If you’re a fan of good music, you’re a fan of Lucky Daye. Hailing from New Orleans, Louisiana, the singer-songwriter has established himself as a force to be reckoned with in the music industry by creating his own lane that reels in both new school and old school elements of R&B and soul.
Coming from true humble beginnings, which includes being raised in a cult where he couldn’t listen to secular music, Daye found himself learning melodies through reading children books and turning them into songs. In 2005, a then-19-year-old Lucky Daye competed on “American Idol” before signing to Keep Cool Records and RCA Records. In 2019, he released his Grammy-nominated album titled Painted.
Fast forward to 2021, the star isn’t letting his foot off the gas pedal in the slightest. Most recently, he unleashed the official music video for “Over,” which recruits Jordyn Woods as his special lady. If there’s one thing you can expect from Daye, it’s the fact that he’s creative in every sense of his art from the music to the visuals.
REVOLT caught up with the star to discuss his forthcoming second album, features from Smino and Lil Durk, working with Earth, Wind & Fire and much more! Read below.
How are you feeling? It seems like your career has skyrocketed.
It’s a gradual climb. When you’re trying to build a foundation, you gotta start with your own and start building for longevity. That’s my whole thing. I’m not just trying to pop in and pop out, I’m here. Now that they know who I am, I can open up a little more. That’s why my second album is about to go crazy.
Is there a name for that yet?
There is a name, but I can’t give that away yet. You can expect some vibes. You can expect a lot of songs first of all. This might be more songs than Painted. There’ll be more interludes, as well as features.
What features?
I don’t know if I can tell you, but I’ll give you one that’s fire. One of my favorite songs is the first song on there — me and Smino. We went crazy, that’s one of them. There’s some other ones on there. We got Lil Durk. It’s hard to describe because you never had a taste of it. But when you hear it, it’s like, “Oh yeah, this makes so much sense.”
Was there a certain woman that inspired “Over”?
I kind of had this situation during the pandemic, and I learned a lot about myself. I learned about my damn self. Oh, maybe I could not think everybody can love me as much as I can love. Maybe I can just experience them for how they like to love and not love like me — or don’t expect them to love like me. That’s what I learned from it. That made us keep calling each other. We never want to let each other go. I think opposites attract.
The video is so beautiful. Whose idea was it to get Jordyn Woods in it?
I met Jordyn at the Spotify event. That was my first time meeting her, the R&B dinner. She mentioned that she was a fan. My homie Josh said, “Yo, it’d be fire if she was in the video. You should go in there and meet her.” I said, “Oh okay, I like meeting people” (laughs). Met her, she said “I’m a fan…” Blah blah blah, just kept it going. I asked, “Would you do the video?” She said, “Yes!” And that’s how it happened.
What was the best memory from shooting?
Just being in Mexico, the history. Being by the water was amazing.
Talk about working with Earth, Wind, & Fire. That’s legendary!
That’s legendary as hell. That’s a blessing for them to think of me. For them to put me in a part where Maurice White would be, oh man. I felt like I was disrespecting things when I got in the studio. I let Babyface take the guide, paying respects to the OGs because they made the way for R&B. They made it to where I can be abstract. They did that for me.
What does it mean to be a Black man in America today?
It means you got to really be on your shit is what that means. Be on every angle of all of your shit. You can’t be trapped, you trap yourself. It’s easy for a lot of Black people to trap themselves. Think of someone trying to get out of a trap they didn’t create. That’s what it’s like.