Rising R&B star David Burke, who you may know as d4vd, started his career by making gaming videos on YouTube. Now, he’s preparing for Southern California’s hottest music festival.
The 20-year-old singer-songwriter fostered his musical talents at the request of his mom. Homeschooled in Houston, Texas, he was having trouble sourcing songs to pair with the Fortnite edits he was making and posting to YouTube. Burke’s videos were getting flagged left and right with copyright strikes; his mom’s advice to him was simple: make the music yourself.
d4vd took the solution and ran — or more accurately walked — to his little sister’s closet and got to work. It took just seven months and a handful of singles before he released the track that would change his life. “Romantic Homicide,” a moody, melancholy earworm released in July 2022, has since gone multi-platinum and led to a deal with Interscope/Darkroom.
Since then, he’s spent his young stardom opening for SZA, performing at Milan fashion week for Valentino and most recently teaming up with Kali Uchis for his glimmering new single, “Crashing,” from his upcoming debut album, Withered (out April 24 via Interscope). On Friday, d4vd will take the Coachella stage for the first time.
PAPER sat down with Burke to talk about his desert debut, his evolving relationship with gaming and the DIY recording process behind Withered.
How are you feeling about your first-ever Coachella performance this weekend?
It’s gonna be amazing. I’m hyped. I’ve got the adrenaline pumping right now working on the set, I’m making it crazy.
I heard the first concert you ever attended was your own. Then you opened for SZA on her SOS tour, now Coachella. How has live performance shaped you as an artist?
Live performances have been a crazy journey and a wild ride for me. Going from never seeing a live show to playing my own show, going on my first tour without any prior knowledge of what a live show was like from an audience perspective, it was kind of like “What am I doing?” But the fans instruct you. The fans become the background dancers, the fans become the background singers. You get to interact with your fans the most. Fan interaction was the focal point. It’s like, “How can I make this an experience for the people that came here and paid money to see me?” Learning from the greats, learning from SZA, seeing her work in such a masterful way and taking as much as I could, being an impressionable performer and taking the notes is what make it so great. It’s all translated into this Coachella set. I’m excited.
Can you tell PAPER anything about the Coachella set?
Oh yeah. I’m bringing out my boy, Jason, the streamer. He’s coming up. Everything I do, I try to merge my influences and what I came up on. I was a YouTuber and streamer first so I try to find new ways to include that in my artistry and make sure my worlds stay collided.
I love that. How has your relationship with gaming and the internet evolved over time? How has that affected your music?
The relationship is still very strong. I try to make sure it doesn’t influence the music, per se, but it influences everything around it. The visuals, the storytelling, everything like that. With my music, I want to veer away from that and become a true artist, put my life on paper and into these songs. But especially if my fans have the same interests as me and go through the same experiences I do, I want to give them that relatability. This album I’m releasing is kind of like I’m leaving my life in these headphones and speakers, and you’re playing my life with this album. So the video games have been a good launching point and foundation for what I do.
The world-building is so important. I want to talk fashion, too, since that’s such a visual element for you. I saw you at the Coperni show in Paris last month. You performed for Valentino at Milan Fashion Week a few years ago. How does fashion fit into your life and your music?
Fashion is a big part of my life now. It’s crazy because four years ago my mom was doing all my clothes. Being able to go to these shows and getting inspired, performing for Valentino, building these connections with these great designers and creative directors has been a very inspiring aspect of my creative process, especially in making music. With Coperni breaking the boundaries and adding video game aspects and bringing the eSports world into fashion, it’s super fun. I get to express myself through clothing. I’m watching a lot of A$AP Rocky YouTube videos.
Shoutout.
Yeah, seeing what he’s got on. Seeing what’s getting brought back from the past, what’s future, what’s current. It’s such a fun playground.
Totally. I want to talk about Withered. How are you feeling about your debut album?
I feel great. This album has been the lead-up for multiple years. It’s like a staircase, this project. The fans have been waiting on it, the new people are coming in from Invincible and Arcane. Blending all these worlds, these TV shows, movies, video games, it feels like all the eyes are on me right now. I want to deliver the best project.
You recorded it at home? In your sister’s closet? Tell me about the recording process. Why take the DIY approach?
I love the DIY aspect. That’s how it all started: from the closet, working on everything myself and being self-sufficient. My mom always taught me the DIY mentality: “If you could do it yourself, don’t let somebody else do it for you.” I spent two weeks in London with my friends and used that environment, too, cuz it was gloomy out there and very sad vibes. There’s no sunlight. I used that as my headquarters then spent three weeks finishing the project on my phone. I recorded songs in London but then re-recorded them on my phone just to keep the magic. I can’t give up on where I started. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
And that Kali Uchis collab, “Crashing,” just dropped. What was working with her like?
Kali was amazing. She works as fast as I do. I recorded “Crashing” by myself in Houston, but thought something was missing from the second verse. Kali came to mind, I sent it to her. She was like, “Oh my god, I love it,” and sent her verse back the next day. Her work ethic is unparalleled.
Kali’s amazing. Who else is exciting you in music right now?
All these young artists doing it themselves just like I did when I was in the closet. I love the resurgence of bedroom pop, quinnie, beabadoobee, Clairo. Those types of people that just get it and do it by themselves and set the standard for what artists can do without the studio. It’s inspiring the next generation. It inspired me to go full forward. Those are my goats right now.
Photography: Kenneth Cappello, Max Durante