SXSW marked the end of Adrian Daniel’s Flawd tour, covering London, Paris and a run of US cities; not the usual North American-only stops that one expects from upcoming US artists. Flawd only dropped on 2nd March, with the previous album Disillusions released almost exactly a year before, reflecting the grind of his hometown of New York, or East Flatbush, Brooklyn to be exact. I’m not sure where I discovered Daniel but once I heard his voice, I couldn’t stop listening. He has the new age R&B tone and range that we’ve come to love from artists like Frank Ocean and The Weeknd. But it’s not fair to this artist, in the truest sense of the word, to compare him to others when he’s doing so damn well in his own right. He’s already carved out sizeable fan bases around the world, and with the successful release of this album, 2018 is looking wide open for Daniel to conquer.

We had the chance to speak to him on the day of his SXSW showcase, but you wouldn’t know it. Although it was early for SXSW standards (noon), Daniel was relaxed and engaged. We spoke about everything from his love of London, growing up in Brooklyn, musical comparisons, and reliving the emotions of songs on stage. His actual performance was just as I had hoped from the many hours listening through headphones. With a live band, he commanded the stage like he’d been there a thousand times before. He began wearing a longline leather jacket (very R&B) which he removed after the first few tracks, and quickly settled into a poignant set, drawing a larger crowd as he went. It felt like you were watching a fresh artist who knew exactly what he was doing, which is always a good sign.

Photos by Matt O Instagram.com/BoardinOgilvie

UHH: [Introduces herself as originally from London]

Adrian Daniel: We were just there on tour. I love London! We want to go back. It's really, really tight. We did a Sofar London too the day after the show. I love being able to do songs stripped back like that and just talk to the people.

UHH: Ah, that's so cool! Was that your first time in London?

Adrian: It was my second time. First time performing, though.

UHH: Did you have any time to hang out and do your own thing?

Adrian: We didn't have time to hang out at all. I had so many things to do while I was there, and then we had to go right to Paris. I had like half of a day, we went to Buckingham Palace, and that was it!

UHH: Saw the Queen, and left!

Adrian: We saw the dudes with the guns and I was like, ‘alright, time to go!’ I went to Camden, and I went to the market. I was like, ‘I've gotta come back here.’

UHH: Yeah, it's crazy. It used to be even bigger and weirder. It was the center of grunge and punk and of course, where Amy Winehouse was from.

Adrian: Yeah, I saw the statue they have there.  I found this comic book shop while I was there too, and definitely picked up some stuff.

UHH: Amazing. But you're from Brooklyn - East Flatbush. Are you still living there?

Adrian:  Yes, still living there.

UHH: I've only been there for two years so, I have no reference point, but how different is Brooklyn now versus when you were growing up?

Adrian: It's completely different. Growing up it was tough, people had to respect you to survive. Especially in that area, you can get punked easily, you know what I'm saying? But then I guess maybe because you get older, it changes, the people know you now. There weren't a lot of jobs in the community but as that changed, you weren’t around circumstances of people being violent as much. Especially me liking the things I was into, it wasn’t always the easiest thing to stay out of it.  You know, ‘come and hang out with us and run around on the streets.’ There were times that I would do it and there were times my mom was like, "Nah, you've gotta go to dance class." So that's how I actually kept out of trouble.

UHH: Absolutely - I read that you danced from a young age?

Adrian: Yeah, six or something like that.

UHH: Wow. What kind of dance - ballet? Jazz?

Adrian:  All of it. I used to be tight. Eventually I started to love and appreciate it. It was like an outlet for me to deal with emotion or rage or whatever I was feeling. I could keep my mind off stuff in my life.

UHH: But you don't dance now, right?

Adrian: To myself. I'm not about to bust out pirouettes, that's not happening.

UHH:  Haha, okay - I won’t expect that at the show. Was dance was the gateway into music, or were you always into music and then it just sort of took over?

