For Daniel Caesar, 2022 was a surprisingly quiet year musically. In the first few weeks, he made an appearance on FKA Twigs’ ethereal CAPRISONGS tape. After that, we didn’t hear from him again until April. In the spring, he teamed up with BADBADNOTGOOD for his emotional “Please Do Not Lean” single.
“This is an introduction to the sound and tone of the next chapter in my career,” he previously said of the track. Additionally, he teased that his third studio album was in the works, and joined Justin Bieber on stage at Coachella to perform their hit “Peaches” collaboration.
Daniel Caesar performs on the Coachella stage during the 2022 Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival on April 22, 2022 in Indio, California. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images for Coachella)
As January comes to an end, Caesar is finally ready to share more of his creations with the world. On Friday, the 27th, he delivered his “Do You Like Me?” single, along with the teaser for a music video that’s due out later.
For now, fans have been treated to a DSP release and lyric video, leaving many listeners with the words stuck in their heads all weekend long.
As Complex notes, the funky tune is dedicated to a special person in the singer’s life. “[It’s] a song about a woman I respect deeply,” Caesar said, later describing it as “90 degrees of a love triangle.”
The vocalist’s next project will be his first since 2019’s CASE STUDY 01. On that, he connected with several noteworthy artists, including John Mayer, Brandy, and Pharrell Williams.
Stream Daniel Caesar’s “Do You Like Me?” single on Spotify or Apple Music below. Afterward, tell us if you’re excited about the Canadian crooner’s forthcoming project in the comments.
Quotable Lyrics:
Are we wrong? I guess that depends Will we end up together? Will you have my kids? You better I wanna be in love again
Daniel Caesar is back with a seductive new song. On his latest, “Do You Like Me,” Caesar woos a lady, over a Raphael Saadiq-produced track, asking if she shares the same affections for him.
“Do you like the way I talk to you? / Do I titillate your mind? / Gotta say I like your attitude / And I’d love to make you mine / But I gotta know,” he sings on the song’s chorus.
In a statement accompanied by the song’s release, Caesar described “Do You Like Me” as “A song about a woman I respect deeply.. 90 degrees of a love triangle.”
Caesar discussed his upcoming album a year ago in an interview with Complex. During the interview, he revealed that the upcoming album will be mostly comprised of him, and feature very few collaborations.
“I’m not much of a ‘go outside and be social’ type of person and that was before the quarantine,” Caesar said. “So working on the album post-quarantine, you’re not really interacting with anybody else…But I have met a few people who have made me excited about making things again.”
We don’t know much else about Caesar’s upcoming album, but in the meantime, you can check out “Do You Like Me” above.
Image via Complex Original/Sid NaiduImage via Complex Original/Sid Naidu
So, like any good hero’s journey, Sinclair departed from the world he knew. He left the comforts of his Filipino-Guyanese family’s home in Thornhill, Ontario and set forth for Toronto. It wouldn’t take him long to find some fresh source material. His new EP, aptly titled No Longer in the Suburbs, details all the freedoms, temptations, and torments that come with making your own way while being on the cusp of fame and fortune. “It’s about finding that extra stimulation and figuring out what it means to find myself,” he says.
Spanning eight confessional, meditative R&B tracks, the new EP is a sonic bildungsroman, hearing Sinclair work through the moral trials he faces as he enters manhood and gains prominence. At its heart is a tension between the familiar and the foreign. On slow-melting lead single “Suppress,” he grapples with his desire to stay in a committed relationship while ascending to stardom, lamenting about “wanting to be a much better boyfriend” in the velvety, internal temperature-raising voice that’s gotten him this far.
“A lot of the songs are about my girlfriend, who, a couple months into me moving into the city, we got together,” he says. “I’m just trying to navigate that, especially while I’m gaining a little bit of attention with my music. Is this what I want? You don’t see it too often. People advise against what I’m doing when I say that [I’m] in a relationship. I’m trying to remain at peace with myself, but also achieve the goals I want to achieve and still have this person in my life… I still have my values amidst all of the things that are going on around me.”
