d4vd on touring with SZA, working with Lil Nas X and 'Romantic Homicide' hitting one billion streams
For this Month's In Conversation d4vd reflects on a whirlwind three years that have seen him open for SZA on tour, sell out shows across the world and write music for dream TV and gaming projects
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00:00Can you do a northern accent at all? Do you have a favourite phrase, British phrase?
00:03I'm bruv. I love saying bruv. It's not your time, bruv. You're not my supervisor, bruv.
00:09That's amazing!
00:17Hi, my name's Holly Geraghty and today I'm joined by David for the latest in
00:21Enemies in Conversation series. Hi David, how are you?
00:24I'm good, how are you?
00:25I'm good, thank you. You're joining us in London today. You're on the UK and European leg of your
00:31My House Is Not A Home tour. Performed in Cocoa last night. How was it?
00:35It was great, fantastic.
00:37I heard you had fans queuing round the streets for you.
00:40It was crazy. It was like two blocks.
00:42Wow. Is there anything different about performing for a London crowd? Is there more energy?
00:47There is more energy. There is more energy. Like every time I say jump, they jump, which I love.
00:51Cool. And you brought your little sister onto stage with you.
00:55Can you tell us a little bit about how?
00:57Yeah, I mean I like to pay as much credit as I can her because she's kind of the one that let
01:02me use her closet as a studio when I was first starting out in music. So I would like keep her
01:06up all night because I'd be like literally right there in the closet recording, screaming at the
01:10top of my lungs while she's trying to sleep. So like to pay her back and let her have her
01:13little moment to shine, I'd bring her up on stage for a couple shows.
01:17How does she take to the stage? Is she a natural?
01:19Yeah, I mean she pretends to be nervous too. She knows how to sell the performance. So it's like
01:26she knows she's not nervous, but she's like, oh hi everybody. Just to make it more of an aww moment.
01:35Does she feel like she's due some credit for the success of David?
01:38She does actually. Yeah, she wants to be an artist now too.
01:40Oh, she does?
01:41Yeah, she's already started making music on her phone.
01:43No way. I'm guessing you're teaching her the ropes.
01:45I am not.
01:46Oh no.
01:47I'm not. I'm letting her figure it out first and then I'm going to come in.
01:50What kind of stuff is she writing about?
01:51I have no clue.
01:52Is she seven?
01:53Yeah, she just turned seven.
01:55What kind of things does a seven-year-old have to say?
01:57Hello Kitty and Coco Mellow.
01:59So we're also here today because you have a fan event later on. You're going to meet some fans.
02:02You've got your EP Vinyl. How does it feel to see it on Vinyl?
02:06It feels great. I mean like I've always wanted to have something feel timeless and
02:10Vinyl Records is something that you put up on your wall. You have the artwork as decorations.
02:16You have that beautiful disc art that you can just look at and admire.
02:21And I bought a record player last year and I had my fair share of records and this is one that
02:26I obviously play because I don't really listen to my own music like that.
02:28Oh really?
02:29But when I listen to it on Vinyl, it's like, okay, that's me.
02:33So you're making time to meet the fans today. They're already queuing up outside here.
02:37Why is that important for you to make time for that?
02:39I love the connection. I mean, the fans are the reason why the music is what it is.
02:44It's nothing to do with me. It's about the connection with the actual audience.
02:47So I just like connecting with them on a personal level too because they're the
02:51ones listening to the music and the ones that are relating to it.
02:53So I want to relate to them on a more personal level as well.
02:56Now we are in London today and if I'm not mistaken,
02:59you're a bit of a fan of the UK London accent or British accent.
03:03Yeah, I've used it in so many songs.
03:04Yeah, so much so that you've adopted the accent in some of your songs.
03:07Can you tell us about that?
03:09Yeah, I mean, listening to Arctic Monkeys was just like a game changer for me when
03:14I started out in music and I just wanted to sound like that so bad
03:19and I kind of just forced it and then it worked. So yeah, shout out to Arctic Monkeys for that.
