- 1 year ago
After songwriting for prolific artists, including Beyoncé & Victoria Monét, Lucky Daye took the plunge to transition to being a solo artist in 2019. Since then, he’s released four albums, with his most recent being ‘Algorithm.’ Lucky Daye shares his creative process behind his newest release, working with Teddy Swims & Bruno Mars, his upcoming tour and more!
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00:00I'm not going to play a losing game.
00:01I'm going to play what I'm going to win at,
00:03and I win at making music.
00:05Hey, this is Lucky Day, and this is Billboard News.
00:07Trees got the smoke, now we just need a lighter.
00:11And body, I'm breaking down, I think I need you.
00:15So no, spending every dime to get everything I want.
00:24Welcome, Lucky Day.
00:24Thank you for having me.
00:26So I was telling someone here earlier on the team,
00:28I was going out to a dinner last night,
00:31on the radio, Stevie Wonder's KJLH,
00:33That's You was playing.
00:35And I'm like, oh my God,
00:36because I'm supposed to talk to him tomorrow.
00:37There's only one thing I see in life, that's you.
00:43On the way home, Hurricane was playing,
00:45on the same station, so.
00:47So Stevie, like.
00:48Stevie likes you.
00:49Come on.
00:50You know, I just invited Stevie Wonder to my show.
00:52I told my MD, he said he knew somebody that knew him.
00:55Okay.
00:56So I told him, when I'm in LA,
00:57just know Stevie Wonder's going to be at my show.
00:59Great, great.
01:00And congratulations, because at least this week,
01:03That's You is up to number three
01:05on the R&P airplane, number three.
01:07So congrats.
01:08It's good to know, it's good to see.
01:09What was your creative mindset
01:10heading into working on Algorithm?
01:13My mindset was, I kind of wanted to talk to myself
01:16as if God was talking to me.
01:18I think the only voice I really hear
01:20when I'm not trying to make a voice is God,
01:22like if it's something that's progressive.
01:24So I was just using that to write letters to myself,
01:27the whole album, trying to get to know myself.
01:29Like, who am I?
01:30What's my algorithm?
01:31The things I don't like, the things I do like.
01:33I love people so much that I'll give, give, give, give, give
01:38until, you know, I'm sad.
01:39Like to the point where I feel like the gauge
01:42is when I get sad is enough, which is kind of crazy.
01:46Like, oh, I could keep going.
01:47No, maybe I shouldn't keep going.
01:48Like, let's not get sad.
01:50This album was more like,
01:52let me stay above everything that is negative.
01:55For me, that's rare as a leader.
01:57I need the happy and the sad.
01:58But on this one, I cut out the sad
02:01and I just wanted to be like happy and motivate myself
02:05and hopefully it come through to other people
02:07when they hear it as if that voice is talking to them.
02:10I just wanted to like, keep going.
02:11Be fierce, be unapologetic, be free, be flamboyantly you.
02:17I want everybody to do that same thing.
02:19What was the first song you did
02:20where this started coming out and you said,
02:22okay, I know I'm on the right track?
02:24The very first song, non-conscious of us making it,
02:29was Lemonade.
02:31And then On Purpose, the first song was Hurricane.
02:33♪ See we're sliding to the end of hurricane ♪
02:37In your bio, you talk about this being a farewell,
02:40as you just said, to your old fears and doubts.
02:42Can you share a couple of examples?
02:44It's just trying to fit in.
02:46It's just worrying about other people.
02:48I'm naturally very emotional.
02:50Sometimes I allow myself to be
02:53when I say allow the higher self to be.
02:56Let me not put emotions in this.
02:57Let me focus on what's progressive for me right now.
03:01I was afraid to know myself.
03:02I was afraid of my demons
03:03and I was just accepting my angels.
03:05So now I just wake up and say hello to my demons
03:07and my angels.
03:08You feel what I'm saying?
03:09I'm like, equal opportunity because they all me.
03:12They all make me.
03:13So those fears of accepting myself are gone.
03:17On your earlier albums and EPs, your vocals,
03:20especially on this one,
03:21still pristine and emotionally on point.
03:24Thank you.
03:25But with Algorithm, the futuristic production,
03:28the sound, and you're integrating more influences
03:31like rock and pop and other genres.
03:33And you specifically mentioned
03:34The Eagles' Journey and George Michael.
03:36So why those three particular acts?
03:39They all work where they didn't focus on genres.
03:44They focused on just the music.
03:46And then they let the industry put them in a genre.
