De’Wayne: “I’m planting my flag in the ground… I want to be the artist that’s here to bring joy and love to people”

Lately, De’Wayne has been spending time trying to figure out how to “become an adult gracefully”. It’s been almost two years since his last album, My Favorite Blue Jeans, and the Texas-via-Los-Angeles star has – until now – taken something of a step away from the spotlight, letting life do its thing and waiting for the universe to nudge him in the direction he needs to go.

“It’s been a lot of love,” he cheerfully reflects of what he’s been up to since that aforementioned record, catching up with Kerrang! at 9am from his home, fresh from an early morning run. “I’ve been in that place of finding my happiness and finding myself. That’s really it! I’ve been travelling a little bit, too, but really going deep within myself and just figuring out what this next chapter of my life is going to be. I want it to be beautiful. I want to feel good inside of it. It’s been very introspective…”

It’s been tidy, too. For while De’Wayne is one of the most electrifying new performers in the alt. world today, he’s also very much embracing his newfound grown-up side when he gets back home.

“I love cleaning my house,” he laughs, when asked about his most boring adult hobbies these days (for the record, we think nothing is more rock star than being hygienic). “I love it so much! I think it’s something my mom put in me. I love sweeping up – I put on music and do that. And my other thing is putting on jazz music and just reading on the couch. That’s awesome. I talk to people about it and my other artist friends and they look at me like I’m insane – they’re like, ‘That’s what you like?’ I mean, I like to do other stuff too, of course, but cleaning my crib, or putting on music and reading some old book… nothing beats that!”

Away from the stage and studio, it’s no wonder De’Wayne needs a quieter interest or two to chill out a bit. Especially taking into consideration his just-announced EP, I WANT YOU MORE THAN ANYBODY WANTS YOU, a career-best release comprised of four timeless rock bangers, with more power than 100 Dysons.

Having been putting the work in, “studying so many different types of music” and honing this next chapter of De’Wayne with nothing but love and enthusiasm, here he tells us all about his wonderful – and much-needed – return…

De’Wayne! How good does it feel to be back?
“It feels incredible. You know, we’re with a new label now, and with the first two songs that have come out, I’ve never had a response like this. It’s really beautiful to me, and now that I can look back on it, [when I was starting out] opening for other bands and having people on my songs was really cool, but now I just wanted to stand on my own and start to build my own tree. And the response that we got has been really great – even my team and my label wasn’t really expecting things to go this well. I was, because I’m quite delusional! I really have a lot of faith in what I’m doing. But it’s been great, and it feels good to be back on my own accord. And it’s even more beautiful, because these songs are kind of old. And the way that people are responding is really cool for what I have next. That’s exciting.”

When did the first seeds of inspiration hit you for this EP?
“It was the end of 2022. The songs are streaming better than ever now, but my beautiful manager told me this [after second album My Favorite Blue Jeans] – he was like, ‘You’re like a rookie that did really well, but your team didn’t make the playoffs.’ That was what he told me. And so instead of crying about it, I got right back in the studio. I was really inspired, because I was like, ‘Shit, I want to make the playoffs next time around. I want to get to that next step.’ So it all came around then. In the first five seconds of a song, I want people to know who De’Wayne is, and I was just really inspired by what my manager said, and inspired to write better songs, and make music that will be around past this year and the next…”

Well, good work, because this is the best stuff you’ve ever released. Did you feel like that when you were writing the songs?
“Completely. With [lead single] synthesizer, I knew. I’ll be honest: my label wanted to come out with [second single] lightweight first. And lightweight is so good, it’s got that summer, nostalgic thing. But I just knew that synthesizer will make people be like, ‘Huh?!’ and I love that. It’s so De’Wayne to me. I think they’re my best songs to come out, and I think they’re the most authentic to myself because they’re so joyful, you know? They’re so in-your-face with exactly how I feel. I knew that they were the best songs and I felt really good recording them. I always walk into the studio with a song fully done because I sit at home and write the songs by myself lyrically. And I went in there like, ‘Yeah, I think people are gonna really like these!’”

With both singles, you’ve taken these words or concepts and turned them into songs about love. How did they come about – did those words literally just pop into your mind and you’re like, ‘Oh, you know what, boxing, yeah, I can use that in a song’?
“With lightweight, completely. I love boxing so much; it’s like the most beautiful chess match to me. You get in there and you fight for your life. And I really feel like when you’re in love, and you’re with someone and you really care, then when things get tough you don’t throw it away or give up on it. That’s really how I feel about love. And I just thought it was a beautiful kind of metaphor.

“And with synthesizer, I was really inspired by The Commodores, who wrote the song Brick House. I was like, ‘Man, I want to do the 2024 version of that!’ But I was thinking about musical terms, like, ‘Well, this person kind of synthesises everything around me.’ I came in with that, and the guys were like, ‘This is awesome. Let’s make it weird!’ I love coming up with concepts to talk about love, because we’ve been talking about love for billions of years, but I think it has a spectrum like no other, so I’m just going to keep discovering it and exploring it.”