“There’s Danny [Caesar] and me, but there’s also Norwill Simmonds and Kevin Sinclair. They’re, like, very good singers. That’s where all of our vocal skill comes from.”
No Longer in the Suburbs is about Sinclair’s fight to remain grounded while everything in his orbit changes. One way he stays level-headed is by keeping his Day 1s close. His roommate in Toronto is his good friend and working partner Zach Simmonds, who co-produced half the tracks on the new EP and sang backups on “Too Soon?” Fun fact: Zach also happens to be Canadian R&B star Daniel Caesar’s younger brother. Notable, considering Sinclair often gets compared to Caesar.
Even funner fact: “Our dads have an album together,” Sinclair chuckles. He’s not kidding. “There’s Danny and me, but there’s also Norwill Simmonds and Kevin Sinclair. They’re, like, very good singers. That’s where all of our vocal skill comes from, I would say.”
Image via Complex Original/Sid Naidu
The Sinclair and Simmonds families grew tight years ago as members of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. At masses, Dylan’s father Kevin and Daniel and Zach’s father Norwill would often bring the house down with their arresting vocals. Around 2001, they recorded and released a collaborative gospel album. Good luck finding this hidden CanCon gem on streaming services. “I don’t even remember the name of it. That needs a proper release, like actually,” Sinclair says of the project, which dropped the year he and Zach were born. “I love when we get together for barbecues sometimes at Danny’s place, with all of the family together. It’s so cool seeing our dads interact, knowing what we’re trying to do now. That’s where we got that gospel influence for sure.”
Dylan is, in many ways, a product of his environment. Like Caesar, he honed his voice over many years of singing with his family at church, joining the choir at just four years old. Besides his dad, who’s Guyanese, being an obvious influence, he credits his Filipino grandpa, from his mom’s side, for encouraging his development. “My lolo played a lot of guitar and piano every Saturday morning. [One day] he was practicing for church and I was just singing along with him. He was like, ‘Yo, I think you should come on stage and duet with me.’” The eventual performance marked his first taste of the spotlight.
Image via Complex Original/Sid Naidu
Music was always a family affair for Dylan. A communal experience coming from a pure place. Like most Filipino households, the Sinclairs got a ton of mileage out of their karaoke machine. “We did a lot of karaoke growing up, actually,” he laughs. “I ended up liking a lot of very sing-along songs. Because Filipinos love to sing, a lot of the music that was played growing up were songs you can sing along to.” It’s had a lasting effect. “Even when I approach my music now, I try to write melodies you can sing back. I want the live show to be like a big karaoke session. [Laughs.]”
“I want to make classics, not just hits.”
You can hear this on his 2018 debut EP Red Like Crimson, a pacifying collection of gospel-inspired R&B jams. His voice sounds seasoned and soulful, his melodies reminiscent of a time when men pleaded with their lovers by belting ballads in the rain. Sinclair admits his style early on was inspired by Caesar, who in an era of Toronto music dominated by nocturnal, Auto-Tuned R&B, showed him it was possible to find success singing stripped-back songs brimming with love and light. After being tipped to Dylan’s work by Zach, even Caesar himself was impressed with what he heard. He showed the songs to his Golden Child Records producers Jordan Evans and Matthew Burnett, who quickly became fans. The three of them would attend a “little showcase” Sinclair held for his EP—along with over 200 other people, all led there through word of mouth and social media posts.
Image via Complex Original/Sid Naidu
The hype surrounding the event caught the attention of Jordon Manswell, who’s produced for Caesar, as well as Chris Brown and Mariah Carey. He messaged Sinclair directly, offering to work with him. “The chemistry was like [snaps fingers] instant. It just worked right away,” recalls Sinclair. “It was a couple of songs and then we had ‘Home’”—his breakthrough single. Manswell would go on to executive produce Proverb.
