There are several reasons why people get into creating their own music at an early age. Whether it is to rebel, express themselves, get out teenage angst, or the countless other reasons teenagers do what they do, the idea that a young person is going to get into music and create a career isn’t a particularly new one.
For Houston artist D4VD his venture into the music industry was anything but typical. First, it was suggested by his mom. Second, it was simply so that he could further his video game career.
“At first my mom was against the idea of me being a professional gamer,” recalls D4VD while at his home in Houston on a break from touring. “But she saw the money coming in and she gradually became cool with it. Then I started losing money because of takedown strikes on YouTube because of music. At that point she let me know I needed to make my own.”
What started out as a career path being a professional Fortnite player quickly evolved because of Google’s rules on copywritten music being used in videos. Creating the music for the videos in his sister’s closet turned makeshift studio the 18-year-old singer wasn’t just experimenting with song structure but also learning the ends and outs of marketing.
“I made my first song in 2021 and I hated it. I created my second song and my goal with each song I created was to be used in other players’ videos. The second song took off and I just started thinking about the how many people were out there like me looking for music to put in their videos that won’t get them taken down. I figured why don’t I just fully go into music catered towards the gaming community.”
Developing songs made specifically to go with viral gaming videos helped D4VD continue to hone his musical skill but, at this point, there still wasn’t a focus on becoming an artist in his own right.
“I became kind of a gimmick account. I was just starting out and gaining popularity so I would do a lot of different genres and styles. I was making Alvin and the Chipmunks covers that people hated but I just kept going.”
Eventually prominent streamer Kai Cenat reacted to one of D4VD’s meme videos promoting the burgeoning artist to step out and show his real talents without altering his voice to sound like a chipmunk. The result was “Romantic Homicide” a single that reached number 33 on Billboard’s Hot 100 with the singer’s downtrodden lyrics flowing over a melancholy guitar riff. As the two minute and thirty second song began to gain traction on social media the singer decided to reveal his identity to fans whom he quickly realized had no idea who he was.
“I had to ease my way out of being a meme account and a lot of people thought I was Hispanic or white so once I revealed my face, I got a lot of comments from people that were surprised I was black.”
Revealing his true identify was just a step along the process of becoming a full-fledged artist. Creating music to appeal to a wide array of fans while also not being focused on building a music career gave D4VD the practice it takes to become a genre bending musician. His haunting voice is used in mash ups on Tik Tok where fans put his music as the soundtrack to videos that they create which is, ironically, not far from his original goal of creating music for others to use in their own creations.
But this time he is focused on making his own creation, releasing Petals to Thorns, and EP showcasing his style with “Sleep Well”, “Here With Me”, the earlier mentioned “Romantic Homicide”, and more. And while these songs could be labeled as alternative or rock, D4VD isn’t ready to be locked down to one genre.
“I don’t even know what to call it because I’m still exploring to this day. I think there are some things I haven’t reached yet. I want to get into country. I want to get into folk. I want to get into Spanish. I want to get into Japanese because of the love I have for the music. I want people to see a lot of different things from me in the future.”
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
