A debut album is often the first chapter of an artist's story, but for d4vd, it's a finale.
"I wanted to make sure it feels like a goodbye this time instead of an introduction, because I've had two introductions already in my two EPs," he says of Withered, due April 25 via Darkroom/Interscope Records. "I wanted this to be the wave to this era."
Sonically and thematically, Withered picks up where d4vd left off on his 2023 EPs, Petals to Thorns and The Lost Petals. Like these earlier releases, the LP contemplates feelings and experiences of love, loss, grief, confusion, and acceptance through his eclectic bedroom pop lens. Yet the album's title and cover art indicates that Withered is a conclusion of this period well before a single note plays.
Its cover captures a glassy-eyed d4vd lying face up in a field of white roses, bound in their thorny vines. "I'm kind of decaying in the ground, at the end of my life cycle," he tells GRAMMY.com.
It's a rather ironic sentiment for the young singer/songwriter, who just turned 20 in March. But d4vd has worked toward the culmination of this three-part narrative since he started self-releasing music in 2021 — though what he's already accomplished wasn't part of his plan.
Born David Anthony Burke, d4vd was a homeschooled teen and avid gamer that aspired to play Fortnite professionally. In an effort to make this dream a reality, he began uploading video montages of his gameplay to YouTube (then posted under the handle Limit Ant, which he has since changed to d4vdgaming) and set them to popular songs. As his viewership surged, he began facing copyright strikes. Frustrated by the issues presented, he decided to take his mom's advice: try making his own music to use in his videos.
To get in a creative mindset, he retreated to one of the most secluded spaces in his family's Houston home, his sister's walk-in closet. Using only his phone, earbuds and the digital music-making app BandLab, d4vd began sharing his creations through his videos — and soon realized there was as much of an audience for his music as for his gaming.
Within a matter of months, d4vd had more than 15 songs in his arsenal, sharing them to SoundCloud and TikTok. They established the hybrid alternative sound, confessional lyrics, and general lack of polish — which, as time would reveal, is just as much a product of artistic intention as his DIY approach — that have become stylistic hallmarks of his music.
While his songs gained traction from his early posts in November 2021, d4vd had his first taste of viral success with a plaintive one-off titled "Romantic Homicide," and soon after, a warmer, breezier track called "Here With Me." The homegrown ballads caught the attention of Darkroom/Interscope Records, who signed the gamer-turned-singer in September 2022; before he knew it, d4vd was a full-fledged artist.
Come 2023, he was touring Europe and North America and would release not one, but two EPs, Petals to Thorns and The Lost Petals. Whereas Petals to Thorns explored early love (petals) and its eventual challenges (thorns), The Lost Petals leaned into its loss in a more subdued strain of his crossover sound. Two weeks after The Lost Petals arrived, he continued his rapidly growing success by joining SZA — his idol — on the SOS Tour, marking his first-ever arena performances.
An album was the natural next step for d4vd. And after such a whirlwind year, he had a lot more life experience to pull from.
"Going from being a homeschooled kid with no knowledge of the outside world... [to] having all these experiences that I never had before... kind of reset my brain, in a way," he says, noting that his pivot to music and 2022 breakthrough made him feel "like a bird being freed from a cage." "I was able to kind of just put myself in a whole different, I guess, life, in a literal sense."
As he alludes, d4vd mostly pulled from outside sources for his earlier music, whether it was Disney/Pixar's Up inspiring the lyrics of "Here With Me" or Japanese acts Minami and Tricot informing the sounds of The Lost Petals track "Rehab." Writing an album now offered him the opportunity to go inward, and create more personally than ever before.
"It was such a scary thing, 'cause I've never been this vulnerable with an album or just music in general," he adds. "But this album is basically how I felt going through my first relationships and first friendships ending, and meeting new people and losing people, and kind of going through the motions of my own experiences. These are all real experiences that happened to me."
Though he set out to draw strictly from his own life, he struggled to silence the noise of outside influence in the early stages of the album-making process. An early version of the LP culminated in what he describes as an "R&B and pop-esque" sound inspired by his time on tour with SZA; while he suggests that it sounded "really good," it ultimately didn't feel right for the d4vd project.
"I had to take a step back and be like, 'Yo, that's not me,'" he says of his initial attempt at the album. "So then I tried [making the album] again and again and again; it was this process of constantly re-finding myself and finding what I'm good at.
"Once you learn you're good at something, you don't want to stop doing it," he continues, "and it takes a certain type of discipline — especially in the age of TikTok and Instagram, and everything constantly moving — and you just want to get something out so quick. I had to stop myself and be like, This is what d4vd is as an artist, and this is what David is as a fan of music."
Seeking to put himself in an entirely different mindset from his early album attempts, d4vd recruited a small team of producers to join him at Sleeper Sounds, a boutique recording studio in London. During the two-week stint, he put everyone on "the d4vd diet," a regimented and exclusionary practice that required everyone to listen only to his music. It worked; in 14 days, they made as many songs, all within d4vd's original bedroom pop lane — where he was meant to be from the start.
While the writing retreat proved successful, d4vd knew the only way to finish the album was to go back to where his career began: his sister's closet. In addition to creating several more songs in BandLab, he used the app to remake some of the London tracks, trading their polish for what he refers to as "the magic" — the rawness and authentic characteristics of his sound.
"I was trying to put myself back in that 2022 mindset I had of being super self-sufficient and not relying on too much," he says. "What people like about my music is that it feels very reachable. It's very relatable, not just in the lyrical content, but in the kids that are being inspired by the music and feel that they can make that song themselves. That's always been a big mission for me, to keep that grounded mindset and be always reachable by the fans."
This DIY approach and its organic sound mostly permeate Withered, which is a near-even split of songs from the London sessions and his return to the closet. On the 16-track LP, d4vd balances unimposing instrumentation ("Somewhere In The Middle" and "Crashing," the album's sole collaboration, alongside Kali Uchis) with more emphatic production ("Feel It," which was written for the Amazon Prime Video animated series "Invincible" — a full-circle moment from his early inspirations). Together, the contrasts across the album not only align with d4vd's established artistic identity, but also show his willingness to expand his sound.
As much as d4vd tried to avoid outside influence when making the album, naturally some still trickled in. "You Left Me First," noticeably channels Cigarettes After Sex in its subtle, lulling production and d4vd's low, languorous vocal cadence. Elsewhere, the singer references Billie Eilish in the gossamer "Say It Back," and Radiohead in the two tracks that bookend Withered, "Atomic Land" and "Afterlife."
The latter is arguably the most stunning moment on the LP. d4vd's four-minute resolution to transmute loss into love that endures, even in the afterlife, swells with emotion and strings, drawing the album to a close with poignant pomp and circumstance.
Rather than embodying a particular experience, "Afterlife" finds d4vd working with the essence of finality, paying homage to "everything in my life that has come to an end, and everything I've loved and cherished or had a passion for eventually going away" — including this period of the d4vd project.
Though Withered brings his flower-inspired series to a close, d4vd is already thinking about where he'll go next — including a sound that's "going to really surprise people." Before he dives into his next chapter, he'll close this one with his largest tour yet, formally bidding this era adieu with 46 dates across North America and Europe. Along the way, d4vd will continue to powerfully reaffirm what Withered renders clear: The musician behind the moniker is in full bloom.