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PEOPLE & ARTS Monday 30 october 2017
Rising singer Daniel Caesar

blazes trail with celeb fan base

By MESFIN FEKADU Apple Music has supported sounded, ‘cause we want-
AP Music Writer the project, picking Caesar ed to make it. And the fact
NEW YORK (AP) — What do to be its “Up Next Artist” for that it’s resonating with so
Stevie Wonder and Kylie September. The album’s many people, it’s reassur-
Jenner have in common? lead single, “Get You,” re- ing,” he said. “I have more
They’re both fans of rising cently reached gold sta- confidence because of it.”
R&B singer Daniel Caesar. tus, and Caesar earned Caesar said his influences
The golden-voiced Ca- nominations at this year’s include Kirk Franklin, the
nadian singer, who also BET Awards and the JUNO Beatles, Frank Ocean and
counts Coldplay’s Chris Awards. “It’s reassuring be- D’Angelo, whose albums
Martin, Rick Rubin and cause we just made this inspired his sound on his Daniel Caesar arrives at the iHeartRadio Much Music Video
Erykah Badu as admirers, music ‘cause we like how it debut.q Awards on Sunday, June 18, 2017, in Toronto, Canada.
Associated Press
has built a strong celeb-
rity fan base, thanks to his
smooth, soulful R&B sound.
Caesar calls Wonder “one
of my favorite songwriters
of all-time,” and said meet-
ing the iconic musician left
him star-struck.
“He came in and asked
to hear (my) song again.
And that was probably the
craziest part to see Ste-
vie Wonder vibe out to a
song I wrote,” Caesar, 22,
recalled. “I was very shook.
... I’ll never forget that mo-
ment.” Caesar’s encoun-
ter with Jenner was similar.
She attended a listening
party for his full-length de-
but album, “Freudian,”
released in August. “I
was honored. She’s really
dope, very down-to-earth.
She introduced herself to
me the first time I met her,”
he said. “She’s like, ‘Hi,
my name’s Kylie.’ I’m like,
‘Yeah. I know.’” “Freud-
ian,” the follow-up to sev-
eral EPs, debuted at No. 16
on Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop
albums chart. The project
was produced by Matthew
Burnett and Jordan Evans,
the duo who produced
Eminem’s Grammy-win-
ning No. 1 hit “Not Afraid,”
as well as songs for Drake
and others. Burnett and Ev-
ans also manage Caesar.
Caesar released “Freud-
ian” independently,
though he said he and
his team met with major
record labels to see their
vision. “We’d go to the
meetings and some were
good and some weren’t as
good,” said Caesar, think-
ing that the label execu-
tives “can’t possibility care
about what we’re doing as
much as we do.”
“We decided to bet on
ourselves. And I’m happy
we did,” he said.