Adrian:  I don't know if it was even a gateway, because I was always into music. I just never wanted to do it for a living. My Godfather, who was Lionel Hampton, he used to have me come to his house when I was like six, seven and learn the vibraphone, because he was famous for playing it. I used to hate that too. My mom put me in piano classes, hated it.

UHH: I used to hate piano too.

Adrian: But I always sang, though. I'd sing the songs I used to like a lot. Music was always all around me, especially in dance. It's really all you're doing. It was my brother that actually pushed me to go into music. I used to write poetry and he was like, "Yo, Adrian, you should write songs. Come record this hook for me,” because he used to rap. It was so bad! Those first couple of years were tough, man. I didn't know what I was doing. But once I started doing it, I was like, ‘I really like this.’ Once I commit myself to doing something, I want to be the best I can be at it. So, that's how that happened.

UHH:  Makes sense. Did you ever have singing lessons after that point?

Adrian: I can naturally sing but I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't know how to use or control it. I was yelling a lot. I went to college and they require you to go to singing lessons because I was a singing major. So, my teacher there helped me in a way that I could be more comfortable with using my voice. He was like, ‘It's not as complicated as you think it is.’ After that I found a vocal coach and she really taught me: ‘When you walk in and you breathe like this, you don't even know you're doing it, pay attention to how you're doing it.’ That was me being persistent about it. I had to be because no one was really pushing. That's what labels used to do back in the day. They used to do artist development; they would put an artist in vocal lessons and dance lessons and you know, all the things to get them ready to perform. They stopped doing that, especially if you're not signed. Even if you are signed they want you to come ready.

UHH:  Well all that hard work on your own has paid off! Can you tell me about your writing process?

Adrian: It's random. I don't plan it out, it really just comes to me. A lot of times my songs always start when I’m on a train or walking. Everyone always wants to get in a car, but I like walking. I'm just watching people and that's when I write. I sit down in my room and be quiet and I just write the song. I'll pull my guitar out and I'll be, ‘Okay, what am I thinking here?’ I can just flush it out and then it's a song.

UHH: Are you just writing the lyrics? Or do you also write some of the music to go along with it?

Adrian: A lot of the time I'll come up with all of the melody, and the lyrics I'll write down and I'll do voice dubs or whatever. Then I'll go and sit with the producer and I'll be like, ‘Alright this is what I want to do...I want drums like this, I want the bass to sound like this, and I don't like that.’  We need to make it from scratch for what I'm hearing in my head, and they're very open to doing that with me. One of the songs on the album, Face of Eve, all those vocals I just recorded on my own. I just sent it to my friend Rudy, and he just made the music bed for it.

UHH: And who are your producers? Do you work with the same team on everything?

Adrian:  Rudy I’ve worked with on every project I've done.

UHH: Nice. How did you meet Rudy?

Adrian:  We met in college. This is how you know if someone is going to be your really close friend. The first thing we said to each other was, "Kanye?” “Kanye." And that was it. We just knew. That was how it happened. Our love for Kanye West brought us together.

UHH: Connecting over Kanye. Speaking of which, who are some of the most inspirational artists you look up to?

Adrian: Kanye West, of course. Michael Jackson. Prince, Stevie, Queen, Journey. I love Journey a lot. Sade. This list is really long. Kid Cudi. Tame Impala - let me tell you something. I met Kevin Parker, and I bugged out! I was like the OD fan. I was just naming off songs like, "Yo, Currents, bro!” I was just naming all his songs, trying to get it out and he was like, "Yo, yo, just chill." They are new artists too that I love, like Frank. I love Frank...he's a genius.  There's an artist named NAO from London, I love her.

UHH: Love NAO. I was just talking about her yesterday with a different artist who toured with her [Demo Taped]. She's unbelievable. Have you seen her live?

Adrian: No, I haven't seen her live yet.

UHH: Definitely make that a priority.

Adrian: A friend of mine, Jacob Banks, I love him too.

UHH:  His voice is ridiculous.

Adrian: It's a lot of music. I'm a fan of everybody. If I like it, I'm a fan. I'll be at the show. I'll buy a ticket. I'm in the crowd like everybody else.

