When Destin Conrad set out to make his reggae and dancehall album ROADRUNNER, he knew he wanted it to be a “big-ass Jamaican party” of bashment and immediate hip-movers. But it was also a moment for him to reconcile his queer identity with his Caribbean roots. “I’ve gotten a lot of DMs and comments from other queer Caribbean people and they’re like, This is what I needed,” he says about making the record in our latest FADER Interview. “It makes me feel like I’m doing the right thing by just being myself.”
The first time The FADER’s Kylah Williams came across Conrad was in 2013 on the now-dead micro-video platform Vine, where he was singing a hilarious six-second tune that immediately went viral. Since then, Conrad’s evolved into a Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter, and producer, releasing two EPs (COLORWAY, SATIN) alongside full-length projects SUBMISSIVE, SUBMISSIVE2, a jazz album titled wHimsy, and the Grammy-nominated Love on Digital. “That's something that I sit in now, is my ability to know that I can be stupid and funny on the internet, and then I can make a Grammy-nominated album. The two aren't exclusive,” he says.
In our in-depth interview with Conrad, he talks about the recording process behind ROADRUNNER, working with U.K. R&B star and close friend kwn, clearing legendary dancehall samples, and what paying homage to his Jamaican roots means to him. Read a transcript of the conversation below.
Video Credits:
Executive Producer: Jon Cohen, Anthony Holland
Creative Director: Nadine Ng
Director of Photography: Ethan Holland
2nd Camera: Tommy Maidment
Editor: Quinton Dominguez
Sound Mixer: Alexander Zooi
Score: Luisa Bryan
Talent: Destin Conrad
Interviewer: Kylah Williams
Special Thanks: Niquita Tamar
The FADER: I'm Kylah, the head of socials here at The FADER and also a writer. Today, we are joined by Destin Conrad.
Destin Conrad: Hi.
Destin is a Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter, producer, and he's been putting in work since his debut EP back in 2021. Last year, he dropped his alternative, critically acclaimed jazz album. He also dropped his debut studio album, which was Grammy-nominated. And a few weeks ago, he dropped his dancehall reggae project, ROADRUNNER. I have it on repeat. How does it feel to have the album out in the world?
Feels good. This one was really fun to make, and it's been just as fun doing stuff for it. Throwing parties and just celebrating it has been really a joy. I'm really enjoying it.
I've seen you at all the Caribbean festivals. Notting Hill.....Labor Day. Has Caribbean culture been a big part of your identity?
It's a huge part of my identity. I was raised by a single Jamaican mother who moved to Florida and had me. My sister's also from Jamaica. So that's really all I know. It's such a big part of my upbringing and just me as a person.
What was that like? Were you listening to a lot of Jamaican artists growing up?
Yeah, my mom would play like Beres Hammond and a lot of the, I guess, rootsy reggae, but my mom was also really big — she loves Luther Vandross and soul music. And my sister is a big R&B head, so she put me on to a lot of R&B—Aaliyah, Usher, the greats—and a whole melting pot of both of them.
So you got to have these things come together. You dropped a jazz album, you've done R&B, now you're doing dancehall reggae. Is it important for you to have this versatility when it comes to genres?
It's honestly I just make what I like and what I listen to frequently. It kind of just happens naturally with what's piquing my interest at the time. So, when I made the jazz album, I was listening to a lot of jazz. When I made this album, I was listening to a lot of dancehall and reggae, and just being a student and discovering music that I didn't even grow up listening to, but that I enjoy. Just kind of crate digging, looking for inspiration, which has been also really fun to do.
What have you found in the crates? Name a project that you love.
I love Lady Saw. Forget what album it is. But I knew who she was growing up, but I fell in love with her and just her delivery. She's honestly one of the pioneers of dancehall music to me. Also, I listen to a lot of Beres.
What do you love most about dancehall, reggae, Jamaican music?
It makes me move. I think I really appreciate that, especially making a lot of R&B that's a little more slower, introspective. You hear a dancehall beat and you just feel it. That's one of my favorite things about it, and also why I'm looking forward to performing and doing a tour for this album, 'cause I think it'll be really fun, just movement. It's a big part of why I enjoy it.
I've been seeing clips of you performing. I feel like you're already having a lot of fun on stage. It looks like a party.
Thank you. That's what I want this album to feel like, just a big bashment.
