For Lucky dayThe risk is in the reward. It’s been two years since he released his sophomore album “Candydrip,” and for its follow-up “Algorithm,” which dropped last Friday, the 38-year-old wanted to dig even deeper. “I want to be vulnerable when I make music,” he tells Variety from Los Angeles. “I can do anything, anything, but I want to show myself. I’m a work in progress and God is working on me, so I want to share it. It’s an exciting feeling.”
The New Orleans native began work on “Algorithm” last June, following his usual creative strategy: blocking out the outside world and, this time, assembling a team of musicians that includes Bruno Mars, D’Mile and J. Kercy to shape his vision. The result is an album with outsize ambition, meant to be performed live, that transitions between genres with ease. The lead single, “HERicane,” for example, has an upbeat groove, while tracks like “Breakin’ the Bank” and “Never Leavin’ U Lonely” ride over fuzzy funk instrumentation.
“Algorithm” feels like a culmination, or at least a major milestone, for Daye. After debuting with 2018’s “I” EP, Daye has become a steady presence in R&B and beyond, earning 11 Grammy nominations as a solo artist and a songwriter for Beyoncé and Mary J. Blige. (His lone win came in 2022 for his “Table for Two” EP in the best progressive R&B album category.) His artistry has inched forward with each release, and “Algorithm” is at its highest point, a story tattered by grief and buoyed by an all-consuming romance.
As he prepares for his upcoming Algorithm tour, which kicks off July 11, Daye discusses how he approached recording his latest effort and why it’s worth risking it all to share so much of himself.
“Algorithm” combines a lot of different styles of music, which is nothing new for you, but there’s funk, rock, R&B.
There’s a bit of psychedelia in there.
What inspired you musically on this album, to make it a confluence of all these different types of genres?
I was very inspired by the big sounds. Like all these guys, the Bee Gees… I feel like all these songs at that time were R&B. No matter who sings them, no matter what chart they appear on, it was all R&B. And you feel the soul in these songs. I wanted to bring out the R&B in every song that I loved, which became my personal algorithm in life.
How did you approach this project from the standpoint of making it a complete musical concept rather than disparate songs thrown together?
Well, for me, I just block out the moment and try to hold on to that initial idea of where I am right now in my life. And I just put it all together and try to hold on to that overall feeling, and as I hold on to that feeling, I’m pointing out different angles within that feeling. Because with every feeling, there are so many sides to it. So that feeling with all the sides of it, that’s literally what the album is. It’s just science, it’s electric, it’s happy, it’s festive.
In many of the songs you sound bewitched, you literally mention being under a spell in “Soft.” Are there any particular relationships or experiences you’ve been through that inspired you for these songs?
That’s crazy. Probably, man. I think it’s a combination of feelings. Some people believe in spells, some people don’t, some people just don’t know what it is. It can be light, it can be heavy. Everything you can imagine probably exists. And maybe I’ve been under some spell, but I think music is the release of all that. Everything I’ve been through or felt that maybe felt off-balance or wrong or unsafe, or even right, I just put it on wax.
You also sing about loss and regret in relationships. Some people find it hard to admit regret or longing for losing someone, so was it difficult for you to express that on a record and share those feelings?
Yeah, definitely. While I was doing it, I was going through all of this. Fortunately, for my creativity, I was literally trying to figure out who was supposed to be around me. What was going on, what my mistakes were, what my errors were. Just moving people around and organizing things in my life. It was the epitome of “HERicane” and all the turmoil that was going on inside of me.
“Mary” stands out, reminiscent of DMX’s “What These Bitches Want.”
Yeah. I wanted to do that… I had the idea in my notes. I literally wrote DMX songs, DMX and Sisqo, and I love concepts. I like to create a world around every song, and that was the world around that song. And also in my mind, sometimes I get to a point where I’m human but I’m a little god. Sometimes you get into that little phase, and I was in that phase, it was like, what would God say? I don’t know if he loved Mary, but he says it to Mary. So it was a triple entendre in my mind. Like, what would God say? Mary is the one. And also the concept of the DMX thing was in my mind. And, I had to talk about weed a little bit because I smoke a little bit, and that tied it all together from my first single “Roll Some Mo.” That’s how they know me. I’m like the Snoop Dogg of R&B.
“That’s You” was co-written with Bruno Mars. How did the idea come about?
Bruno is a genius, first of all. I always admired him, ever since the song with BoB. [“Nothin’ on You”] For a long time. I always appreciate the way he wrote. He’s the reason I started studying Motown, the way Motown music was written. Because I know it’s all his bars and stuff. So for me, being able to work with him was like a dream because I always imagined that. His idea of trying to imitate my voice was so endearing and I didn’t want to let him down. So I recorded his melody on the phone and we put it in ProTools, I took it home and put some words to it and my goal was to make Bruno proud.
How was the process of connecting with Raye for “Paralyzed”?
We went into the studio, I think I had the first verse already. I recorded it at home, the chorus, came back, wrote her an idea and she listened to it. We started doing it in the studio and I realized I wanted to take it further. We played her two songs, she picked that one and that was it. She took it home and it went further than we did in the studio. Just meeting her was amazing. We saved someone’s life.
What do you mean?
On the beach, we saved someone’s life. It’s weird. After the studio, I told her I had to take her home. I took her home and she was like, “What are you gonna do?” I told her I was gonna take my ass to the beach. It was like 2:30 a.m., I was going to the beach. I wasn’t gonna sleep. She was like, “Well, I guess the night’s not over.” So we went to the beach and we were talking about the session, talking about songs, talking about the future, talking about careers. We met as creative people and I looked to the right and I saw this guy and this girl on a dock at the tower or whatever. At first, I thought it was a dog and I was like, “Why are you dragging a dog like that?” It was kind of far away, we walked close.
We got a little weird. I thought if I talked to him, I might go to jail because if it’s bad for him, it’s bad for me. So, I sat in the car and watched him and made sure she was okay. Then another car pulled up and four people grabbed her and started carrying her to the car, she was all smashed up or whatever. I called the police. I didn’t have time for the police. I was like, hey, what’s going on, man? I’m just letting them know that there’s someone here that really needs their help. This ain’t a game. I gave them my name, all this information, and I told them I just wanted everyone to know so it wouldn’t be on my conscience. And then they took it seriously, I was about to hang up. They sent some cops over and just locked everyone up because obviously that was just bullshit.
Taking a step back and looking at “Algorithm,” how do you think it portrays you as an artist at this point in your career?
As you know, I’ve taken some time off to fix a lot of screws that were loose and I definitely didn’t want to take a break, I didn’t need a break. But this album for me is a new beginning. I know I’m solidified in terms of the industry and the Grammy nominations, my peers adore me, and I have hardcore fans that I love very much. So now, I think this is a guy saying you can go crazy, you can travel the world of creativity, and you don’t need to feel like you’re in a box anymore. And if it wins, it wins. And if it doesn’t, I’m still on purpose. I’m comfortable with that. This is something that people don’t know that they’re not ready for.