UHH:  What about in the New York scene? You're not a New York rapper, but you’re all around it.

Adrian:  Well, there's my friend Radamiz, Jimmy Tents, History,Phony Ppl. Then there's Joey Bada$$ that I like a lot. There's A$AP, I love what they're doing. I love everyone in New York actually. If you're from New York, I'm gonna ride with you, it doesn't matter. We need to come together in that sense.

UHH: You released your album Flawd two weeks ago, amazing. Honestly, I've been listening to it a lot. How's the reception been?

Adrian: It's been really good. I tend to not want to look at the numbers, but I looked and I was like, ‘Okay, alright!’ I was just wanting to see how people reacted to it. People were sending me their own personal reviews of the album and they're really digging into it. This is so amazing for me, I didn't think it would be like that. This girl sent me this whole message and made me really love what I did for a moment because of how it helped her. That's why I do it, man.

UHH: How long were you working on it for?

Adrian: Since Disillusions came out, I went right back into the studio. I didn't take a break. I've already started the next one.

UHH:  Oh wow, for another full project? No rest!  What's your favorite track you have coming out?

Adrian:  All of them. People always asking me but there's no one that I can pick. I think the most personal one is Midnight Tears, because that's something that happens, I guess to me and to everyone, pretty often. It was the last song that I made for the record. I love that song, it was really random, we made that by accident. We were rehearsing for a show and then I just started singing those lines and my band just made it from scratch.

UHH: That’s amazing, some of the best tracks are made that way. What about your favorite track to perform? I guess you haven't performed them much yet?

Adrian:  Deadly Attraction. We did that in every place we went and it was the same reaction. Everyone loves this song. People are looking like they might not know you but they like it, they can’t hide it.

UHH: In New York everyone thinks they're too cool to move.

Adrian: Oh yeah, you can't do that in my show.

UHH: I'm always thinking, "Why is no one dancing?" I hope in London everyone was moving.

Adrian: No, they were.

UHH: I really like Open Up, and Havoc...

Adrian: Love that song too. I made it watching Kill Bill and I was like, I want to make this about her. It worked out perfectly.

UHH: What about your hopes for Flawd versus previous projects? I wasn't aware of the reception for Disillusions when it dropped, but what are you hoping for in comparison?

Adrian: Just that it would be awesome.  I don't think I try to put that much pressure on myself to be like, ‘Oh I want to have a number one record,’ because you never know. I just leave that open to God.  But I know that I have a vision that whatever we’re doing is going to the best we can possibly make it and it’s just going to keep being better. If I can't make it the best, then I won't put it out. That's the only goal I have, is to just be as awesome as possible. Whether it's critically acclaimed or it does super, super well. Either way, I'm happy. When I was a kid I had crazy depression. I used to hide from my people, it was bad. I was dancing, so it was like I had two alter egos. I would go out and do all this performing, and I was teaching a high school course at 18.

UHH: Oh wow, did they listen to you?

Adrian: Yeah, I had to grade them and I was like, ‘You know you're going to fail, right? You don't come to class, you're failing.’ At 18, I'm like I can tell someone you're gonna fail a class. It's that kind of power.  But then I'll go home and I was not happy. So, the fact that I can just be happy on a daily basis doing this, and I get to do this for a living, this is incredible.

UHH: What is the best non-music part about being an artist? Aside from performing, aside from writing and all that?

Adrian: Meeting people. Like meeting you. We probably never would have met if it wasn't for this music stuff.  So that's the coolest thing, because then I meet people, I have conversations and then I can go back and write songs. I'll probably write a song about this, most likely.

UHH:  In the Doubletree?

Adrian: I'll call it "Doubletree".

UHH: I’ll look out for it! What about traveling? Where else have you been besides London, Paris -  have you been anywhere else outside of the US?