03:49So as the industry continues to do what the industry does,
03:52I try not to accept what the genre is today.
03:56And I try to embrace all the times
03:58they accepted the genre of R&B.
04:00So in my mind, I'm just like,
04:01let me just capture all the R&B,
04:04all the soulful voices that there is,
04:06no matter what they look like,
04:08and throw that all in one pot
04:11on some gumbo Louisiana type ish, feel me?
04:14So I just wanted to throw that in there
04:15and just see what I could do with those chemical,
04:19what kind of chemical reactions I can make with that.
04:21But it came out electric and it came out fierce.
04:23It came out strong.
04:24So once again, you're working with somebody
04:26I think you worked on on every project, D-Mile.
04:29Oh yeah, the GOAT.
04:30And your engineer, John Kersey.
04:32So talk a bit about the relationship
04:34that you guys have creatively.
04:36What is it that D-Mile brings?
04:37What is it that works with you and John Kersey
04:39and then the whole package together?
04:41It brings opposition, which is great.
04:44I feel like it's healthy.
04:44We debate a lot in the studio
04:46because all of us are so musically intellectual.
04:49We all have different sides of how we learn music.
04:52And even still in our room,
04:54we hold what we know to ourselves
04:57and then we bring it to each other.
04:59We respect each other's viewpoints.
05:00We argued so loud this one session.
05:05About what?
05:05It was about this song on the album
05:07called Breaking the Bank.
05:09And I'm like, take it off the album, yo.
05:11She gets them just for the money.
05:14She even will listen.
05:16They're like, why?
05:17I'm like, we don't need another funk song.
05:19It's a funk song on there
05:20and then that's coming like right after.
05:22It's making me mad, like.
05:25Too jarring.
05:25I don't like it, I don't like it.
05:27So they're like, it's not funk.
05:29So we spent all day, we spent the whole session
05:32playing funk songs from everybody,
05:34playing psychedelic songs from everybody
05:37just to come to the conclusion that D-Mile was right.
05:41But it's all love and we respect each other's opinions.
05:44We just love each other's opinions, minds.
05:46Like we love each other's minds.
05:48So talk a little bit too about what I like
05:50is yourself, D-Mile, Victoria,
05:52different artists now with this renaissance
05:54having really pushing the boundaries of R&B.
05:57Starting with, what is your definition of R&B?
06:00Because I think a lot of people have
06:02kind of an old school impression of what the genre is.
06:05I just kind of say rhythm and blues.
06:07That's what it is, right?
06:08I don't want to say it.
06:09I don't want to be petty, but if it has rhythm.
06:11And if it's soulful and bluesy,
06:15oh my baby left me.
06:17I'm talking about what I've been through
06:19and I'm being vulnerable.
06:20Does it sound like R&B in my mind?
06:22I don't know, maybe I'm confused.
06:24Maybe I just love music so much
06:25that I want everything to be R&B,
06:26but I honestly think that R&B is everything.
06:31And not to say that everything else isn't R&B,
06:34but I don't want people to forget.
06:37R&B is everything.
06:37We've been here from the beginning
06:39and we're going to be here at the end.
06:41It's the literal foundation of most music and music genres.
06:46So we're going to get into the specifics
06:48of some of the album tracks.
06:49There's 14 tracks, right?
06:51Let's start with the singles.
06:53Start with That's You,
06:54which was written and co-produced by Bruno Mars.
06:57All this fame and fortune can't afford me what I need.
07:02That song came to me with just like,
07:04That song came to me with just like, pure chemistry.
07:07It was like, it was like, happy birthday, everybody.
07:10Bruno walked in in the middle of our session
07:11and messed up our song we was recording,
07:14but he came in with a guitar melody.
07:16He was joking or whatever,
07:18but I took it home and tried to put some words to it.
07:20In my mind, I'm like, all right,
07:22I want to make Bruno proud with this song.
07:25Is that the first time you two had worked together?
07:27That was, yeah.
07:28That first time we did a song, yeah.
07:29Wow.
07:30So why do you think the song that, as I said earlier,
07:32is number three right now on our Airplay charts?
07:35What is it about the song
07:37that resonates, you think, with fans?
07:38When it comes to like, belting songs
07:41and really singing just with full-on emotion
07:45and getting out of the comfort zone.
07:48Most people want to sing and they don't want to,
07:50they're afraid to look bad.
07:52And in this song, I wanted to make a belting song
07:54like Luther Vandross, how they grow songs from the beginning
07:57and at the end, it's like this big,
07:59extravagant musical expression
08:02like Whitney Houston or Celine Dion.