03:26Can you do a Northern accent at all? Do you have a favourite phrase, British phrase?
03:30Um, bruv. I love saying bruv. It's not your time, bruv. You're not my supervisor, bruv.
03:35That's amazing.
03:36Yeah, yeah, yeah.
03:37And I hear Pink Pantheress has kind of trickled in a little bit as an influence.
03:40Yeah, yeah, I do love Pink Pantheress, yeah.
03:44What's the thing she says all the time?
03:46Early. She says early in a certain way in her songs. I love the way she says that.
03:51Nice. So before you came to the UK on this tour, you just finished the North American leg
03:58and you did three sold out shows at the Fonda in LA.
04:02How do you begin to sum up what an experience like that is like?
04:05It's amazing. I mean, the night one was like, I brought the energy and then night two,
04:10I brought the vocals and then night three, I brought like the balance of them both. So it was
04:14like super, super euphoric. I mean, I was saving my voice because, you know, I'd scream at my
04:22shows. So three nights back to back was crazy for me, but I pushed through it.
04:27It's obviously not your hometown, but there's something special about
04:30being able to sell out LA, I feel like. It's like the centre.
04:33Everybody thinks they're too cool for concerts over there,
04:35so to be able to sell out three nights is like, I did that.
04:37Yeah, yeah, yeah. Obviously, your career started, as you said, in a closet and a lot of it was very
04:46DIY and making songs on your phone. How have you gone about sort of adapting to this new part of
04:53your career, this new live aspect? Like how did you, was that quite a daunting thing to take on?
04:59No, I mean, when I did my first show, because prior to performing my first ever show last year,
05:05February 17th, I had never been to a concert myself, like I never went to concerts or festivals
05:10or anything of the sort. So it was kind of like I was letting the audience perform to me as I was
05:16performing to them. And it was kind of like I didn't get nervous. I didn't have like a
05:19mental breakdown backstage. Like it was just like, oh my God, and just perform my song.
05:23But yeah, it's like, it's super easy. I love performing. I mean, when you're performing to
05:28people that know your songs, it's like their energy transfer. It's like they give me energy,
05:33I give them energy. And we're both like having fun, like just having fun on stage is like the
05:38most important thing to me. Yeah, you're a real belter. Like TikTok videos, you're really going
05:42for those belts. So like, is that just feels like easy to you? Is that vocal warm ups?
05:47I get in trouble for not doing my warm ups. But I just, I just like to make the room shake.
05:58I feel like when I was watching, taking notes and artists, I was watching SZA,
06:03I was watching The Weeknd, and I was watching Adele. And one thing they all do is they have
06:08moments in the show where they just scream. And everybody goes crazy. So I was like,
06:11I want to have some moments in my show that does that too. So I have the ending of Romantic
06:15Homicide, the ending of Backstreet Girl and the ending of Leave Her. I just scream.
06:20And that gets the crowd going. Exactly. Yeah. What kind of notes were you taking when you
06:24were watching them? How to project like my it's all about like the stage presence,
06:28where you keep your hands as well. My first tour that I did, my hands were always low.
06:34And you don't seem confident when your hands are below your belt. So like I keep my hands here and
06:39I make sure to point to people now and then when I'm doing the high notes, I remember keep my hands
06:43above the sky. So it gives more of a presence to the stage. And I wasn't doing that last year. So
06:49now I'm like figuring out stage presence. So when you performed your first show, which was also
06:54your first concert, what was your first reaction about the magic of those live moments? What was
06:59the thing that really hit you? That show was such a blur. We had like a bunch of technical
07:04difficulties at that show too. So I think the magic of it is, is making sure that you give
07:12the audience a moment too. Because as much as they're coming to see me, they're also coming
07:17to experience the concert. Like I don't want it to be a concert. I want it to be a show.
