Toronto born duo DVSN, made up of equal parts producer Nineteen85 and vocalist Daniel Daley, are best known for their heartfelt, riveting slow-jams and open approach to music. Flawless falsetto deliveries, contemporary production, and authenticity are what makes their music so different from the rest, and markable standouts in the R&B world. Last year, they released their latest work Working On My Karma, and have been on support of their album since January, which kicked off overseas. Now that they’re back in the states, they’re doing things a bit differently and still managing to find unique ways to set themselves apart from their peers.
We got a chance to chat with Daniel Daley after the show in Dallas, and got to learn more about the duo’s creation of their hit album.
Jermaine Dupree and Brian-Michale Cox were very involved with the creation Working on My Karma. How did that relationship come about, and how was it working on the album together?
It came about when my management set up a meeting with Jermaine, mainly as a fan. I’d never met him before. So we went by to meet him, and after the first day, I wasn’t sure if he was interested in the music. Well, he set up a meeting I believe the next day, and from there, it all went by very fast. It went from me being unsure if he liked the music, to us working, to us creating a song, to us hanging out all the time – his mom, daughter, friends, all welcomed me as family. It’s very cool. So, I went from being a fan, to him being a mentor to kind of like a big brother. We were just with him last night actually. We actually just did one of our tattoo events last night in Atlanta at his studio.
Did you garner any inspiration while being in Atlanta?
Naturally, you know? I’m the kind of person who writes about reality. So every living experience becomes a part of everything that I sing. From songs like “Touch It” for instance. You can hear that Magic City vibe. You can hear what it feels like. People who have been to Magic City for years say, “Yo, if you listen to ‘Touch It’ THAT’S what Magic Feels like.’ The city is super alive. It’s super rich in culture. It’s got some of the dopest black people and black communities that you can find. A lot of history is there. A lot of music history is there, so I think if you’re in tune, you have no choice but to soak it up.
-When the single initially dropped, there were a lot of conversations sparked surrounding “If I get Caught” It prompted quite a few Twitter debates and hot takes. How is it being received now, and what conversations are you hoping it sparks in the future?
The beautiful thing about that song now, is – and you could see it at the show tonight – the crowd goes crazy, right? They love it, they sing along. It’s always been super infectious, it’s always been a chant. I just think that people rejected the notion and the idea. A lot of people did. And some people rejected it because somebody else they know accepted it *too* much, and it bothered them. I think it bothered them that their husband, or their girlfriend or their friend agreed with it. So, it created this sort of clashing.
We didn’t think that was gonna happen. But, I knew it was going to be a conversation starter. What we used to do, was play it in rooms of people to test it to see how it does, and it would always spark these debates amongst everybody in the room. We would come back an hour later and people would still be arguing. So we thought, this is great – people are really forced to have a conversation about their standpoint on this idea. What we didn’t forecast, was that when they play our song, not everyone who listened to it would be in a room to debate with, so, they just end up attacking you [on Twitter]” Daniel laughs as he recalls comical Twitter mentions he’d received as a result.
“So, that part we didn’t forsee. But, it made for a great conversation. No matter what people say, it’s a very honest song in the sense that there are genuinely people that feel this way, and there are people living through these situations. It’s a very REAL thing. How you view it, where you stand on it, that’s up to you. But we’ve always made a point of talking about relationships. DVSN doesn’t cower from any topic. I want people to know that. I want people to understand that. Where that other R&B singer might not go – we will. Because that’s who we are. We’re divided from the rest. We’re not going to be like everybody else.
So, whether it’s a beautiful love song, whether it’s a beautiful slow song when everyone else is doing song, if it’s a song about cheating while still loving somebody – we’ll tackle the topic. It’s really just continuing our brand. We’ve always had those “did they just say that?” kind of moments in our music. But, it’s real.
-Tell us how the Jagged Edge collaboration on “What’s Up” came about?
