videos. Things started to pick up when member Averie Ledger transferred to DePaul in 2022. Having gone to high school together, Ledger and Bellisimo had already written films, plays and songs together during their high school days. With such a well-functioning group, they began to really get to work on the Dwizzle D project.  

That’s when they started collaborating with Jacob Meyerson, a producer and recording productions student from the Theatre School. Under Dwight’s creative direction, the group fused salient songwriting skills and Jacob’s experienced producing abilities to turn the Dwizzle D project into a musical powerhouse.  

“We were less interested in going back mixing and publishing than just satisfying this insatiable need to create,” said Ledger.  

Every time they hung out, they made a song. Ledger recalls building an idea, bringing the demo to Meyerson, and having a returned final product in under two hours. It was like clockwork. 

“We’ve never spent two days on one song. All of our songs are in one night,” said Bellisimo. 

Nevertheless, there was still a darkness in the collective at the time. In our conversation, the group distinguished those early 2022 sessions with a different kind of energy. During that part of the process, Dwizzle D had mostly been motivated to say the most shocking or disquieting things on the track. A lot of their work was compelled by cynicism, and they worried if their content had begun to push boundaries too far. Bellisimo questioned if anything he was doing was even relevant.  

“I think it was going in a really dark direction,” said Ledger.  

They weren’t sure what to do. Did people even care? Who were they writing the songs for? Dwizzle D had slowed to a standstill. 

The paradigm shift   

Then, the summer came. The air grew thick and hot, and the group found themselves back on the West Coast. They were preparing for a show in the nearby beach town of Bolinas in a venue they called the “Barn Rave.” 

Bellisimo was with a friend of his who had just gotten out of rehab. He was at her house, rehearsing for the show, when she overdosed overnight. Bellisimo and his other friend had found her in the morning, just three days before the show.  

“I was like, I don’t know if I should perform. This was a moment where I was really feeling uncomfortable with a lot of the darkness in Dwizzle D,” Bellisimo said. “I was like, ‘Okay, this feels really demonic in some ways. This feels not how it was originally intended.’”  

However, the show went on. The performance felt good in a way, like a moment of collective grieving among all of those who had lost their beloved friend. But her passing fundamentally shifted things for Bellisimo and the project.  

“It was a very emotional performance. We had no projections. It was just me,” he said. “It was the first big Dwizzle D show, but also the first big turning point for Dwizzle moving into a new, a new era of self love.”  

When the collective reunited that fall, something different, lighter, and more passionate presided over their music. “Dwizzle D,” the character who had once come from a self-deprecating, irrational place, had evolved into a figure of acceptance and care. The project changed gears, no longer making music that was tailored to the inner snarl of Dwizzle D and his dissonances. Instead, the collective crafted songs that soothed and healed those grudges, songs held in an uplifting, empathetic light.  

That is where the song “Queer Joy” comes from. In Dwizzle D shows, the track is performed solely by Bellisimo and acts as an anthem of acceptance. The lyrics derive from years’ worth of mental growth and processing.  The moment on stage is one of accomplishment and growth. 

“What’s unique about Dwizzle D’s journey is that — especially in the shows — it’s really clear: you see the development throughout the show and that arc of where we started, versus where we’re going,” said Meyerson. “I think people were shocked that they’re attracted to that and shocked that they really genuinely connect with that.”  

It was something for everyone involved to feel for themselves. Ledger, Novogrodsky–Godt, Meyerson, everyone — they were seeing the tables turn. After years of working so intimately together, they had developed and grown as a group. 

Ledger singing with the audience (left). Novogrodsky-Godt waves a prop (right). Ledger opens up a song with glo-up glasses on (bottom). Photos by Meredith Bach.

Ledger described the present running value of Dwizzle D’s work.  

“It’s truth to oneself and acceptance of oneself and absolute flamboyance in that expression of yourself,” she said. “It’s all about not only just being you, but being you times two hundred.” 

At the same time they experienced a mental evolution, Dwizzle D saw a musical one. With a newfound perspective and clarity, the collective had never worked so well and with such fervor.  

