History Music / Dessa

* ColbertBump: Senator UsefulNotes/AmyKlobuchar of Minnesota, Dessa's home state, used "The Bullpen" as her campaign theme song during the 2020 Democratic primary, as the lyrics also fit very well to Klobuchar's rise in the still heavily male-dominated world of politics -- something which brought the artist a lot of attention from people who would otherwise have never known who she was.

* WidowWoman: "If & When" is about a widow who refuses to accept her husband's death and finds herself driven to self-destructive behavior in her grief.

In 2016, she contributed the song "Congratulations" to ''Music/TheHamiltonMixtape''.

Discography:
* 2005 - ''False Hopes''
* 2010 - ''A Badly Broken Code''
* 2011 - ''Castor, The Twin''
* 2013 - ''Parts of Speech''
* 2018 - ''Chime''

She is also a member of Music/{{Doomtree}}, a hip-hop collective consisting of her and fellow artists P.O.S, Cecil Otter, Sims, Mike Mictlan, Lazerbeak, and Paper Tiger.

* AgeProgressionSong: "Children's Work" and "The Chaconne".
* AlbumClosure: ''Chime'' ends with "I Hope I'm Wrong," a sad song about her grandmother's death.

* AllTakeAndNoGive: A version with the giver as the controller in the relationship is the theme of "Seamstress"; it's implied to be stemming from a combination of a need to be needed and a fear of abandonment.
-->''Fixing up boys is different that way;\\
You fix a bird, you buy a cage''
* BadassBoast: The entirety of "Dutch", "The Bullpen", "Skeleton Key" and "Fighting Fish" is one.
** "Crew" has one about her music skills partway through, "If the hinges creak, then break the door down / All I need is a beat, I break a four-count".
* BadassCreed: "Seamstress". The creed of the seamstress is "you're pretty in pieces".

** Overlaps with SubvertedRhymeEveryOccasion earlier in the same song.
-->''6’2” in my highest kicks\\
Dolled up, I’m the baddest person.''
* TheCaretaker: "Seamstress" is a dark take on this.

* TheCharmer: The narrator of "Dear Marie"; "that charm of mine was easy to abuse".
* CoolBigSis: "Children's Work" was written for her younger brother Max.
* CloudcuckoolandersMinder: "Children's Work": "The little mystic, and his handler."
** "Annabelle" has her pleading the song's title character to 'come back down'
** "The Man I Knew" is a song about a decade-long relationship with a drug addict.
* DomesticAbuse: What the narrator finds out is going on in "Dixon's Girl"- "You gotta be big to treat pretty girls bad".
* DrowningMySorrows: Said by name in "Seamstress" and a theme touched on in multiple songs (including "Mineshaft 2" and "The Man I Knew"), coming from Dessa's own struggles with alcoholism.
* EasilyForgiven: Averted hugely in "Mineshaft 2" and "The Lamb".
* FramingDevice: "Dear Marie" is a letter the narrator is writing to Marie.
* FriendlessBackground: Implied in "Children's Work": "Before you came along, I was a lone cub."

-->''Now our roles reverse, your tables turning now...''
* IronicEcho: In "Dear Marie", the narrator says that Marie warns her "that charm of mine was easy to abuse"; later, after the narrator has her HeelRealization about how badly she's treated Marie, Marie says "that charm of mine was to refuse".
* TheMasochismTango: "Matches to Paper Dolls", which is about a couple who are too attached/attracted to each other to leave even though the relationship hurts both of them.
* MasterOfUnlocking: The protagonist of "Skeleton Key", who builds a career out of opening any lock that people are willing to pay to have opened.
* MotorMouth: When Dessa ''really'' gets into rap-mode, she's scarily quick with her rhymes. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35SAEUbdUQE For example, "Matches to Paper Dolls"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Qe3jruM9pg "Mineshaft"]], and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tvSaALk-wc "Press On"]].
** {{Lampshaded}} in “Shrimp.”

* MyFutureSelfAndMe: The narrator visits her past self to ask for a favor in "Mineshaft 2".
* NeverASelfMadeWoman: Mentioned in "Dixon's Girl". Currently the page quote.
* RelationshipRevolvingDoor: “Matches to Paper Dolls” is about this type of love affair and the toll it takes on the narrator over many years.

* SanitySlippage: "If & When" has the narrator burning more and more things to keep the candle alight as she waits for her husband to come home.
* SecondPersonNarration: "Mineshalf 2", although it switches to first person in the last verse
* SequelSong: "Mineshaft" released on ''Castor, the Twin'' deals with a painful break-up. "Mineshaft 2" dealt with the ex calling her up years later and asking for forgiveness.

* TheSmurfettePrinciple: "The Bullpen", with the narrator channeling Dessa's experiences in the hip-hop scene.
* TakeMeInstead: From "Children's Work": "When the wagon tipped, I prayed over your body. I asked God to take the damage out on me."
* TrueCompanions: "Crew", which is about her group Doomtree, along with most of her collaborative works with other Doomtree members.
** From "Alibi": "If you ever need a place to sleep tonight, that's what family's for."
* {{UST}}: "Go Home" is about the narrator and a close friend struggling with the feelings that have grown between them.
* WeAreAsMayflies: The central theme of "Momento Mori".
* WidowWoman: "If & When".
* WiseBeyondTheirYears: The entirety of "Children's Work", with both the narrator and her little brother being wise in differnt ways: "Children aren't as simple as we'd like to think."

** Overlaps with SubvertedRhymeEveryOccasion later in the same song.

** [[Lampshaded]] in “Shrimp.”

* Bait and Switch: “Shrimp” ends with Dessa lamenting that she’s “always a bridesmaid, never an...ASTRONAUT!”

* AlbumClosure: ''Chime'' ends with "I Hope I'm Wrong," a sad song about her mother's death.

* WiseBeyondTheirYears: The entirety of "Children's Work", with both the narrator and her little brother being wise in differnt ways: "Children aren't as simple as we'd like to think."
* YourCheatingHeart: Subverted in "Go Home", where the narrator persuades him to "go home to her, while you still can".

* AmbiguouslyBrown: Half Puerto Rican on her mother's side.

* DomesticAbuse: What the narator finds out is going on in "Dixon's Girl"- "You gotta be big to treat pretty girls bad".

* SecretKeeper: A dark version in "The Lamb", where it's implied the narrator covered up a murder for her acquaintance.
** Actually, "The Lamb" is about Dessa's personal experience being assaulted by an older male family member

Dessa (born Margret Wander) is an underground singer and hip-hop artist from Minneapolis, Minnesota and part of the indie hip-hop group Doomtree. Her lyrics vary from sharp and cutting to poetic and narrative. She is known for the feminist themes in several of her songs and has been described as a mix of Mos Def and Music/AniDiFranco.

In 2016, she contributed the song "Congratulations" to ''TheHamiltonMixtape''.

** "Anabelle" has her pleading the song's title character to 'come back down'

-->''But I've learned how to paint my face,\\

Children aren't as simple as we'd like to think.''
-->--"Children's Work"