Sinclair’s Juno-nominated album had clear gospel influences and nods to Caesar and Frank Ocean. No Longer in the Suburbs, though,is the sound of the young artist venturing not just out of his cul-de-sac, but off the map. The inspirations here are harder to pinpoint, the atmospheres more unearthly, as Sinclair finds a voice that’s singularly his own. “Open,” produced by Manswell, has him gliding over a playful, shuffling beat and plunking guitar line as he tries to convince his girl he’s not the player type. But on “Lifetime,” anchored by stirring strings and acoustic guitar, he sounds less certain: “I hope I don’t change with the wind,” he sings in a whispered falsetto.
How sure is anyone of themself at 20, really? Sinclair admits he’s still “figuring things out” as he enters adulthood, but he’s spent a lot of time thinking about the type of man he wants to be. He’s got a value system, and like an R&B Luke Skywalker, he’s determined to not let outside forces sway him. While Caesar wound up leaving the church in his youth, Sinclair’s faith hasn’t wavered. “I definitely have a lock with God that will probably never go away,” he says. “As I grow up, put myself out there, and embrace new experiences, I feel very grounded when I talk to God in the morning.”
On Suburbs, Sinclair displays a knack for compellingly candid storytelling reminiscent of a young Usher (whose Confessions he credits as an influence). Only, unlike Mr. Raymond, he’s resolutely an anti-lothario, doing his best to resist the Dark Side. “If there’s a version of yourself that you really love, you have to figure out, why do I like this person so much?And prioritize it. It has to do with the people around you. It has to do with the space that you’re in,” he says. “I move with the same people. I feel that’s necessary in order to really take your music to a certain level, cause that’s what a lot of the biggest superstars we have now do. At least the ones in our city—XO, OVO, they have their core friend group and they just grow up with them.”
Image via Complex Original/Sid Naidu
Sinclair knows that to make it in this industry, he’ll need to wander far away from home. But with the right crew around him—his homies, friends from church, his girl—he can feel at home anywhere in the world. Music is still a family thing to him. Sure, time will tell if he can keep that family together—but in the interim, hearing him sing honestly about trying to make it work is nothing short of transfixing. Isn’t that the stuff R&B legends are made of, after all?
He’s thought about that too, by the way. “I’ve been thinking about my legacy since I was like 15,” Sinclair laughs. “It’s matured over the years. I want to make people’s days better with my music and do that for as long as I can. That’s not to say I need to be making albums until the day I die, but I want to make albums that last beyond that. I want to make classics, not just hits. I want to make music that feels better the next year, and just continues to grow on you. I want one of those. Or a couple of those, hopefully.”
In fact, Sinclair’s in the planning stages for one of those right now. He’s been pondering where to record his next album. Another move will likely be necessary. “I’m between Montreal, Hawaii, and Bali. All very different locations,” he snickers. “I just know I want water and a big window. A visual of unknown territory.”
Creative Director / Producer: Alex Narvaez Photographer: Sid Naidu, Alex Narvaez Photo Assistant: Millicent Amurao Production Manager: Jessica Campbell Production Coordinator: Kylie Laus Artist Management: Jermayne Clayton, Jordan Manswell Publicist: Michael Tomczak
Daniel Caesar has been rather quiet since he released his sophomore album Case Study 01 in 2019. His highlights in the almost here years since that project arrived include “Peaches,” Justin Bieber’s No. 1 track which he and Giveon guest featured on, “Love Again” with Brandy,” and a remix of “Cyanide” with Koffee. Caesar’s time to himself might have been a choice to stay out of the mix following his controversial comments about YesJulz, but his fans still stuck beside him as his debut album Freudian went Platinum this year while his best-selling single, “Get You” with Kali Uchis, went 4X Platinum.
Nonetheless, it seems Daniel Caesar is ready to take steps towards his third album after almost three years. That signal comes with the release of “Please Do Not Lean” which features Badbadnotgood. The track is a tender release that Caesar steers with his soft vocals as he admits to his unstable ways with his significant other. Caesar knows his partner seeks someone to depend on, and it’s for that reason he requests that they don’t lean on him.
His new track arrives after he and Justin Bieber delivered performances of “Peaches” at this year’s Coachella Festival and Grammy Awards. Prior to that, he collaborated with Omar Apollo for “Invincible” and FKA Twigs for “Careless.”
You can listen to “Please Do Not Lean” in the video above.
