POINT OF PERCEPTION
Daniel Caesar Begins Living Out His Master Plan with
NEVER ENOUGH
DANIEL CAESAR HAS BEEN WRESTLING WITH HIS EGO.
He sets the scene of himself on a remote farm in Peterborough, ON, laboriously drafting and redrafting the concept of what would eventually become his new album, NEVER ENOUGH. His ego was urging him to head in a completely new direction. Another voice was pulling him back, reminding him that going rogue could be a fast track to dismissal.
“I think there’s nothing worse than a brilliant album that’s not heard by anybody,” the 27-year-old artist, born Ashton Simmonds, tells Exclaim!
The balance between ego and commercial realism is one that most artists have to contend with. Caesar’s brand of intellectually erotic, gospel-tinged R&B has earned him billions of streams, collaborations with genre-leading artists and a Grammy. But once you build a fanbase around a sound, it makes creative left turns more challenging. A successful deviation could only be done gradually and strategically.
“I resent it, but I think there’s a way to reach the public,” he says. “You can’t just do what you want. You have to be methodical with the way you do things.”
One of those methodologies involved checking his pride. At an album listening event the night before our talk, Caesar explained that his breakthrough occurred on a trip abroad. After a day of art exhibits and magic mushrooms, he returned home to find that someone on his team had compiled a selection of tracks that the singer had previously dismissed. He thought they had come to him too effortlessly to be valued. Where was the sweat? The struggle? The ensuing victory lap?
In a somewhat altered state of mind, Caesar was able to hear and appreciate the music anew. He realized that his next album could be a combination of the Daniel people were familiar with and the one he wanted us to meet — a push-and-pull between artist and audience.
“You can’t alienate people. You gotta leave breadcrumbs,” he says. “[People] need to be led gently. It’s like a shepherd, you know?”
Many artists will sit across from you and tell you that they don’t care what people think. Some of them will be telling the truth. Most of them won’t be. While Caesar wants to be indifferent to validation, he hasn’t arrived there just yet.
“My ego can be fragile, so I’m careful with what I show to the world,” he admits, sinking further into a plush sectional at Universal Music Canada’s headquarters.
“I’M ONLY GOING TO GO MORE
AND MORE OFF THE RAILS.”
“Even in something like this,” he gestures to the two of us sitting across from each other, “I’m very confident, but it’s like, I watch what I say.” His eyes widen, side-eyeing me knowingly, before he continues, “I’ve learned to watch what I say because sometimes your confidence can offend other people.”
For some, that offence peaked in March of 2019. After social media personality YesJulz came under fire for her repeated criticisms of Black women and her use of a racial slur, the singer took to Instagram Live in her defence. Caesar, who repeated that he was drunk throughout the livestream, asked his Black audience, “Why are we being so mean to white people right now?” before adding that “being a victim doesn’t get you paid.” He invited people to “make [him] broke” and cancel him. That’s exactly what some fans chose to do.
Caesar later apologized for “how [he] expressed [his] idea.” He surprise-dropped his second studio album, CASE STUDY 01, three months later to lukewarm reception.
In the four years since, he signed with a major label and released one-off singles and features with the likes of Justin Bieber and FKA twigs. He’s also had time to reflect on the power of perception.
“You can tell a man through his actions. So when I see other people’s actions, I know what type of time they’re on. Sometimes I assume that, through my actions, people can tell what type of time I’m on, but they can’t. And it’s up to me to understand that and to move accordingly,” he says.
For Caesar, NEVER ENOUGH is just one stop on a fresh creative journey. For those who choose to stick around, he promises more left turns along the way.
“This was a very specific point in my career — my first album with a major label,” he reflects. “But I have a master plan, and I’m only going to go more and more off the rails.”