07:23So like, you know, going down and shaking the crowd's hands and giving people hugs and, you know,
07:27looking at people specifically when you're singing a song and giving people that moment to feel
07:31heard and noticed during the show too is very important to me because like
07:35they're coming to see me, but they're also, you know, experiencing it there too.
07:38So you mentioned SZA. Of course, last year you opened up for her in arenas around the USA.
07:44What was that experience like? I was insane. I mean, I can't even begin to describe it. I mean,
07:49the first show we did was in Miami and then like, it just all, it just all clicked from there.
07:55She's so nice. So nice. And her fans are great to me as well. Like they knew all my songs.
08:02It was almost like two headliners. It's almost like a mini festival. Yeah, it was amazing.
08:07What did you learn from, did you watch her every night? Yeah. Okay. What kind of notes were you
08:11taking? So she has these different elements in between songs and also during the songs that I
08:19kind of added to my show as well. Cause I, I love when I listen to a song and then I go to the
08:23concert and it sounds different in a way. Cause it's like, why would I pay to see the same thing?
08:30So like I have different versions of my songs now that I'm performing on stage and they sound
08:35much different than a studio version or the recorded version. I think best example of that
08:39is Bleed Out, Take Me To The Sun, Romantic Homicide and Lever. They all sound much different
08:48than what they do on streaming services. So. What's different about performing in an arena
08:54compared to a smaller venue? I don't have to look at anybody. It's the best feeling in the world.
08:59It's like, there's so much eye contact in my show, which I love. But then it's like,
09:03if in an arena, you're looking at a group of people here, a group of people here,
09:06and then a group of people there. So it's like, I just love like the space between it. It's just,
09:12it feels so huge. Yeah. And you like backflip at your shows? Yeah, a lot of them. A lot of them.
09:18How did you learn to backflip? I did gymnastics for six years and I did martial arts for two.
09:24I did parkour for four. Has it ever gone wrong? I think the only time I didn't land a backflip was
09:32last year. I think I was in Australia and somebody was holding up a sign that said,
09:37do a shoeie. And I tried to look at it while doing the backflip and I missed.
09:41Is that the shoe? Oh, okay. Did you do one? No. My immune system cannot handle that.
09:49So we have your Petals of Thorn EP in front of us here. Of course, like we said, created entirely
09:54on your phone. You have teased that you've been working on some new music. You've been dropping
09:58some teasers online. How have you found that transition into a more standard industry music
10:06kind of space where you're working with producers and studios? What's that experience been like?
10:12It was interesting to say the least. When I started, I remember coming to LA last year
10:18on a recording trip and I was like kind of speed dating producers and trying to see what worked
10:24and what didn't. And I found the best process for me personally was to find people that aren't known
10:31like that. So I'm listening to an artist named Scott James for a long time, since 2017.
10:36And he's opening for this tour actually. And he's a great producer. And I was like,
10:39how about we just start making music? And now he's executive producing the album with me.
10:43So it's like, I like the DIY, do it yourself kind of mentality. It's always stuck with me.
10:49It's always been the way that I've made the best music. So I must keep doing things the
10:54unconventional way and just see where it gets me. How does it feel doing what you do almost
11:00with an audience around you, especially the subject matters you like to write about,
11:05quite romantic, quite intense? Are you able to do that with people around?
11:09It's fantastic. I feel like I'm a bit of a show off sometimes. So I love when I'm meeting with
11:18new producers and stuff like that. And they put on instrumental and I'm just freestyling these
11:23super deep emotional lyrics just right there on the spot. And then we'll make a song in 30 minutes
11:27and it's like, yeah, we just did that. So I think for me personally, I do write better music when
11:33I'm alone, but I do make better songs when I'm around other people, if that makes sense. So the
11:38writing is better when I'm alone. And then the overall song is better when I'm with other people.
