d4vd tells us about “romantic” new song ‘One More Dance’ and “primal” debut album ‘Withered’

d4vd has shared new single ‘One More Dance’ from his upcoming debut album ‘Withered’. Check it out below alongside our interview with the rising alt-pop superstar.

• READ MORE: d4vd on the cover: “The growth as an artist is what I’m most proud of”

‘Withered’ is due out April 25 and is the long-awaited follow-up to d4vd’s debut EP ‘Petals To Thorns’. Recorded in his sisters’ closet on a mobile phone, that EP featured breakout singles ‘Romantic Homicide’ and ‘Here With Me’ which have both racked up more than one billion streams on Spotify.

“When I did that record, the entire thing was super chaotic. I didn’t know what I was doing, I was just along for the ride really,” d4vd told NME. “But with ‘Withered’, everything is very intentional. This time, I’m moving with purpose.”

After announcing ‘Withered’ earlier this week, d4vd has now shared the album’s lead single – the gorgeous, reflective ‘One More Dance’. “This is one of the most romantic songs I’ve written,” he continued. “It’s about having one more dance with somebody before they leave you forever. I love talking about fear of loss but in this one, it’s more beautiful than sad.”

It’s the sort of swaying, loved-up pop that could soundtrack a first dance: “I’ve only played one wedding before but I’d love to do more.”

The track was written using beats created by pop-powerhouse producers Ryan Tedder (Adele, Taylor Swift, Beyoncé) and Tyler Spry (Tate McRae, Bad Bunny) after they heard some of d4vd’s biggest songs. Instead of heading into a fancy studio to continue working on the track though, d4vd returned to the closet once more to finish it using online music creation tool BandLab.

“I was seeing a bunch of d4vd-inspired beats on YouTube and it felt like a lot of people were trying to grasp onto my sound,” he explained. “I was like, ‘How do I elevate it so it still sounds like me but there’s more intricacy to it?’ ‘One More Dance’ is a more mature version of what’s come before.”

Check out our full interview below where d4vd told us about scrapping an entire pop record, getting vulnerable with ‘Withered’, being inspired by his community of fans and his ambitions for this new era.

NME: Hey d4vd, how easily did ‘Withered’ come together?

d4vd: “When I first started thinking about making an album, I told myself it would be easy. I’d just make a bunch of songs, put it together and drop it – but that didn’t happen. I went through so many different stages with this record. It started out as a pop project but I quickly realised making the sort of exaggerated, dramatic pop that you’d hear in a Disney movie wasn’t me.

“I took a step back, started speed-dating a bunch of producers and going in with a bunch of famous people. I was trying to find a mainstream sound and it turned into a R&B project that didn’t feel authentic either, so I went back to the drawing board again. I probably scrapped at least 30 songs.”

Were they bad songs?

“Some of them were really good. A few of the pop ones were heat and there’s a couple of R&B ones that I could see myself putting out in the future with like, a SZA feature or something. But most of them just didn’t feel right. They felt fake.”

When did things start to feel right then?

“I went back and listened to my own music to see what made it special. For a kid that’s been home-schooled, the worst thing you can do is give me a template and in the studio, I learned I could sound like Travis Scott or Sabrina Carpenter. It was about trying to find the balance between bringing my own DIY flavour to the studio but also staying true to where I’ve come from, which is Fortnite and BandLab. All of that helped me get back to the very primal approach I used to have with my music. From there, it got a lot easier.”

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’One More Dance’ feels very classic – is it a good example of what people can expect from ‘Withered’?

“There’s a sonic identity that can be found across the album but every song is very different. There’s no Afrobeats and I’m not hopping on Jersey club tracks [to chase hype]. The most important thing about this project was the storytelling.”

‘Petals To Thorns’ told the story of a break-up. What did you want to speak about with ‘Withered’?

“This album is very much a love story that you follow from top to bottom. It’s dealing with loss, beauty and invisible string theory [the idea that the people you meet is predetermined by fate]. It’s also a send-off to myself in a way. Over the years, I’ve described myself as this rose that has blossomed but still has those thorns. ‘Withered’ is about the art of letting go.”

So it’s a personal album?

“With ‘Petals To Thorns’, I was living vicariously through so many different people. ‘Withered’ is all me. It’s about me getting into my first relationship. It’s about me being thrust into the world and living the life I couldn’t before as a homeschooled kid. I’ve been able to learn what makes me cry, what makes me laugh. It’s been a real journey of self-discovery. When people hear this album, they’ll be able to feel the difference because they’ve never had this kind of rawness from me before.”

Any fear about stripping away the different characters and showing people the real d4vd?

“Yeah, because I hate talking about myself. I’ve always been someone that deals with their emotions very privately. I used to write poetry to express myself but actually saying those feelings out loud is very new for me. I think you can hear the relief in this record as I pour out these emotions though.“

When you wrote those early tracks, you’d never even been to a gig let alone played one. Since then, there’s been a whole lot of touring. Did that encourage you to get more vulnerable with this album?

“I released ‘There Goes My Baby’ last year and it’s basically the first song I really wrote about my own life. I ended up crying on stage when I performed it live… and I never cry. I saw the way that the fans championed me though and we shared this real intimate, vulnerable, comforting energy. I was like, ‘Is this what real music feels like?’ I’ve felt it before when I listen to someone like Billie Eilish who is always super vulnerable with her music, but I never got it from my own music before ‘Withered’. It’s a very emotional record.”

You haven’t released an album yet but you’ve achieved a lot. Does it feel like you’ve got things to live up to with ‘Withered’?

“No. I’m not thinking about breaking milestones or surpassing myself. I just like making music. I love telling stories, watching the reactions of the fans and singing the songs with them at shows. It’s never been about numbers.”

Where do you hope this album takes you then?

“I see my career as a staircase. ‘Petals To Thorns’ was the first step, ‘Withered’ is the second. I’ve got no idea what the third will be, but I’m excited to find out. All I know is that I want to finish this next era up in a different place to where I’m starting. I want ‘Withered’ to take me, my fans and even the people that don’t even know me yet somewhere amazing.”

‘One More Dance’ is out now and ‘Withered’ is due for release April 25 via Darkroom/Interscope Records

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