08:04♪ Hey, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, baby ♪
08:07So Hurricane I think is a prime example
08:10of how you and Demon connect.
08:12And I think this was the first song you said
08:13that was recorded for the album.
08:15Purposely, yeah.
08:16Let's talk a little bit about Hurricane.
08:18Hurricane was literally the beginning
08:20of me talking to myself as if I was of some higher power.
08:24It ain't got to be that difficult
08:25because, you know, in my mind, I'm chirping all the time.
08:28If you read the words, it'll make more sense to you.
08:31In the eye of the hurricane,
08:32I didn't want to lose the audience,
08:35so I made it sexy.
08:38Being a writer, you can use concepts as double entendres,
08:41and I do that a lot, double, triple.
08:43That's how I feel fulfilled.
08:44The eye of the hurricane for me is chaos in my life.
08:47The eye of the hurricane for my fans is like the woman.
08:53It's too much to explain.
08:54It's sliding into the eye of the hurricane.
08:58And I should have said earlier,
09:00in preferencing the question,
09:01hurricane is spelled H-E-R, all caps in the eye can.
09:05Yes.
09:05Okay.
09:06Yeah.
09:07All right, so there's your double entendre.
09:08That is.
09:09All right, and then most recently is soft,
09:11which is five minutes and 18 seconds long.
09:15Ooh, okay.
09:16You've got some great,
09:17when I was listening to that album,
09:18you got some great tempo changes,
09:20and then there's little things you do at the end
09:21when you think things are done,
09:23and then you add some little extra sauce
09:25on there at the end.
09:26Yeah, you gotta get it all in there.
09:27Yeah.
09:27Most of the songs on the album were four minutes or longer.
09:30So was that intentional?
09:31I think Diamonds and Teal,
09:33your closing song, was almost six minutes.
09:35It was definitely intentional.
09:36I'm not gonna play a losing game.
09:38I'm gonna play what I'm gonna win at,
09:40and I win at making music.
09:42So I don't care how long it's gonna be.
09:44I don't care how short it's gonna be.
09:44I don't care what key it's in.
09:45I don't care how stupid you think it sounds,
09:47or anyone's opinions about what I'm making.
09:50What I'm making is coming straight from the source,
09:52and I have to make it because that's why I'm here.
09:54So I'm never gonna stop doing it.
09:56I mean, it's beautiful to me.
09:59Like, I'm just enjoying myself.
10:00I don't know what I can say.
10:01Okay.
10:02And let folks know what Soft's about,
10:04because that's, I think, the most recent.
10:05Yeah, Soft is basically, it's a love song.
10:09♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, soft ♪
10:12♪ I don't know the meaning, but I know what it could be, yeah ♪
10:16A girl is making you do things,
10:19and you know you tough.
10:19I got five brothers,
10:21so it took me a long time to know
10:23which woman to open the door for,
10:26and which woman not to open the door for,
10:28because it was just boys.
10:29You taught, like, open the door for everybody.
10:31So, and it's like, fight, fight, fight, fight,
10:33this, that, that, and the other.
10:35So naturally, I'm not soft.
10:39I'm caring and empathic,
10:40and I guess that makes me feel soft sometimes.
10:43And in a relationship, you know,
10:45it's nice to have somebody
10:47that can trigger your emotional intellect.
10:51Men don't really have too much.
10:52So it's nice to have somebody to bring out your soft side
10:56and be okay with being soft with that person,
10:59or just any time, like, it's okay.
11:01I want men to feel like men,
11:02whether they hard, soft, yellow, green, I don't care.
11:06Mm-hmm, gotcha.
11:08You're very choice-y as to who you have guest
11:11on your albums, and on one song,
11:12you've got Teddy Swims on Blame,
11:15and then you have Ray on Paralyzed.
11:17So starting first with Blame, is toxic the right word?
11:21I mean, some of the things he says at the end of the song,
11:23I'm like, okay, I get it, but okay.
11:27Well, I wrote that with Mickey Echo,
11:28shout out to Mickey Echo, did Stay with Rihanna.
11:31We sat in the studio for like three hours
11:34and just no, no pressure.
11:38That's just write some stuff.
11:39It was a thought that maybe we can get
11:43Teddy Swims on this song,
11:44because he's friends with, like, Teddy.
11:46So he FaceTimes Teddy.
11:47We had the same birthday, like, September 25th.
11:50So then that was the end of it.
