Destin Conrad went from singing on Vine as a teen to performing on music's biggest stages.
The 26-year-old is a Tampa native and a Grammy nominee. He is also up for Best New Artist at the BET Awards on Sunday.
But his stardom didn't happen overnight, and as Conrad put it, it was not the initial path he had pictured for himself.
Describing himself as a "boundless creative," Conrad isn't afraid to lean into different genres from R&B to jazz.
On "Florida Matters Live & Local," he talks about his album wHISMY, and how the 813 shows up in his music, along with other topics.
"My dialect — the music that I listened to growing up. There's so many sprinkles of my hometown in my music for sure."Destin Conrad
Your new album wHIMSY is out in the world. What were you thinking about when you reflect on this album?
This album was a passion project for me. I'm known for my R&B stuff, so stepping into the jazz world was something that I always wanted to do.
I did it very shortly after putting out my debut album, so a lot of people were like a little off-put, I guess. But it was really just for me.
What did you want wHIMSY to say about who you are as an artist?
I wanted wHIMSY to say that I am not easily boxed in — that I kind of do what I want and I'm just a boundless creative, really. And I go against the grain.
The album, it feels like it sort of dances on this tightrope of vulnerability and confidence — both in terms of sound, also storytelling. Was there a moment in the process of making the album when you realized this was going to be something quite different from what you've done before?
Oh yeah, the whole process was just a completely different experience for making what I usually make. There was a lot more people involved — a lot more instrumentalists — a lot more just structural things that I had to take into consideration in a way that I wouldn't necessarily with making R&B.
The year started off with your NPR Tiny Desk Concert. You had an eight-person jazz ensemble. A huge sound with the band and your vocals. What was that experience like?
It was a dream. I was really nervous because I'm such a fan of the show, so it was such a surreal thing to be thought of for that. I'm so glad I got to be able to do that.
I feel like a lot of my peers and artists that I talked to about it are really scared to do it because it's a very ... I don't know the word. Intimate isn't even the word. It's very cutthroat and dry.
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You don't really necessarily have to think about when you're performing on stage. It's a very different approach. But I'm glad I did it. It was really fun.
Destin, you've talked about growing up in Tampa. How do parts of the 813 show up in your music?
Oh my god, so much. My dialect — the music that I listened to growing up. There's so many sprinkles of my hometown in my music for sure.
When people think of music from Florida, they might think of maybe hip hop or even trap music or Latin music. What was that musical upbringing like for you here in Florida?
It was all of that. It was a melting pot of hip hop and R&B and yeah, Latin music — La Chata, reggae — it was just a melting pot.
I feel like I took little things from all those things I heard growing up and applied to my music.
Where does jazz come into it?
In high school, I was in jazz choir. That's what sparked my interest in jazz.
I didn't grow up necessarily listening to it, but I discovered it in high school, and I got super hyper fixated on it. And that's what's sparked wHIMSY.
Any artists in particular that stand out in the jazz world that you were sort of thinking about when you were recording this?
Oh my God, so many artists. Ella Fitzgerald, Chet Baker, Frank Sinatra — so many artists.
Vanisha Gould, who is actually on the album. I was so inspired by her making this album, and I listened to all her albums, and she really was like such an inspiration. I'm so glad that she was even on the album.
Dianne Reeves, so many, so many artists, musicians, I was inspired by.
A lot of people first found you through the social media site Vine. A bit of a throwback for people who may not have heard of that, but that was before you became a recording artist. Is this the path that you kind of pictured for yourself?
Absolutely not. No, I knew I liked music, but I didn't know that. I kind of gave up on the idea of doing it as a job, and then I had a job making t-shirts randomly. And then that fell through, and I was like, well, what am I going to do?
And I was like, should I revisit music, and I thought I wanted to be a songwriter for a really long time, and then it kind of snowball effected into me making my first EP, COLORWAY.
Did you have a backup career path?
No, I had no idea what I was going to do. But I did know that after getting in the studio and realizing, OK, this is something I'm interested in, I kind of just took it and ran.
I was studying all kind of songwriters and trying to figure out how I could get into rooms and write for people, and yeah, that's what I thought was going to be my thing.
Are there some other genres you're thinking of dipping your toes into?
Absolutely, yeah, all genres. I'm not necessarily into like screamo or like, I'm not a big country person.
But I definitely want to explore like dance music. I'm making reggae right now. And I want to just play with all genres I find interesting. Who knows, maybe one day, I'll be like, "Wow, I'm obsessed with country," and something will spark an idea in me to make a country record, and that's what I'll do. But I really just want to follow my intuition and have a good time.
This story was compiled from an interview conducted by Matthew Peddie for "Florida Matters Live & Local." You can listen to the entire program here.