Like you said, lightweight in particular is a message to fight for love. Does that come from a personal place, or are you also thinking about the world we’re living in right now, and how important love is during such dark times?
“Oh, 100 per cent. Man, that’s why I’m so happy to be an artist today, because I think we need love. I was watching this Prince interview and he said, ‘You’re either here to enlighten or to discourage,’ and I want to be the artist that’s here to bring joy to people and bring love to people, and show them that love is a sexy thing. It’s okay to express it and it’s okay to surrender to it. I really want to put my flag in the ground and be like, ‘I am that artist, and I am that person completely.’ I think it’s important and I hope that people can realise that, and when they do need a little bit of joy or a little bit of a boost, they can put me on and really vibe out and know it’s real.”

What can you tell us about the other two songs on this EP?
“I think homewrecker is a crazy title (laughs), but that’s the most pop-rock – it’s like me trying to do the De’Wayne version of Oasis! The chords and the chord choices, and even the melody choices, I think people are gonna really like it. And with mr. she, I’m super, super-hyped on that one. It was super-inspired by England! It’s totally me doing The Human League. And I think mr. she is such a beautiful title. And I feel that way, too: since synthesizer, I’ve been seeing a lot of comments and people really receiving me and understanding who I am, as someone who walks in both worlds, you know, kind of within genders and not really caring. Sometimes I’ve got my clothes on and sometimes half my clothes are off, and it makes me feel beautiful. I kind of explain that on mr. she, which is cool.”

Did you think about hanging on to these songs and doing another album instead?
“Well, when I signed with Concord, it was crazy to me because my A&R was like, ‘We have to do a few songs to introduce you to people.’ And I was like, ‘Well, I put out two albums!’ My ego was like, ‘Wait, what? But people know me?!’ But he said they had to introduce me into the world. And I’m so happy about that now, and it was a brilliant idea – I think an EP was very smart because within the first two songs, things have completely changed for me. How we did it before was just a very different way, and a model that I don’t want to go on anymore. But doing this EP has given me a journey to build my own thing out. So we decided on that and I thought it was great, and it’s working out so far. In the future we’ll get some more songs [out there] but I’m happy that I’m giving people these four songs to get familiar with me.”

You’ve always done things your own way, and you’ve told us before about having been on such a unique journey – so are you feeling good about where the journey has gotten you so far?
“Yes! I’m feeling really, really good about it. I kind of did some ceremonial stuff earlier this year to really go deep in myself… the more I talk, I sound like a little flower child or something like that (laughs). But I went super-deep in January and did some ceremony, where you sit for three days and you vibe it out, and you go deep. And then we put the song out in March, and people were posting stuff and finding me – we released synthesizer, and, like, a week later I got 25,000 extra followers on [Instagram]. I was feeling so good, because I’ve never felt that before. I called my manager and was like, ‘What’s happening?’ And he’s like, ‘Yeah, De’Wayne, the song went viral.’ When I think of ‘viral’, I think of people on the internet doing funny stuff. And I was just on the video shaking my hips and singing my song, and it made people feel some type of way. I feel like I put out a 20-second commercial of, ‘This is De’Wayne – you can take it or leave it,’ and people are like, ‘Well, I want more of this!’ That’s the first time I’ve ever felt that. So my walk has been a little different since March – it’s gotten a little swaggier! I’m feeling great.”

In a way, are you happy that this is all happening now, rather than at the start of your career?
“Yes! Because if it happened then, I would have spent all the money that I had – which was no money! I feel so blessed, because artists from the ’60s to ’90s were given time to develop by their labels, and the people around me have been like, ‘We see what you’re doing, it’s something, and you work hard – now you’ve just got to keep it coming.’ I’m happy that it’s happening now because I worked so much at it, and I’m a little more knowledgeable about what I want to say and how I want to approach things. I’ve had time to develop, so now when people are finding synthesizer and lightweight, they’re like, ‘Where have you been?’ And I’m like, ‘Don’t worry, it’s perfect timing!’”

Obviously, these new singles are absolute bangers and we urgently need to hear them live. Are you hoping to tour anytime soon?
“We are working on it! People get on me every day – I see them being like, ‘Album or tour, what are you doing?!’ With things happening the way that they are now, we just have to build it out. And, once again, I’m trying to do my own thing. If I’m not gonna be on a big tour then when I go on a headline tour I want it to be right, and for people to know the songs. I’m on the patient train! And I really want to make this right. I have big dreams and aspirations, and I’ve got to put out more music and put my face out there before just going on tour. I want to be smart about it all. But… maybe in the fall is what I hear from people…”

And are you working on anything else right now? Or is it full steam ahead on this EP and promote the hell out of it?
“It’s full steam ahead on the EP, promote the hell out of it, and then more music will come immediately after. I feel like in the past I would just put out songs and be like, ‘It’s good enough – do what you want with it!’ And in the music world that we live in today, there are so many brilliant artists, and me being at the beginning of my journey, I have to kind of stay in people’s faces in the most respectful and tasteful way that I can. But yes, so much music will be coming this year. So much!”

De’Wayne’s new EP I WANT YOU MORE THAN ANYBODY WANTS YOU is released on June 26

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