11:43So what's your process then? You are, of course, working on an album at the moment. So
11:47are you very private? You're on the tour bus. I have written a couple of songs on tour last year
11:53and this year. I'm working on a bunch of songs right now. I'm not very precious with music right
11:59now. I feel like after dropping two EPs last year and then dropping a couple of singles earlier this
12:03year, it's kind of just like the end of the experimenting phase for me. And I've kind of found
12:08my niche again with the sounds I'm choosing on the album. And I'm doing a little bit of quantity
12:16over quality right now, but it's going to go back to quality over quantity very soon because I
12:21finally found the topics I want to talk about, how I wanted to feel and what the motive is.
12:27So it's all coming together. Can we get a little taste of what those niches might be? So basically
12:33last year was a lot of super indie rock, Steve Lacey, Dominic Fyke vibes, but now it's more
12:41leaning towards like a Billie Eilish, also Dominic Fyke, but kind of like taking it back to what made
12:47my music special in 2022. It's like really old music too. I'm listening to a lot of Jeff Buckley
12:51right now, a lot of David Bowie. I'm listening to Michael Jackson too. I'm just trying to bring back
12:56very old sounding things and making them sound modern right now. On the journey so far, you've
13:02had this incredible couple of years, especially kind of coming out of the sort of like COVID years
13:07and experiencing the live circuit and your fans in real life. What have you found that
13:11you've been most proud of so far on the journey? That's a good question. What am I most proud of?
13:16The growth as an artist. I feel like you have to reach a certain point where you can call yourself
13:22artist when you're not just a musician. I feel like I'm still in the musician phase,
13:27but once this album drops and the tours happen next year, I feel like that's going to
13:31solidify me as an actual artist. Just the process too, going from making music on my phone to then
13:38learning how to do things in a studio and learn how to use a professional mic. I remember the
13:41first time I used a real studio. I was in New York City at Alicia Keys Studio and I couldn't
13:48do it. I was sitting in front of this $4,000 Norman mic and I was on my phone making music in
13:52the booth. The journey for sure, the growth as an artist is what I'm most proud of.
13:57What is it about the studio setting that was challenging?
14:00It didn't click for me at first. I was in there and I just couldn't get it because I was so used
14:05to doing everything myself. When the engineer couldn't figure out what I wanted in my head,
14:10I was like, bro, I'm not doing that. It was more of a connection with me and who I'm making music
14:16with rather than the studio itself. It's just the people. It's just the people.
14:21Speaking of which, you have been in the studio with Dominic Fyke.
14:24I have.
14:24Can you tell us anything about what you guys are working on?
14:26Yeah. You never know what's going to happen with Dominic. He's all over the place all the time,
14:31but we locked down a studio session. It's the first song that I've ever made where we made it
14:37all together. He was playing the drums and the guitar and his friend Henry was doing
14:43different things on the bass. We recorded the song completely in a live room. It was the first
14:48time I ever did something like that. Very experimental. It's very rough right now,
14:52but we're going to be working some more soon and we're going to see where that goes.
14:56Exciting. I also heard that you have recorded with Lil Nas X as well.
15:01I have. I do have four songs. He's also a hard one to lock down. I don't think those songs will ever
15:07come out with the way he's doing right now, but his rollout is about to be amazing as well.
15:12Amazing. Exciting. What's he like to work with?
15:14He's fast too. I feel like we have the same kind of off the top, freestyle, freestyle,
15:19see what works, see what doesn't work. I love writers who can just put things down and aren't
15:24so precious on, oh, I've got to take this back home and write. But me and him are just bar for
15:29bar, bar for bar, bar for bar. Something that I find really fascinating about you as an artist is
15:34that you have this DIY backstory and these roots about how obviously you started making music for
15:40your Fortnite videos, but your music is so deep and profound and the lyrics are so romantic and
15:46people really responding to them very strongly. I've always been curious, how did that side of
15:52you, how naturally did it come out, especially just you started making music and that's what
15:56came out of you? It was super natural. I've been writing poetry since I was in fifth grade. I had
16:00a poetry journal my grandmother gave to me and I would never pay attention to school. That's
16:06the whole reason why my parents homeschooled me when I hit eighth grade. But yeah, I was writing
16:11short stories and comic books since I can remember. I was really good at drawing at one
16:16point too. I would write a comic a day for a year when I got to sixth grade and then I started
16:24watching a lot more anime and then I was reading a lot of manga and then I started writing my own
16:29mangas as well. But yeah, I've always been writing about complex themes and romance and stuff like
16:36that. That's my favorite stories ever. I've been doing that since fifth grade, so a long time.
