For fans of DESTIN CONRAD, especially those who’ve been around since his Colorway era, the road to his debut album has been long but eventful. Four EPs — Colorway, Satin, Submissive, and Submissive2 — arrived over three years, and though fans like myself desired a longer body of work from the Florida-bred and New York-based singer, each release was essential in giving CONRAD the tools to successfully craft and release a strong debut album that meets the moment and expectations. Love On Digital is just that.
Across 15 songs, CONRAD delivers what is his most expansive and complete vision yet with Love On Digital. Elements of his past projects are present, but the growth is undeniable. Inspired by 2000s R&B, CONRAD guides listeners through a tale of falling in love in the digital age and the realizations that emerge through a romance mostly felt through a screen. Desires for PDA (“Kissing In Public“), daring thoughts shared over FaceTime (“Delusional“), moments of vulnerability (“Soft Side”), and finding love on the dancefloor (“Party Wit U”) are all a part of the DNA of Love On Digital, elements that make the album so enjoyable.
In the days leading up to the release of Love On Digital, Uproxx caught up with DESTIN CONRAD to talk about his debut album, the long journey that led to its arrival, and his position as a member of R&B’s bright future.
Your path toward this debut album has been a patient one with you releasing four EPs over three years. I feel like most artists would’ve released their debut earlier with the attention you got over the years. How or why were you able to stay patient and not rush the moment that you’re now experiencing?
I wish I had some really eloquent, poetic answer for that. Honestly, it was just figuring out the right place to go with getting more money for it. I feel like that’s one of the main things that separates Love On Digital from my other projects. I see a lot of comments like, “Oh, this is your debut album, but you’ve been making music for four years??” Like… yes it is, because I actually didn’t just put my money and my manager’s money into it. Everything else had been really just me and David Ali putting our funds together and being like, “Okay, let’s do this,” and also having to constantly think about how we’re going to pay for things and having to limit ideas a little bit because we can’t afford certain things. I feel like this is the first time I was able — in the creative aspect, at least — to express myself a little more without limit, which was more fun and freeing.
I think your Submissive EPs are such important bodies of work as a setup for Love On Digital. Do you think Love On Digital exists without the Submissive EPs, and what did they give you in order to make this album?
I feel like I was being a little louder, if that makes sense, with the Submissive projects. It was just my first loud form of self-expression and being unapologetic. Colorway and Satin were a little more reserved stylistically, writing-wise. The context of it was a little more like, “Hi, I make my own music,” and I was just a little shyer in my approach. Submissive was very like, “Hey y’all, this is me.” This album is an even better expression of me — not even better, I can’t say even better, just a more current expression, which is always going to change. I feel like that’s the fun part about making music, I change with it. It gave me the tools to be able to make this album, and this album is going to give me the tools to be able to make the next one, and so on and so forth.
What are some of the projects, both albums, films, and other pieces of art, that shaped this album? With it being a love story, I also see a cinematic influence here.
I called it Love On Digital because it’s my ode to the digital era of R&B when R&B shifted into a very software-heavy, digital instrument-produced style. I feel like we probably just got some crazy-ass software update on Logic or one of those and everybody just started using a lot of the same sounds, but it sounded so new and refreshing. That was my ode to that. A lot of the music I listened to during the making of Love On Digital was hella-early 2000s R&B, Justified by Justin Timberlake was a big inspiration. Timbaland and his production, Pharrell, The Neptunes, Full Moon by Brandy… a lot of beeps and boops and robotic sounds, I was super inspired by that. I feel like people will hear that.
I did listen to a lot of Usher’s Confessions, but that’s always. I was inspired by hella electronic music. I went to London and I heard a lot of garage and that also influenced some of the sounds on it. It was more so the music I was hearing at the time and not necessarily specific albums. I would just be like, “Damn, I love this song. Let’s make something in this world.” Just some random sh*t that I never heard before that I heard in like a bar in London like, “What the f*ck is this?” And all my British friends were like, “You’ve never heard this?!?” Like, no… the f*ck? But yeah, I was inspired by so much.
A lot of the songs take place on the dance floor, at a party, at a club, with you finding love there or having an intimate moment that brings the feeling of wanting to end the night with the man in question on the song. What do the dance floor and parties mean to you in the realm of love?
This album is called Love On Digital and the first song is called “Kissing In Public.” When people hear Love On Digital, they think of cyber relationships, which also took on a life of its own and it became that because I was in a long-term romantic thing with this guy. He lived so far away, I didn’t know how to navigate it. We would sit on FaceTime all the f*cking time, and I would think about my album title that I already had, so it kind of became that, too, which was funny. But yeah, I feel like it made me realize that I can’t do long-distance relationships and I’m a creature of physical attention. I need somebody to be there with me so, PDA was obviously just a very large inspiration.
I also go out and party and that’s how I meet people, too. It’s actually who I am and I feel like it would be weird if I was like a super-crazy homebody — which I can be — and didn’t go out at all and I made videos and songs about partying, but it’s like something I actually really do. I love going out and meeting people, talking to people, hearing people’s stories, getting drunk, and doing sh*t. That’s what it feels like, and I’m 24, this is where I am with it. I love partying and I think it’s definitely something that keeps me inspired writing-wise.