11:52Once you do that, it's like, oh, twin, what's up, twin?
11:56So we started talking, and the next thing you know,
11:58once me and Mickey Echo was in the studio
12:01with some friends of mine, we sent it to him, he loved it,
12:04and he sang his part.
12:06I came back and I sang my part.
12:08The way we were talking in the song is,
12:10if you blame me for everything that's on your mind,
12:14put it on me, you know what I mean?
12:16However way you need to.
12:17Like, if you wanna throw a pillow at me, throw a pillow at me.
12:19If you wanna blow me a kiss, blow me a kiss.
12:20If you wanna bite me, bite me, you know what I mean?
12:22Like, blame it on me.
12:24♪ Blame it on my ego ♪
12:27♪ Blame it on my pride ♪
12:30And then Ray, such a love ballad,
12:33but aching and searing,
12:35and talk a little bit about that song.
12:38That's a very serious song.
12:39It's my deepest hope for what love looks like.
12:43When you're a kid and people explain love,
12:45you paint it like crazy good, like amazing, it's beautiful.
12:48And then when you grow up, it's like,
12:49ah, love is a responsibility and an obligation for real.
12:52It's not all colorful and paradise like you thought.
12:57So that song is just like,
12:59even though all of that still stands,
13:02the moon has the sun, the bees have the flowers,
13:05matter has lack of matter, you know, space has time.
13:11Everything has someone.
13:13And Paralyze is just the name that we took.
13:18But if you listen to the hook,
13:19I use the word pair in a lot of different ways.
13:23So it ignites the fact that we need each other.
13:27And in the verses, we explain it in that way.
13:29But Paralyze is the way,
13:31we need each other so much that I'm paralyzed.
13:32I can't go nowhere.
13:33I have to be with you.
13:34♪ I'm not leaving paralyzed ♪
13:37♪ Say life's easy, a pair of lies ♪
13:41All right, you mentioned this song earlier, Lemonade.
13:43And you said there's always one song on your albums
13:46or EPs that makes you cry.
13:47And this is the one song that makes you cry.
13:49So if you can share why this song and what it means.
13:54Lemonade is the most reflective song on the album
13:59because it's a struggle song.
14:01And anybody that's been through anything,
14:03if they got back up, they'll say I stood up
14:07and I don't lose until I quit.
14:09And I didn't quit and I'm on my feet.
14:11I made Lemonade and it's a celebration.
14:13♪ Love won't let you know that it hurts when it's broken ♪
14:18I think the last Grammy cycle, you had five nominations
14:22and three of those were songwriting
14:24for your songwriting contributions.
14:26Beyonce, Alien, Superstar, a couple of songs for Mary
14:30and Victoria, she was known for her songwriting as well too.
14:33So talk a little bit about making that transition
14:36from songwriter to solo star.
14:38When did you know you were on the right path
14:41and it was time to make that pivot?
14:42When I met Victoria, she was already an artist.
14:46Most artists don't write.
14:48I actually love when people highlight the writing side
14:50and Victoria's one of those people
14:51that she's been writing since she's been an artist,
14:56as part of her artistry, just like me.
14:58And that's what kept the continuity
15:00and we have this glue where it's like,
15:02okay, we know where we came from.
15:04We know where we came from.
15:04We know what we was trying to do.
15:06We know where everything went.
15:07We know where this can go and we know we're not gonna stop.
15:10At the end of the day, she's one of the best artists
15:14right now.
15:15But when was your pivot?
15:16When did you know that it was time for you
15:19to step forward as a solo?
15:21I've always been an artist as well.
15:23I've just taken the check.
15:26Did you feel confined by the industry or?
15:28Yeah, I've taken the check.
15:29Okay.
15:30You can't just move to LA and then be like,
15:33I'm an artist and then come out
15:34unless you just know people.
15:36Unless somebody just believe in you like that.
15:38I'm my number one supporter.
15:39I've always been my number one supporter.
15:41If I don't have nobody screaming behind me like,
15:42yo, he's the next,
15:44then you know, it kind of look crazy.
15:45Me going in the room like, I'm fire.
15:47I try to take a humble approach
15:48and sometimes the humble approach will allow people
15:51to think that they can take advantage.
15:53And for me, that turned once I realized
15:56I don't have to do that.
15:58I could just take my music and keep it.
16:00And in the moment I did that,
16:01that's when everything changed.
16:03I don't know that people know
16:04that you've written Latin stuff,
16:07K-pop, country, EDM.
16:09Why is that important to you to be able to be
16:13in all those different genres?