16:42Have you heard anyone who's used one of your songs at a wedding or anything like that yet?
16:48Yeah, I actually performed at my manager's wedding here with me.
16:53Oh, amazing. I'm guessing that went down really well.
16:58Oh, amazing. Speaking of romance, Romantic Homicide recently hit one billion streams.
17:04What does that number mean to you? Can you even comprehend it?
17:07I wish it was dollars. It's amazing to see the impact music has worldwide
17:14and how many people relate to it and how many meanings it has to different people. It means
17:21something to me, but it also means a different thing to this person, a different thing to that
17:25person. I feel like that's the goal I want for my music is just for people to interpret it however
17:31they see fit. I feel like it's one of those songs that can change meanings based on how you're
17:35feeling on that day. Just to talk about a few older songs before we look ahead to the future
17:41a bit more. You, of course, collaborated with Leve. Can you tell me a little bit about how you
17:46guys connected and where you feel there's a kinship with each other's music?
17:51I literally found her music as I was finishing high school. I think maybe June-ish, 2022.
18:04She had just released her project, Everybody's Falling in Love and I'm Falling Behind.
18:10I DM'd her on Instagram. I was like, oh my gosh, I love your music. Wow. I wasn't even about to
18:15collaborate or anything because I was still playing Fortnite and making music in the closet.
18:19Fast forward six months later, I dropped Here With Me, I dropped Romantic Homicide.
18:24I'm working with her producer on Sleep Well and Worthless. Through her producer,
18:30she found me and DM'd me back. She was like, oh my goodness,
18:32our producer just told me about you. Wow, you're amazing. I was like, let's make a song.
18:36We're working with the same producer. How about we just connect? We both pull up to the producer's
18:42house and then we're like, let's create a song about whatever comes to mind. We both wrote our
18:50verses in five minutes each and the song was made that night. Did the themes just overlap?
18:59Literally, it was perfect. Wow. Am I right in thinking there's quite a personal story behind
19:05your lyrics in that? Is it someone from school that you saw? Do you mind telling us a little
19:09bit about that? I had this friend in school. It's not about me personally, but it's about
19:15a friend of mine in school that was always obsessed with over-romanticizing every situation
19:23that he was in. He would sit on the bleachers in the gym and he would look at his crush and
19:34draw her every single day. He would go to PE and he would draw his crush every single day.
19:39I wrote that song about him. You've also collaborated with Holly Humberstone.
19:44I have. Another UK artist. Can you tell us about how you connected with her?
19:49The first time I came to London, we're on the same label, so it was a no-brainer that I wanted
19:52to work with her and meet her and Scott Harris. I was trying to find just a perfect vibe to tie
20:00together her album. She had already written a song and I was like, let me just put a verse on
20:06that real quick. I was literally in there for about five, 10, 15 minutes and the verse just
20:12flowed right out, right on there on the song. It fit perfectly. The song came out. She performed
20:18it with me at a couple of shows last year as well. It was just a beautiful song.
20:22Do you feel like you connect especially well with female artists?
20:25I do because the contrast is really nice with my voice in theirs as well. I have a lot of
20:30different voices too. I don't know if people realise that in my music, I don't sound the
20:34same on any song. Sometimes you're British.
20:38Exactly. It's cool to see how well my voice messes with different female artists.
20:44Another song you dropped this year, you created a song for Invincible.
20:47Can you tell us how you're a fan of the show and how the opportunity came about?
