There’s no greater feeling for us than watching a rising music star get their flowers. If you didn’t know who Durand Bernarr was before today, we’re willing to bet good money that you will soon. His explosive presence on the stage and online is garnering him an impressively large and dedicated fan base. He’s got all the allure of Prince, a profound way to relate with fans, and a jaw-dropping musical background. But what’s really drawing fans to Bernarr is his unapologetically queer presence on the stage. The man demands your respect, and fans are crawling over each other to hand it over.
He’s got the musical chops for sure, having grown up the son of a professional vocal coach and a father who worked in live music production (even bringing Durand along on an Earth, Wind, and Fire tour when he was still a teenager). The best part? He’s doing this all as an independent artist, an even more impressive feat with his latest album, En Route, earning him a Grammy nod.
His comedic commentary and INSANE vocal range took center stage when his NPR Tiny Desk Concert shot him to viral fame (it’s a must watch, and hat tip to his Uncle Bobby-inspired outfit). After four albums and five EPs, his independent success can be attributed to his homage to 90’s R&B artists while carving out his own intoxicating style. Lucky for you, he’s stopping by The Truman on May 1. We talked with him ahead of the show.
IHLM: I love love love your live presence, and the unapologetic manner in which you present yourself. What’s something you get out of performing that you don’t get from everyday life? Or are your onstage and offstage personalities one and the same?
DB: They are one and the same they just have different dynamics to them. Kind of like, think of a setting of a fan, depending on what’s going on in my every day, my setting’s going to be on one. It can jump up to a three. Depending on who I’m around, it could be at like a two.
When I have the attention of a room, I always want to make sure that I’m leaving them better than I’ve found them, more informed, more enlightened, more encouraged, more motivated, offered a different perspective or two, that’s the kind of impact I like to have when I’m performing
IHLM: When did you first realize your identity can be this great source of power?
DB: I’ll says 11, maybe around 10 or 11, I was singing in church and I had a solo to sing, “I Believe I Can Fly,” and at the end, when the note is being held and I hit my note, and you know the church just went up and I saw a couple of people running up and down the aisles, it was one of those moments. I be doing this at the house just with my mom playing around, but to have that kind of effect on a room, where you’re giving me your undivided attention, I don’t think I understood it in that moment, but the feeling of ‘Wow, the story that I’m emoting, I’m sharing, it’s moving you,’ that was always something that kind of just resonated, I just needed a proper vehicle to know how to navigate it.
IHLM: I read up a little on your mother and father. How has their work in the music industry allowed you to flourish in such a way?
DB: Mom taught music in public schools for about 20 years before I came along. My dad was playing in the church choir, he also had a singing group when he was a teenager called The Del Tones.
It’s always been there. I never felt that I was being forced to do anything that I didn’t want to do, whether that was piano lessons or performing in recitals, or being on the road with my dad as a PA with Earth, Wind, and Fire. It was just always something that we were doing b/c my parents were musical.
IHLM: I feel that a lot of artists want to lean more towards the independent route, the way you have been going at it. You’re someone who’s remained independent and snagged a grammy nomination at the same time. Can you please go into the values of an independent artist for those wanting to soar?
DB: Ma’am, first and foremost, it’s not something that you should even think about doing on your own. There’s only so far that you can take yourself, so it’s important to have some kind of support system. Whether that’s your homie that’s got a good eye, you want to be my photographer, get my video going, let’s pull together. As Issa Rae says, pull from the sides of you versus trying to climb a ladder to get to what you think would be dope when there’s people right next to you who are dope, that are sharp and have some kind of skill that could create something different and be more impactful.
IHLM: I watched your Tiny Desk Concert. I think that very easily became my favorite Tiny Desk Concert. Your outfit was fantastic, channeling Uncle Bobby from the Proud Family. This was just an intoxicating performance, start to finish. How did it feel to shake up the Tiny Desk Concert scene?
DB: That was very jarring and overwhelming just because all of the work that has gone into getting to this point, almost like flashes before your eyes. Not only have I gotten to this point still as an independent artist, but then I have my family and my friends who have been along all of this process of, it was just a full circle moment. I had so many familiar faces to share that with. The singers, they were on my very first tour back in 2016, and this is back when we were having to drive ourselves from city to city and carpool and crash at our friends’ houses, just to see the growth,
It was just this energy I was able to have along with it. I always say the desk will never be the same again. People usually are giving you a stripped-down version of what they do, and I was on the road at that time, so I was already in tour concert mode, so that was just a condensed version of what the tour was doing. And it’s beyond me. That was literally two years ago this past March, which is now on vinyl, you can order the vinyl of my Tiny Desk.