16:15And is it to break people's perceptions of what R&B is?
16:19I could care less what people think about
16:20what comes out of my gift.
16:23Because it's my gift.
16:24For a lot of R&B artists and whatever artists
16:26are in whatever genre, they're that.
16:29And then they make people like Stevie Wonder
16:32who can do everything.
16:33And you try to put him in an R&B box
16:35and make him only do one genre,
16:36you're not gonna get the best Stevie Wonder.
16:39But if you let him do Stevie Wonder,
16:41you get the best music you ever heard in your life.
16:43Putting myself in an R&B box or whatever,
16:46it's tough because I'm way more.
16:48I like making dance music to make people move.
16:51I like making music to make people feel,
16:53to make people sing along, to make people hokey poke,
16:56to make people two-step, to make people bop.
16:58I like making music to do everything.
17:01Juke, shook, all that.
17:03You're getting ready to embark on your largest tour ever.
17:05So how are you putting that all together?
17:08It's fun always preparing for a tour.
17:10This being the biggest tour, it's one of the most,
17:13it's the biggest accomplishment that I can feel internally
17:15because I love being on stage.
17:17Any hints you can share right now
17:19about what folks can expect?
17:21What they can expect is not the same show from last time.
17:24When it comes to growth,
17:26I don't wanna give people the destination so early.
17:28I wanna continue the journey.
17:31They can expect definitely electric feelings,
17:34electric feels.
17:36It's probably more strings now.
17:37We got lights, visuals, all types of fun stuff.
17:41And I'm way more comfortable.
17:43I'll be more vulnerable on stage.
17:44I'll be able to see their faces more clearly.
17:46It's just a better understanding.
17:48And the more you understand something,
17:49the better you get at it.
17:50And the feel for the stage just feels like home.
17:52I just can't wait to get there.
17:54When you finish that,
17:55I mean, you talk about being more vulnerable
17:56and like you said, embracing both sides,
17:58the angel and the good stuff and the bad stuff.
18:01How do you feel now when you finally heard the album,
18:03put it all together and sat and listened to it?
18:05What was the immediate feeling that came to mind?
18:08Did you feel freer?
18:09Did you?
18:10It's crazy.
18:11After each song, I'd be like,
18:12oh, that's the best song in the world.
18:13Once the album got done, I was like,
18:14they're not gonna get it.
18:15Why'd you say that?
18:18My fear crept right in.
18:20They ain't gonna get it.
18:22Once 2024 started, everything switched again.
18:26I was like, they gonna get it.
18:29They gonna hit us and they gonna understand
18:31that the boundaries of what is supposed to be
18:35has been stretched and they gonna get it.
18:38You said in releasing Algorithm
18:40that I have more self-awareness.
18:42Self-awareness about what?
18:45I have more self-awareness about my surroundings,
18:47my atmosphere, my mind and myself.
18:50Self-awareness is not nothing that you can be taught
18:53or given, you have to kind of want it.
18:55So for me, this was more like,
18:59let me remove what needs to be removed,
19:01improve what needs to be improved
19:03and then cut the boosters on.
19:04And it took me a second and a lot.
19:08I went through a lot of ups and downs.
19:09I went to Brazil, I moved out there for a little bit
19:12and came back and I was like, okay, I'm new.
19:15So what is the main takeaway that you want listeners
19:18to embrace when they listen to Algorithm?
19:21I want it to be a commercial break from the kiosk music.
19:25Kiosk music is great, it's quick, it's easy,
19:27you get it, it's shiny for two weeks.
19:30I wanna have something that can last throughout time.
19:34Something that where they'll say,
19:35okay, every song is the same.
19:38Let me go listen to Stevie Wonder,
19:40let me go listen to Lucky Day,
19:42let me go listen to Beyonce,
19:43let me go listen to Bruno Mars,
19:45let me go listen to Coldplay.
19:47Like just stuff that's outside the box.
19:51But I want them to just take away happiness,
19:53fierceness, joy, everything up, everything up.
19:57Just be yourself all the way.
19:58How would you describe Lucky Day then?
20:02Lucky Day now, if you had one sentence
20:04or three to five words.
20:06Lucky Day then, happy and hopeful about life.
20:11Lucky Day now, aggressive and electric about life.
20:15Okay, well thank you so, so much
20:17for sitting down with Billboard News.
20:18Congratulations on the new album, the tour.
20:21I'm excited.
20:22Onward and upward.
20:23Let's make some people dance.
20:25Exactly, exactly.
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