DE’WAYNE has already delivered show-stopping albums, so when he claims he’s finally “cracked the code’, it’s time to sit up and pay attention. Check out our latest Upset cover story.
Words: Steven Loftin.
Photos: Shai Lev.
Newly signed to Fearless Records, De’Wayne remains steadfast in being a free spirit. With his new EP ‘I Want You More Than Anybody Wants You’, he’s bridging the gap between 2022’s ‘My Favourite Blue Jeans’ and his already-simmering next full-length endeavour. “After [this] EP was when I cracked the code. I was like, ‘Oh, now I’m a musician!’”
‘I Want You…’ is a graduation ceremony of sorts for the rising star. “I’m gonna get a big nice grad cap!” he laughs. This little dose of his rambunctious sounds is, “The last of De’Wayne getting in the studio and just being like, you know,” he shrugs, “‘Sounds good to me’. Now I know what I’m doing and looking for it.” This latest take on a bold and unapologetic embracing of love is a moment to relish for its creator. “I just want to show the world who I am,” De’Wayne admits.
His motive for this fresh batch of songs is simple. “I’ve been living by this Prince quote,” he mentions. “‘You’re either here to enlighten or to discourage’.” While this outing is a direct nod towards a certain figure in De’Wayne’s life he refers to as his “best friend”, there’s an undertone that runs deep through its canyons of unabridged devotion. “It’s all about self-love,” he professes. “I think people may try to reach and be like, ‘Oh, this is about this person’ – and it is – but it’s clearly like I’m showing you De’Wayne.”
“Just like with the video,” he adds. “The song that’s just come out [‘Synthesiser’], people can be like, ‘Oh, it’s about a girl – and it is – but also I’m a fan of me, you know what I mean? I’m on my knees… and it’s not De’Wayne at his peak but at his best at the moment, and that’s nothing but self-love.”
The other three-quarters of the EP – ‘Lightweight’, ‘Homewrecker’, and ‘Mr.She’ – continue this professing, each dabbling in various facets of a blossoming relationship in all its wild-eyed passion, with a focus on killer hooks and, particularly for closer ‘Mr.She’, feeling resolutely euphoric.
De’Wayne’s insatiable appetite for life and zest for being the next jewel in rock’s crown is well documented and still very palpable when chatting to the man. He’s embraced this even further in the video for ‘Synthesiser’, which finds De’Wayne writhing and rocking about looking effortlessly cool. With a new team around him who are all-in on the De’Wayne energy, bringing such ideas to life is a basic premise of going deep. “You really gotta go deep if you want to take it there,” he enthuses. “My heroes go deep, and people that I look up to and friends around me that I’m constantly inspired by, they’re constantly going deep within themselves.”
Trying to bring this energy and handing it out to those who listen to his tracks or see his seductively raucous live show is key. Giving back is a large part of De’Wayne’s motives. “Showing people that you are enough how you are. People try to change you and make you want to do certain things, but how we are is enough. I want to show people that, and, really, it’s me telling myself that, too.”
People try to change you and make you want to do certain things, but how we are is enough
De’Wayne
His earnestness deepens the further he travels down this road he’s set out on. He’s met characters since upping sticks from Houston for LA who have helped him grow, becoming more confident as an artist and believing in himself. “I have this mantra that I use in my typewriter every morning,” he explains. “‘I’m ready to go to my next level’. What I feel like that means is, I have to become a better person, I have to become a better musician, I have to become a better performer if I want to go there and be Number 1.”
“Not to be an asshole,” he continues, “but I’ve been seeing kids say beautiful things like [I’m] this generation’s, you know, whatever, rock star vibe, and for me to reach that real level, I have to go deep, because I’m just a kid in my heart. I’m just Miss Jackson’s son. I’m just my mom’s son, who was from the South and is now out in LA.”
De’Wayne is undoubtedly a hard worker. Focused on becoming someone, his confidence results from his spirituality meeting ambition driven by a modest amount of ego. “You just have to work on it constantly,” he explains. “Not to get where I am now, because I’m nowhere, but to get confident and to start to love yourself is more than saying I love me, and that takes work, meditative work, and just being alone and finding people around you that push you.”
De’Wayne is also reflecting on the impact his heroes had on him. Citing the likes of Marvin Gaye, The Commodores, and Earth, Wind and Fire, he’s dedicated to positively channelling these names into this new mini-chapter – not that De’Wayne has ever embraced his wallowing side, he’s the human embodiment of positivity – but this time around there something in the air. “That’s why I’ve been living by that Prince quote. I admire my friends who make stuff that is so deep and can be sad and can be all this stuff. But the way I look at the artists that I listen to, it’s all spiritual, and it’s all love, and it’s all positive. I want to inject people’s hearts with love, man, I really do.”
I can’t make a Marvin Gaye song, I can’t make a Lenny Kravitz song – I only know how to make De’Wayne song
De’Wayne
He admits that it can be challenging when he becomes hell-bent on figuring out how to turn these influences into his brand of rollicking pop-rock. “I get so stuck on those songs from my favourite artists; I want to make something in that world,” he says. “And you always get a little nervous, but I can’t make a Marvin Gaye song, I can’t make a Lenny Kravitz song – I only know how to make De’Wayne song, so the filter that it comes out is purely me.”
The release of ‘synthesizer’ allowed him to find a kindred audience, much like his heroes. “People who look like me saw that song and saw someone that they could cling on to, and they understood that I was coming from a place of love,” he gushes. “I’ve never been placed in front of Black people for them to be like, ‘Oh, I can carry this, and I can hold on to this’ the way that I hold on to Prince and the way that I hold on to Earth, Wind and Fire, and the way that I hold on to Marvin Gaye.”
Having found himself predominantly facing white audiences, this new turn for De’Wayne is empowering. “I’ve always played in front of white-bands’ fans,” he says. “And they would love me, but… for my people to accept me the way that I am, it makes me emotional to even talk about it – like I love because it is positive. “
Two albums and one EP deep with his eye firmly on the future, he’s dealt with record labels, and he’s now finding an audience who see him for him, thanks to his unfiltered take on being a burgeoning rock star. It’s all reflected through earnest experience and appreciation for all that came before him.
So, was becoming this unfettered version something he envisioned while drawing up the major De’Wayne plan in his bedroom? “I would say musically, yes,” he confirms. “But as far as the internal work, I didn’t see that stuff coming.”
Musically, De’Wayne has always known he was made to perform – that’s been a given as he’s in total control of that. “I do what I do, and I do it like no one else, so I understand that part,” he affirms with a smirk. It’s the other stuff that’s cropped up that’s taken him by surprise. “The internal work of becoming that person that you want to be, I didn’t see that coming,” he admits. “Taking time to go on those spiritual journeys that you hear people doing, and I find myself doing a lot of that these days. I’ve always felt very spiritual, but that’s been a surprise, and it’s coming naturally. It’s a beautiful part that I’ve added to my life.”
“I’ve always been very grounded,” he continues. “And very understanding of don’t attach yourself to things. Have your foot in and have your foot out – still be there, but don’t be there. I’ve always understood that, but I’ve really been tapping in with that. And it helps me day to day because we can be here today and be gone tomorrow. So I’m here fully right now. You know what I mean?”
While the road has been tough, De’Wayne has relished every moment. Whatever happens next, he’s sure to keep that fire alive because it’s powered by his imagination and determination. “My way of being a rock star is just being De’Wayne, and I think that I am enough how I come. And I think that’s really beautiful.” ■
De’Wayne’s new EP ‘I Want You More Than Anybody Wants You’ is out 25th October. Follow Upset’s Spotify playlist here.
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