The song was actually done before they heard it, and they heard it when they came by Jermaine’s studio. They just popped in while I was there, and I was like, “oh sh*t!” Jagged Edge just casually strolled in. They mentioned that they were fans of some of the music they’d heard, and asked to hear some stuff. I played “What’s Up” and they were like “Yooo – this is timeless R&B. This is an amazing song that could live forever,” and I was just super humbled that they felt that way about the song. So when it came down to finishing it, we were just like, what does it need? And we thought, what if we have Jagged Edge come in and just lay harmonies in the background and just make it really feel like the R&B that no one can get anywhere else these days, that kind that everyone wants? Everyone’s claiming they want that crying in the rain R&B – so why don’t we take it all the way there? We have the B. Cox piano, we have Jermain Dupri on the drums – why not just bring Jagged Edge in there to bring the seasoning that only they can add? And they were just like, excited to do it, which was even crazier. They just really loved the song. Big shout out to them. They went in and [finished] it in like, 20 minutes. Not even playing.
-You’ve been on tour since January. Tell us some of the pros and cons of tour life, and do you have any crazy stories?
I don’t know about any crazy stories. I don’t really know what’s crazy. I mean, tonight was kinda crazy! To be honest. What was it, a faint, a fight, and another faint? Right after the faint, some people started on the left side. Then somebody else passed out somewhere else? It was a lot.
I love touring, I love performing. I love having the chance to be with the fans. I love having the chance to see which songs they love the most, which lyrics hit them the hardest. I love that part.”
His tour manager pops in to let us know we’ve got about 5 minutes left before he has to head out for a show appearance.
“Cons, I would say, are moments like what’s happening right now. I’ve been experiencing being under the weather in a way that I haven’t before. When you’re touring, you don’t have a second to stop and recuperate. You still have a show, you still have a show, you still have a show. So I’m trying to learn how to treat my body and fine tune it in that way. So that you know how to push through things and how to fix things on the fly, because you don’t have things to let things naturally go.”
Tell us about your meet and greet experiences.
This is our first time doing meet and greets. At these meet and greets, these beautiful ladies have ummm….taken things to new levels of comfortability,” Daniel chuckles. ” I mean it’s dope at the end of the day. I think that they feel like they know me already – and I think that they kind of treat it that way. Like some ask for me to pose like it’s their wedding photo, like you’re leading them down the aisle. But there’s a lot of dope moments, and I think that what’s really dope is that we expanded the idea of a meet and greet with the tattoo events.
I love this concept. Can you expand more on the tattoo events? What are they like?
It’s like a higher-tier meet and greet that we kinda put together ourselves. We put together a set time and a space. We’ll have drinks and hookah, and the fans get to come in and get to get a DVSN symbol tatted by me. Sometimes I’ll have another professional artist come in to help depending on how long the line of people is, because I’ll never get through everyone all by myself. So I’ll have another artist come in to start [the tattoo] and I’ll come in and finish it, but I make sure I touch everybody’s. And then they stay, they talk, they party, they vibe, they show off their tatts. And they’re there for the meaning of the symbol, which is people that are on their own vibe, even if it means being divided from the rest. So, that whole concept is kind of like, unifying people in every city. There’s a band of people that are dedicated to that way of life. So, not only are they only connected even stronger to us and DVSN and the movement, but technically they’re connected to each other. Because they’re going to end up meeting people in every city and be like “oh, you have one too?” “you’re one of us”. And we keep hearing that from them, how much they love it because no other artist does it. They tell us that they feel like most meet and greets are hi and bye, but that we’re really here spending time with us and giving us something that’s permanent.
-What trajectory do you think R&B is heading towards? What do you intend to bring to the genre in years to come?
More disruption. More classic material. More high level music. But I think the trajectory right now is in a good space. I think it’s in a space where a lot of people are talented, a lot of people are moving. It’s just people have to get back to place where they’re striving for the same level of excellence, I think, [in terms of ] the R&B that we used to love. So as long as we all do that, then it’s in a good place. R&B is talking about way more than it used to, which is good. It only used to be, I love you, I don’t love you, we broke up, etc. Now, it’s anything under the sun. Which is amazing. We just gotta get that same level of songs out. But, I want DVSN to always be a trailblazer. Stepping on new ground, pushing new boundaries, whilst maintaining the fundamental and classic things that come with R&B.
For someone who may be listening to Working on My Karma for the very first time, what would you want to be the key takeaways?
Being better than you were yesterday!
Photos and interview by: Meme Urbane Photography
