5 minute read
Lost and Found
He's got the rhythm, and he's got the blues. Crooning with a wounded compassion and a spiritual soul, Daniel Caesar's got nothing to lose.
by Pola Beronilla
Daniel Caesar didn’t always tread his fated path with conviction. Although he was raised in a religious family, his soul yearned for something that went beyond the pages of the Gospel. “We used to have family worship in the evenings. My father would play guitar and have us all singing [laughs]. I hated it at the time, but I’m glad he insisted on it,” recalls the Toronto native. As he began to realize his sole purpose, he still found himself on a wistful pursuit of self-actualization. He knew that he was more than that. “I always wanted to be an artist, but somewhere in junior high, I had come to the conclusion it was a ridiculous idea,” he recalls. “But that changed when I got kicked out of school and met Sean Leon and the IXXI. He introduced me to my producers Matthew Burnett and Jordan Evans and the rest was history.” Leaving the comfort of his home over a crisis of faith, Daniel sought on to become a starving artist , and he had a hunger to satisfy.
Feeding on a mix of technical virtuosity and emotional power, he indulges in a vintage soul sound with a fresh luster. While he deems to follow the footsteps of Kirk Franklin, Fred Hammond, Stevie Wonder, John Mayer, Bon Iver, and Frank Ocean, he pushes himself past his comfort zone for something a bit more ambitious. Finding a multifaceted genre that makes listeners feel rather than just hear, he creates a secular R&B sound that’s unique to his own. “To be completely honest, I just stopped looking at what my peers were doing. I think as artists, we consume the world around us and dwell on it a bit to produce something new,” he shares. “But if you’re always dwelling on other people’s content, you run the risk of picking up their tendencies. You can’t chase the culture. You have to make it come to you. Contribute to it.” And contribute to the culture he did.
From 2014’s Praise Break to 2015’s Pilgrim’s Paradise, Daniel Caesar consistently delivers purity to his songs that contemporary R&B radio doesn’t usually offer. Penning moody anecdotes about love, loss, faith, desire, and determination, the singer-songwriter transcends soundwaves into the inner core of our existence, leaving us with raw talent and resolute mystic. Released last June, his latest single entitled “We Find Love” doesn’t disappoint as well. With his lingering voice sinking into the tangle of gospel undertones and heart-tugging guitar chords, there’s a glorious synchronicity between the frankness of his vocals and the heaviness of the lyrics when he sings, “We find love, we get up / And we fall down, we give up.” Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves, and now that we’ve found Daniel Caesar, we’re beginning to understand what we’ve been missing all along.
Q: While Toronto has become known for a variant auto-tuned form of R&B, you, on the other hand, opt to go for a stripped-down approach to soul. What inspired you towards this approach?
A: I’ve always loved analog methods of doing things. I was introduced to music and songwriting through guitar. I didn’t meet anyone that made beats until after I had begun to develop a style of creating songs, and my producers helped facilitate my style as opposed to making me fit theirs—as any good producer should.
Q: Your lyrics seem to hit a chord with your fans. How important is storytelling to your music?
A: I don’t really think about stories when writing. I try to open up and talk about what I’m going through, but cryptically, in hopes of not oversharing. It’s important that my music is an honest representation of myself, so I don’t have to pretend all the time. That would be exhausting. I don’t have all the answers; I just want to lay it all down for the listener and allow them to derive their own meaning.
Q: What do you think it is about your music that has continually and increasingly drawn fans?
A: There’s no way to really know for sure, I suppose. But one thing people are always telling me is that they appreciate how honest it is. I think people are hungry for an honest representation of the world around us because it’s changing with truth and fiction becoming increasingly indistinguishable. We’re in the era of alternative facts. People just want to feel comfort and security, and all those things.
Q: We read that there was a point in your life that you found yourself sleeping on park benches. Was there ever a point in your life when you almost gave up music?
A: No. I never considered it. I definitely had a “get rich or die trying” mentality [laughs]. I considered taking up different illegal activities to hold me over until things worked, but I knew it would work deep down, so I learned to do without. I had too much to lose.
Q: From the time of your debut EP to the artist you are right now, what have you discovered about yourself?
A: I have more time to sit, reflect, and analyze myself. I’m getting to the root of some personal problems and traumas. We all have them. Noticing bad habits and then trying to change. Also, I find myself turning into my dad more and more, which is great. He’s a good man, so I think I’ll be okay.
Q: With all this positive feedback surrounding you, how do you keep yourself grounded?
A: I try not to pay it any mind. People see that things are picking up and they blow smoke up your ass. I believe in what I’m doing, and that’s all the fuel I need.
danielcaesar.com @danielcaesar