And then you've done dancehall, reggae stuff before on some of your old projects, so it's not like a new sound for you. But I guess why did you want to do it, like go full send on it on this album?
I always knew I wanted to dedicate something to Jamaica, whether that be aesthetically or... I didn't know I was going to make a full genre-driven reggae album. As you said, I kind of played with it, and I have songs on my EPs and even my debut that are reggae-leaning, but I wanted to do something that had a home for it, which is a big part of why I did jazz, too. And I feel like you can hear the jazz influence, too, on some of the songs before I made the jazz album. So they both kind of played in size as I was saying what I was listening to at the time. It kind of just gave it a hub.
I love that. I see you’ve also been having a lot of fun with the visual identity. In one of the videos, you were wearing a "Kill Homophobia" shirt, but with the Jamaican colors. I thought that was really, really cool and creative.
Thank you. That was my idea.
I want a shirt! So, you played a big role in a lot of the creative stuff as well?
Yeah, I got you. It's going to be the merch. This album was the first time I actually used a creative director, which was really fun for me, 'cause I had somebody to bounce ideas off of. Usually, it's just me or I like talking to my stylist, but all the creative up until ROADRUNNER was all me. And it's something I care about a lot, so it was really cool to have somebody to bounce off of, and yeah. Shout out to Savannah, my creative director. She's iconic.
She's killing it. So, being queer and growing up Jamaican, how was that? What was it like navigating that? Was it difficult?
It was like navigating most spaces that you aren't welcomed in, I guess. I wasn't out. So, I feel like after coming out, I really got to just actually express myself. I also have so many amazing people around me, too, in my community that made me feel open enough to do that. So I think it was just I built community. And that's what I think of when I trace back my...
I'm queer as well. So, the album means a lot to me, like making your own space, and maybe a space that you're not often accepted in. What does the album represent for you? Is it rebellion or reclamation of your Jamaican roots?
Yeah, that's exactly what it is. This album is me taking up space in a room that I'm not welcomed in with open arms, and being comfortable, and also making other people feel like they have that, too, by just simply being honest and existing.
Have you seen all the appreciation and love that's pouring in because of the project online?
Yes, definitely. And I've gotten a lot of DMs and comments from other queer Caribbean people, and they're like, "This is what I needed," and it makes me feel like I'm doing the right thing by just being myself.
And I feel like you might be the first to be openly doing that. That's iconic.
Maybe. Thank you. Yeah.
I want to get into some of the songs, the samples. Let's talk about "NERVOUS," one of my favorite songs on the project. And I saw the Asian singing grandma. Talk about seeing the video and then putting that into the song.
Me and my producer, shout out to Louis, he's my right-hand man. I saw the video on Instagram like everybody else, and I was like, We need to sample her. And he actually came to my house that day. We were just going to work, and he was like, Oh yeah, send me that video again. And he downloaded it, and he just made it, and I was like, Oh, this is it. Shout out to her. The song actually is a very beautiful song. The message behind it is very beautiful. It's about a butterfly and something. It's a nice message, but I raunched it up.
I love how you chopped it up and sexified it. What about the other two samples? I think it's "Turn Me On"?
Yeah, well, that's just essentially just a cover of the song. It's a really big dancehall record that I felt like I wanted to just pay homage to that era. And yeah, and then "Chi Chi." That's the one that's causing a lot of...
Everyone's like, How did you do that?
Yeah, I honestly don't know how I did it. I don't know. It was almost... It almost didn't happen. I almost had to take it off the album. Literally the day before we put the album out, we got the thumbs up. I personally was going to just put it out and have them sue me, and my lawyer's ill, shout out to my lawyer Jeremy. He was going to have to just handle that for me. But no, they cleared it, and it ended up working out really well. I'm really glad, and a lot of people have a lot to say about it.
Are you getting backlash from it?
For sure, but I'm glad they're feeling anything. It's such an iconic song, even though the message behind it is kind of hateful. It was also another way of me reclaiming something that yeah, just taking the power back.
Do those songs you’re sampling bring back memories for you?
Definitely. And they're just such classic records. There's so many songs that just bring me back to when I heard it the first time, or yeah, just childhood memories, going to parties with my mom, and like yeah, Jamaican-ass parties with my family. I think it just reminds me of that.