“Every time it was like this is this new thing we didn’t think we could do that we loved,” said Meyerson. “Something in the tone of what we were making felt more serious.”  

Every time they made a new song, it topped the last one. Instead of brainstorming the craziest lyrics they could, they approached songwriting with a deeper, more devoted approach. Dwizzle D had blossomed into such a passion project for everyone in the group. But they had been so focused on the feeling that they didn’t realize their work was turning other heads, too. By the time their first show at the Annoyance Theater came around in January 2023, the members were met with a miraculous outcome of their hard work. 

“We are all Dwizzle D” 

Masses of people stood before them, and they were all singing along to the music. Meyerson described his astonishment with their fans’ commitment, even to this day.  

“I’m shocked by how many people know the lyrics to songs that aren’t out,” he said. “I’m always shocked because even besides SoundCloud, I have no idea where [they’re] accessing the song.”  

It gave Dwizzle D an entirely new sense of confidence and motivation towards the music.  

“It [was] totally self-serving, until it wasn’t anymore. And that was a huge paradigm shift, I think, in our creating process,” said Ledger. “People want to be listening to this, people are really responding to this.”  

In the summer of 2023, Dwizzle D cranked out three whole songs. Powered by their creative connection and adoring fans, Meyerson recalled turning out work more efficiently than they had ever done before.  

“Oftentimes, when [they] have an idea, I’m halfway through doing it before [they] even have to pitch it, so it creates a really cool and very protective, comfortable environment,” he said. “But if there’s any level of judgment, the work we do in that room would not work.”  

Luckily, the members of Dwizzle D emphasized their loyalty to an open mind in the studio. Such a nonjudgmental attitude is what allows them to generate wild lyrics and subversive content without conflict or doubt. The group explained how important it was that they don’t set limits on each other, opting to let their creativity soar instead.  

“It’s a crazy amount of trust amongst us,” said Ledger. And to Dwight, she added, “We all trust you so much to create this incredible thing that we all get to feed off of and be nourished by, and it’s really just such an incredible feeling to be a part of something with someone you think is so special.”  

At this point in the conversation, I sat back quietly in my chair and observed. Among the group, there was a shared sense of respect, admiration and appreciation for one another, and they weren’t afraid to say it.  

And then, it all made sense. You get what you put into an experience. In the audience there was the same open-mindedness, no-judgment, and passion that the performers practiced with each other; it was no wonder that everything seemed to work so well. The bond within the collective had inevitably bonded them to their music and their crowd. That sentence on the screen rang profoundly true, “We are all Dwizzle D.” 

“People see the Dwizzle D stuff and they’re like, I have never seen work like this,” said Meyerson. “It’s a full experience that is completely unlike anything else that’s going on right now.”  

The collective plans to put on a trilogy show in the summer, where they exhibit the evolution of Dwizzle D throughout each different night. Afterwards, the group plans to churn out songs until Bellisimo heads off to Yale in the fall, where he will go to receive a graduate degree in projection design.  

As for the rest, the separation doesn’t pose too much of a threat.  

“The two of us are staying in Chicago for now,” says Ledger, about her and Meyerson. “But we will literally follow Dwight to do these shows because it fulfills us so much.”  

“I’m really excited for the future of the collective and also just for the future of seeing Dwight transform,” said Novogrodsky–Godt. “I mean, I’ve seen his music literally grow in the past four years.”  

When she talked about the collective there was a huge smile on her face. To her and all the other members, it’s more than a passion project, more than a show. The dedication and realization that came from Dwizzle D had been formative for them on a social, personal, and imaginary level.  

“Everyone should find something like Dwizzle D for themselves,” said Novogrodsky–Godt. “That they get to be a creative version of themselves that may really only exist in that space. And have fun with that.”  

Dwizzle D has just released their newest single, “Reno,” on March 14 on Spotify. To listen to the song, get updates or learn more about the collective, visit @dwizzle_d on Instagram or @Dwizzle D on Soundcloud. 

Header by Sofi Martinez