How do you cope with the realization that a certain love situation can’t exist in the way that it does in the current moment? For this album, it’s the case of a virtual love that you realize needs to exist in real life, but even through dating, we have these realizations. What makes you continue and try again?
I’m still learning that. I’m still learning how to cope with it. I still talk to the n**** like we’re still… [laughs], we’re still cool. I’m still learning how to cope with it. I think he’s learning how to cope with it, too. As I said, I’m 24: I’m still f*cking figuring it out. That’s something I can’t really answer because I’m still learning myself. I’ll get back to you on that [laughs].
What were your intentions with the features — Kehlani, Serpentwithfeet, Lil Nas X, and Teezo Touchdown — on this album and the specific songs you have them on?
These are all people that I personally know and have pretty close relationships with and admire also as artists, writers, and the way that they present themselves to the world. That was something I was really heavy about, especially with it being my debut album. I’m not opposed to working with people that I don’t know. If I like their music? I’m not gonna sit here and be like, “I only work with people I’m friends with,” but that’s something I definitely wanted to try to do for this album: Intentionally be like, “These are people that inspire me and this is all about inspiration.” It’s the first thing my mind goes to when I think about what this album makes me feel and the music that I’ve already created for it. I love everybody that’s on this project and they’re actually my friends. I think it’s really tight that I got to have that experience this first full album cycle.
You’re a part of an R&B community of artists that I believe best represents not only the future, but some of the best minds and visionaries. When I say community, I mean yourself, Phabo, Ambre, kwn, Jean Deaux, Jvck James, Alex Vaughn, Mack Keane, Joyce Price, Leon Thomas, and more. You’ve made music with the people on this list and, as an outsider, seem to have great rapport with them. How has that being a part of that community and being around those minds helped your journey?
All those names that you named, those are all people I know and am inspired by that as well. I love R&B. Like, I really do love R&B. All those names, the thing that they all share — not to put myself in that — but I feel like it’s all tasteful, they all have a story that’s interesting, and I actually care about what they’re all saying. I feel like some artists, I’m not going to say that the music is terrible, but I just don’t feel like I resonate or want to know what they’re necessarily talking about. But there are some artists that I’m just drawn to.
That’s why I can’t get mad when somebody is like, “Oh, this isn’t for me,” or they don’t like my music. That’s okay, there are a lot of people’s music that I’m not really fond of or stories I’m not necessarily interested in hearing. It’s like you’re not gonna want to read every book. I think it’s tight that there are so many people in R&B that people can gravitate towards and actually resonate with their stories. There are people that you don’t necessarily resonate with, but you can appreciate their music, too. There are so many amazing R&B artists, I think it’s super tight that I get to be a part of it.
It’s been a long road for you leading up to this album Love On Digital, when you look back on your journey, what are most proud of in regards to having this body of work be your official debut album?
I’m most proud of probably the creative I got to do behind it and the music videos. I did like four or five rehearsals for “Kissing In Public” and I sat down with directors and went in a little more visually. I had to throw in the towel a lot in my early visuals because I couldn’t afford it. It was literally just me funding it and my manager coming in where I couldn’t. The money I got from Colorway, I put it into Satin. The money I got from Satin, I put it into Submissive, it was just that. It’s been really nice to be able to express myself creatively with a little less limitation, that’s something I’m really proud of.
I’m really proud that I got to get all those features of people that I really wanted. Those were people that I wanted from the jump. I had a longer list, but I checked off the majority of the list, which was so cool. Even people that didn’t make the album, I still got to work with, which was so cool and just a testament to manifestation. At the beginning of this, I was like, “These are the people I want to work with. These are people I want to write with,” and the majority of them I worked with. It didn’t all come out, but it’s tight that I could do that.
I’m glad I actually got to a space where I felt like it was completed. That was really nice, I’m like “Okay, this is done.” I won’t feel like it’s fully, fully done until it’s out. That’s just how my brain works. I think it’s the ADHD: I can’t fully move on from something until it’s completely done. Even if it’s done to me, it’s not done to the world and not mine anymore. I’m proud that I got it to a place where I feel like I could put it out into the world because I was really in my head a lot. There were points towards the end where I was just like, “Is this it?” Then I had to keep reminding myself that I can make more music. Even if I completely regret this album in a year, and I’m like, “Why the f*ck did I put this out?” I can put out another one that I feel resonates with me at the time.
What’s a message you have for listeners who have their own digital love stories? What’s a lesson or a takeaway that you want to share with them?
Talk on the phone, but also be present in your life and don’t just sit on the phone all day because that’s probably not the healthiest… but also when you can, sit on the phone. Not to contradict myself, but I feel like you do have to constantly affirm that person in ways that you can’t do physically. So, it’s easier to just have a little moment on the phone. But also be present because you don’t want to regret spending your whole life on FaceTime. That’s my only advice, but as I said, I’m still figuring it out so if anybody’s got some advice for me, tweet me, DM me, ’cause I don’t know anymore.
Love On Digital is out now via Above Ground Ent/Destin Conrad/Empire. Find more information here.