What is that, like a Jamaican-ass party? Is that the vibe?
I feel like this album is just one big Jamaican-ass party…
What did you want to make sure you were prioritizing in this project when it came to how Jamaican culture is depicted?
I think just being honest, lyrically. I think just not holding back, and as you said, using the pronouns and talking, like people know I'm talking about men, and yeah, just honesty. And also visually, I channeled my uncles and what they were wearing. And yeah, just expressing the visual aspect of it through fashion and the hats and yeah, just catering to it.
How does your family feel?
My mom loves it. My sister loves it. They love it, I think they are my biggest fans. So, I feel like they're very happy I got to do an album and pay homage to where she's from.
Lets talk "DADAMAN"? It's giving Dada. I love it.
Thank you.
Tell me about that creative process with kwn, working together, being friends as well as collaborators.
She is so incredible. Outside of being her friend, I'm such a fan of her. I think nobody's doing what she's doing, and it's just so cool to watch. She's a star. I think it's just the world catching up to it. That song was... I wanted to get a rapper on it. Maybe we'll do a remix or something.
She low-key rap like... The way she sings is like kind of rapping.
I wasn't thinking of her at first, and then I was like, Who can I get on this? I was And it's crazy because, well, now we have two songs, but before that, we didn't have a song, so I just wanted to have the right song to put her on. I just sent it to her, and she sent it back pretty quick. That's my dog. I love her so much. Shout out to kwn.
In the song, when you're saying It's giving Dada, I love how you mix your sense of humor with your artistry, and you're used to going viral online. I feel like that also kind of armors you with the strength to talk back to people online when maybe things are said incorrectly. How do you think coming up in that earlier social media, like Vine and now TikTok, has shaped how you connect with your fans and how you respond to stuff online?
I'm an internet baby. I also started getting a lot of attention on the internet very early, so I think I kind of just have thick skin when it comes to a lot of stuff. Like, I see hate comments. I've been seeing hate comments since I was in the 7th grade, 8th grade, so I'm not really moved by that. And also, people show me so much love in real life. It goes in one ear and out the other when it comes to the negative thing. I tend to pay more attention to the nice things and the positive things.
I saw you tweeting a while back about feeling nervous maybe during some of your performances, but now when I'm looking at your performances for this album, I feel like you're fully ascended as a performer. How did you get over some of those nerves?
I'm still getting over it. I wasn't trained to perform. I kind of just got thrown in. I made my first EP during the pandemic, and then I got a gig to open for Syd on tour, and that was my first time playing my songs, and I would hate to see footage from those shows 'cause I was nervous. I was just shaky, I sounded a mess. I think it's such a different job, too. I think people don't really talk about that, like it's one thing to get in the studio and make a song, but it's a completely different thing to perform it, and I think I am still figuring out what that looks like for me. But yeah, I just want to keep getting better as a performer, and that's something I'm using this album to do, really.
Cause you're maybe having more fun?
Yes.
Has your musical process changed at all since your Grammy nomination? Or do you just keep that in the back of your head? How does that influence you creatively?
It hasn't changed my process. Sometimes I honestly forget, and then I remember, I'm like, "Oh my god, I am a Grammy-nominated artist.” Now I can say that. But yeah, no, I just have fun. I go in the studio and I just play and see what sticks, and I think that's something I will continue to do no matter how serious or prestigious or how many eyes, but it's kind of like for me, it's my thing. It's for people as well, but it's my process, it's my thing, it's my expression, so I try to just do my thing.
How often are you making music?
As of late, not that much, 'cause I've been doing a lot of playing, like doing shows and running. But if I'm home, I'll probably get in the studio once a week. When I'm actively working on something and I'm in a groove, I'll go every day. It just depends.
Looking back at your first EP to where you are now, what part of you feels the most transformed?
My self-expression, I know what that looks like for me as an artist, whereas before I did make music, I didn't think people would take me seriously as an artist, because I was on the internet so young, and I thought people just had this perception of me already in their head, and it was going to be hard for people to place me differently. So I think that's something that I sit in now, is my ability to know that I can be stupid and funny on the internet, and then I can make a Grammy-nominated album. The two aren't exclusive. That's one of the main things I feel like that's evolved.
I love that.
Thank you.
Yeah. Okay, I enjoyed our conversation!
Me too. Thank you so much.
Thank you, Destin.