Adrian: No, we haven't been going anywhere else. I want to go to Australia. I mean, I get asked to come everywhere. I want to travel to every country, see every person, every fan. I want to hear their story. Even in the States I went to Boston for the first time. It was dope, but I didn't know it was that much of a beef with New York. I do my first song, standing ovation, everyone's applauding. Then I said I was from New York and the whole mood changed. They would take our their phones and record me and not have any emotion…that really threw me. Then I got tweets and messages like, 'you were so amazing, oh my God, I loved you.' Someone told me, ‘Adrian, you should never have said you were from New York!’ Can't wait to go back though.

UHH: I didn’t know that either!

UHH: From what you've heard, how do people find out about you? Do you think it's from playlists, ‘recommended artists for you’, or algorithms?

Adrian: I've been asking people that. I know a lot of people find me through Spotify Discovery. I don't really get on those big playlists like signed artists, you gotta have a plug or whatever. I don't kiss nobody’s ass - I get a lot of support from people who really just like the music. Some people just find me randomly, like some guy was on YouTube and he typed in ‘Savage’, and then my song popped up [Havoc] and he's like, "Yo, I listened to every song." That's the great part for me, that I can make a song and they'll listen to everything else.

UHH:  I'm sure you get a lot of people saying you sound like The Weeknd, which is a flattering comparison to have, although there are lots of differences between you. How do you feel about that? Are you trying to move away from those comparisons?

Adrian:  I was always trying to sound like Michael. So I guess he was trying to do the same thing. There are times I might hear it and there are times I'd be like, I don't hear it at all. Maybe it's because I sing high? The Weeknd thing I can't really comment on because there are a lot of things that people don't know about, like what goes on between his camp and my camp. What I will say is that I respect him a lot, and I respect what he does musically. In a way, he made it easier for people to accept people like me, because there are only a couple of voices from this time period that sing high like that, there's not a lot of black artists that sing in that kind of way.  People say that because he's a relevant artist now, a couple of years ago, no one said that. As long as you're not saying it's trash...there are so many differences though.

UHH: I agree. Your voices might sound similar in some instances, but your actual tracks are not that comparable, especially not his recent stuff.

Adrian: I have Trilogy, I have all the albums. He's really good. I always give him props.

UHH: You're on the NPR SXSW 100 list, which is amazing. Congratulations! How did you feel when you found out? Did they tell you, or did it just appear one day?

Adrian: I got told the day before it came out. They were like, ‘Adrian, you're gonna be on NPR.’ I was like, ‘What? That's tight.’ Me and my manager will sit down and talk about things we want to do and it's funny, we'll always speak them into existence like, ‘What if we got this?’ And then in a year or a couple of months or weeks’ later, it happens. That just goes to show that you just gotta keep being awesome. It goes back doing your due diligence and being as good as possible at all times. We prepare for this. We prepare to be as awesome, all the time. We don't like not being 100%. It's earned people, it's earned.

UHH: It's 100% earned. Your showcase is tonight, how are you feeling about that?

Adrian: I feel fine. Shows for me, that's just another day. I do it so much. I've been performing all my life so I never get nervous to perform. The only time I get nervous is to sing the songs, because I've gotta deal with it again. When I wrote these songs, that's me getting it out and now I have to go back to it once I recorded it. Now people gotta see it and it's like, ‘Oh man, here we go.’

UHH: That's why people like it so much, because it's real. That's what music's about, otherwise what is it?

Adrian: That's the thing. I always try and make it my business to come and check out my friends here or other artists I might be interested in. I like to find new people. Other big people are here and I'm like that's cool, I can see it anytime. I want to see people that I don't know, because they probably got something fresh.  I'm always looking forward to that.

Find Adrian Daniel here:

Website: www.adriandanielmusic.com

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0vnUJWW8wWDGcSdwFYCIB0?si=kvex6gb-TWOKrRTiFbQzCA

SoundCloud: Soundcloud.com/adthestoner

Instagram: Instagram.com/adriandanielofficial

Vevo: www.vevo.com/artist/adrian-daniel

Twitter: Twitter.com/adriandanielBK

Facebook: Facebook.com/Adriandanielofficial