20:51I've been watching the show since it came out and I was hooked from the first episode. I was
20:55able to meet with the music supervisor earlier this year. We were looking through a couple vibes
21:00from songs I had previously made already. They weren't liking them. I went in and I watched the
21:05rough draft of the scene before it was even animated. I wasn't able to take the scene with
21:11me but I made a mental image in my head and remembered what was going on in the scenarios
21:14of the scene. The next day I went in the studio with a couple of my friends and we just goofed
21:18around for 30 minutes and the song came out. It was literally perfect. They loved it immediately.
21:24It came out in season 2, episode 7.
21:29Tell us about the music video. Do you do your own stunts?
21:32I do do my own stunts. I've been doing gymnastics for a long time and I haven't lost the sauce yet.
21:39That was a dream of mine to do something choreographed that's not dance. To do the
21:44fight scene, shout out to Nick Walker for that idea. It was perfect.
21:49Everyone on YouTube wants to know what you guys are fighting about.
21:53I don't know. I don't know. This is the lore that I put out there. He just got mad that I was cutting
21:59my hair in public. In the beginning of the music video I'm shaving my head. I guess he just didn't
22:04rock with that. You've also dabbled in video game music. 21 Savage for Call of Duty.
22:13How did that collaboration come about?
22:15That was amazing. Shout out to Ryan Tutter. I love writing for picture, writing for TV,
22:21movie, video games, anything like that. 21 Savage had a collaboration with Call of Duty coming up
22:27and Ryan Tutter just brought the opportunity to me and was like, yo, you should cut this hook.
22:31You should definitely cut this hook. I cut the hook. I was going to be in the music video too,
22:35but I was a day late so I couldn't be in it. The song came out and it's still great. I love the
22:42connection between the music and the gaming because I'm such a fan of Call of Duty.
22:46Tell us a little bit about that. People obviously know film, TV, strong connections with music,
22:50but video games, there's this whole sub-genre of this special connection to music. It's people
22:55who discover songs through FIFA and things like that. Can you tell us why that's important to you?
22:59I love it because music and video games have been together for so long. I love video game
23:03soundtracks, the iconic sounds, the memes that come out of it too. Being such a video game nerd
23:10and such a music nerd at the same time, me starting music because of video games is such
23:16a poetic thing in itself and I just want to keep that going. No matter what I can be involved in,
23:22Fortnite, Call of Duty, FIFA, Madden, anything I can, I just want to keep bridging the gap between
23:29music and video games. Do you get to game much on the go, on tour? I have my PlayStation.
23:36Do you have a Switch or anything more mobile? No, I do have a DS though.
23:40I keep my DS. I've had my DS for years. Amazing. What are you playing at the moment?
23:46Tomodachi Life. That Mario game, Mario Kart 5.
23:56Of course, your story began with you making music for Fortnite videos to soundtrack them.
24:00To people who don't know anything about Fortnite, why is it important for Fortnite videos to have
24:06a good soundtrack to go with them? Basically, on YouTube, there's a trend that started around
24:112018, 2019 where people were syncing up the shotgun shots with audio and beat drops from music
24:20and it just stuck with it culturally with the game. You had to use a song and a video or else
24:27you wouldn't get any views past 2018. What about future projects, gaming-wise or TV,
24:34that you'd love to do a soundtrack for? Future projects, man, if I can get a song
24:42in the next Skate game, I'm a big fan of Skate. I want a song in the next season of The Boys.
24:50I love The Boys and it's almost a sister show to Invincible because of how superhero gore
24:59and what else? The next Spider-Man movie. Come on, Spider-Verse. I have to, I have to, yeah.
25:07Besides that, what does 2024 to 2025 look like for David? A lot more music, a lot more touring,
25:13a lot more traveling and next year album, yeah. Exciting, really can't wait to hear that. It's
25:19been a pleasure to talk to you today. David, thank you so much. Thank you.