When I was doing it, it was about me but now it’s showing a little black boy who might have a little substance in his tank and is shamed for. No babe that’s fuel, you can show up to these spaces and leave respected
The following year I ended up being the creative director for Teedra Moses’ Tiny Desk, and do the wardrobe, it was such a moment to have my own and trend setting what they did.
IHLM: I live in a community with a lot of queer artists, and they’re going to be looking up to you when you come through. What’s some guidance you can give for those looking to also be unapologetically queer and confident the way you are onstage?
DB: I go back to the company you keep and your environment. My parents, who they were at the time when they decided to involve me in their lives was good, the timing was excellent. Was it perfect? It depends on what perfection is, but I’m grateful that they were not trying to discover themselves. They were already established as far as adults. They had the wherewithal to give me what I needed. So I would say make sure, whoever your friends are, deeming as your family, when they come around, you LOVE who you are. And they inspire you to be a better version of yourself and to let things go that don’t even belong to you.
Your nervous system and how you feel on the inside, the company you keep, the weight you put on people. If they’re not treating you right, then you have to go where you’re embraced. No accepted, I’m tired of that word, because acceptance requires permission. You can embrace me, but I do not like the word accept. That is the company that we need to make sure you’re around. That is my advice.
IHLM: What are your fans like?
DB: I call them the cousins, because I say I’m your favorite cousin on your daddy’s side, the one that was playing hopscotch while y’all were playing basketball, and I left the hometown and went to go explore the world, people with different perspectives and beliefs and I come back and I’m like y’all, this is what I got hip to, and I got stories for days, being able to come with advice.
My music is very much a conversation, even my content when I’m talking, I construct it in a way where I’m like, I’m talking to you. I don’t know who this for, but it’s for whoever it lands on, it’s always a space of, I’m going from a space of, I’m encouraging you and I’m being firm in my kindness, honesty without kindness and compassion is abuse, so I always want to make sure people feel heard and seen in a way that might not translate well if it doesn’t come from me.
A lot of them have grown up with me on YouTube, and even a couple from the Myspace era, all of this progress I’m continuing to make, it’s way bigger than me, they’re super proud and I’m glad I can continuously do things that give them a reason to be proud. This person represents me well, my inside thoughts with this way. That inspires me to be gentle with myself.
IHLM: What would younger Durand think of current Durand?
DB: I would absolutely be shook! Honestly though, it wouldn’t be too too too too much of a shock because I am in touch with my inner child. I’m also in touch with my inner teenager, but specifically my inner child, I treat him like he’s my child, I don’t ignore certain things, I make sure that I leave room for whatever it is that I need to leave room for so i can tend to him, because if he’s affected then my adult body will be affected. He’s been able to ride shotgun in my brain and see certain things that he didn’t think could happen.
I think when we’re talking about my inner child, there’s certain parts, that he’s privy to as far as information, it’s more so my inner teenager, that was the one I really needed to have a conversation with, because as a child my view of the world is very limited. But now that we’re talking about a teenager who had all these restrictions on him because he wanted to be obedient to God and a lot of indoctrination was setting in, he himself would feel a sense of relief, because there was a sense at one time that I wouldn’t be able to be happy just being myself, it always had to be conditions of something.
He would be the one that would have an emotional reaction to where I am now in a good way. It’s like ‘oh I’ll be able to breathe one day?’ And it’s giving ‘you can breathe right now.’
IHLM: Why do you feel it’s important to keep doing what you’re doing?
DB: That’s a subjective question. It depends on who it’s for, it’s not for everybody, it would not have an objective value, those that find value in it, I do it for them, and I do it for myself, it’s what I signed up for because I felt like it was a good idea.
It’s making good use of the decision, I have not regretted this decision thus far, I’m able to even in my moments of tiredness and exhaustion, I’m immediately reminded at least I’m exhausted from doing what I love and being myself. I have been in the situation where I have to throw myself out of bed and uber and lift and make a $100 at a certain hour. I’m glad it can be this. Even in those moments of exhaustion, I’ve learned I can do what I do in a smarter way so I can keep my pace, it’s a marathon, not a spring.
IHLM: Can you please detail for me, and for your fans, your definition of black queer joy?
DB: For me it’s finding your own happiness, and also being around company and environments that can enhance and sustain that because community is important and that’s why tribes were so important, because we all need each other to lean on. I always just tell people outside of your exercise regimen and your diet and how much water you’re drinking, sometimes I can definitely tell the condition of someone’s nervous system just by the company they keep and their environment. Those are the components that just make up joy period, but definitely for us.
IHLM: On that same note: If black queer joy was an instrument, what instrument would it be?
DB: It would be the bass because one, it can hold its own and it can create rhythm and bounce. It also can change the direction of what the chords are going to be, and you never feel sad when you hear the bass. You shed tears to the piano, the strings, the violin, the flute, but the bass? Oh babes, no no no, you make a stank face when the bass is hit. So those three components.