Rediscovering the music that means the most to him, De'Wayne's subsequent soul-searching has led him to his most authentic and ambitious album yet. Here, the superstar-in-waiting guides us through a journey that spans everything from the role of religion to the meaning of masculinity...
Sometimes, it takes a while to be yourself. For whatever reason – often unfounded worries about what others think, or a fear of being rejected or not fitting in – many people and artists feel the need to hide who they are, until they’re finally comfortable being their authentic self.
De’Wayne hasn't really encountered that problem. The Houston-born artist has never had any trouble being himself in life or onstage, as anyone who’s ever seen him live can attest, but until recently, the music he was making wasn’t completely him. His 2017 debut EP, Don’t Be Afraid, and his first two albums – 2021’s Stains and 2022’s My Favorite Blue Jeans – all showcased his ability to effortlessly and effectively mix punk and hip-hop, but talk to him today and the 30-year-old will explain that there was still something missing, something that stopped his music short of being a full and true expression of his essence, his identity, his heart and soul. On new album june, however, it’s present in abundance. Because on these songs, De’Wayne leaned more heavily than ever before into his Black roots.
“I’m really proud of that,” he says from his apartment in Los Angeles, where he moved a few years ago. “My start in rock music was hearing Bowie and Arcade Fire and Iggy Pop and Lou Reed and Thom Yorke, who I all absolutely adore still. But about two years ago, I had a friend be like, 'Yo, listen to Sly And The Family Stone, listen to Parliament, listen to Earth, Wind & Fire.’ I already knew of Lenny Kravitz, but then I did a deep dive on Prince.”
It was a very deep dive. Prince practically released an album every year between getting his record deal in 1978 and his untimely death in April 2016. De’Wayne didn’t just listen to these records, he absorbed them. The effect was profound. All of those artists, plus the likes of Bill Withers and Nina Simone, became an integral part of who he was, both as a person and a musician.
“I completely fell in love with what my people were doing,” he continues. “I studied for two to three years, just the music and the chords and the lyrics and the subject matter to make these songs right. But it was more that feeling you get when you listen to those songs. I really went for it and it felt so natural and beautiful. I feel I was at the point in my career to where I could do it, because I’ve become a better musician, a better singer, a better artist – and closer to who I am."
Unapologetically Black and unashamedly flamboyant, this new era of De’Wayne is truly incredible to behold, and something a lot of people discovered when he played the 30th anniversary celebration of Vans Warped Tour in Long Beach, California last month. To say he made quite the impact is, well, an understatement.
“My performance kind of went viral,” he says. “I had a catsuit on, and I’m playing rock music that people believe is not rock music, just because it's funky and it’s soulful – even though my guitar solos are better than theirs. But I look the way that I look and I like to keep it sexy, and I love that I'm pushing up against the grain and pushing things forward. I’m such a lover of rock music. And it's not dead at all, but I don't want to be the one that shoots it, as I think people like to do on their phones every day, like, 'Keep it this way, keep it strict,' and being stubborn about it. If I can be someone who's pushing it forward, I would love that.”
Of course, the irony is that De’Wayne is pushing it forward by travelling back in time. With the exception of sundays – a heartbreaking, melancholic Springsteen-esque ode to his father, with whom the singer has rekindled his relationship over the past few years – june pays homage to all those artists that he was advised to listen to. It’s sexy, soulful and sleek, and an important reminder that, when you trace back the roots of rock music, it came from Black people, developing over the decades from jazz and blues and soul.
But it’s also a tribute to the titular june, a figurehead that, for De’Wayne, represents his embracing of what he calls the “divine feminine.” Raised by his devoutly Christian mother, De’Wayne says that his perception of what and who God is – and the nature of his belief system – has changed over the years. But even though his current spiritual journey is very different to the dogma of his mother’s beliefs, his upbringing still led him to where he is today.
“I've always loved God,” he says, “but I think about 13 or 14 I was like, 'Hmm, this is interesting.' I'm not really sure if capitalism and all of those things were coming clear to me as the plate was going around, but even as a teenager, I was like, 'I don't really know if this is what Jesus would have liked'. Because Jesus was out in the street. Like, I fuck with Jesus super hard – and I know my mom would hate to hear me cuss and say ‘Jesus’ in the same sentence – but Jesus was a badass. He really was. And I just started to vibe on his path, where you go out in the world and do the work and discover who you are.”
Which is precisely what De'Wayne's been doing. And june – both the album itself and the character that inhabits it – has become the most fully-realised representation of his belief system, and how he envisions God, to date. As well as a kind of spirit guide for his existence as an artist.
“The way I write my music,” he says, “it's like I have to become someone else. I really do, or it's not fun for me. I think I kind of grabbed that from Bowie, and the way he would transform every album. But I started getting into plant medicine like ayahuasca and cactus, and cactus really made me see my heart as a superpower. I had this June character in my head, and was like, 'Man, I don't know what she is or who she is.' But I'm a hippy, and as I started doing my spiritual work, it really provided me with information on what my heart was feeling, eventually getting to the idea that God, to me, is a woman. And I just wanted to surrender to that person in my life.”
So that's what he did – and its 11 songs are the product of that epiphany.
“Really, the album is an offering of me doing the work to become a better man in society today,” he continues. “I prefer to surrender to who I love and to my friends. I think we should rewrite the whole fucking thing [about what a man should be]. I want to be part of the process of the rewritings. Like, what does the new man look like today? I think he's six-feet tall and 150 and got a black mullet!”
De’Wayne – who’s sporting a black mullet, is presumably six feet tall and weighs 150 pounds – smiles cheekily. And why shouldn’t he? Right now, he’s on top of the world – and things are only getting better. june has just been released and there are big things in store. After shooting his shot and messaging Lenny Kravitz on Instagram after the icon started following him, he’s already been to hang with the man himself in the Bahamas, and there are plans to work together in the future.
Perhaps De’Wayne would put that down to June working her magic. And maybe it is. But he shouldn’t discount that it’s also because of june working its magic. It’s a stunning record from a unique, brilliant talent, and further proof that rock music is anything but dead. Through De’Wayne’s vision, it’s as alive as ever. It’s just returning to its roots after far too long away.
june is out now via Fearless Records
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