After inking a deal with Fearless Records, DE’WAYNE has returned with his sexy new single, “synthesizer.” Inspired by the timeless groove of the Commodores’ 1977 chart-topping and Grammy-nominated single “Brick House,” which the four-piece penned “about the perfect woman—in their eyes,” DE’WAYNE infuses his own unique rockstar flair into his latest offering that captures a similar sentiment of all-consuming love.
With its irresistible chorus echoing emotions of boundless affection, boldly proclaiming, “She’s a synthesizer/Baby, don’t you understand/She’s my heaven, she’s my earth/She’s my woman, she’s my man,” DE’WAYNE seizes the essence of a love that transcends conventional boundaries and breaks down the walls of gender normativity. In the accompanying music video, he endeavors to encapsulate this euphoric sensation, seeking to express a love that is not only all-encompassing but also undeniably SEXY! Driven by DE’WAYNE’s warm glow of optimism, “synthesizer” emerges as a heartfelt anthem, a declaration of soul-consuming love delivered by a rockstar with a big heart.
idobi Radio sat down to chat with DE’WAYNE about his new single and record label, his goals, and more. Check out “synthesizer” and our interview with him below.
Tell me about the new release, “synthesizer,” and its inspiration. How did the song come to be, from its inception to its completion?
I got very into funk, like a ’70s-inspired thing. Like the Commodores and The Jackson 5 and Earth, Wind & Fire and, Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield. It was beautiful too, ’cause as a kid, I was like, soul music is R&B, but it was very cool to hear, so music was infused with rock.
I heard this song by the Commodores called “Brick House.” And it’s a very silly song, but it’s like, “Oh, she’s a brick house.” I have a part of that old Black grandpa in me, and I felt that. I was like, “Oh, like, this is how I feel right now. I don’t want to say she’s a brick house, but how can I say she’s a superwoman? How can I make a new word for it? She’s so sexy and so strong, and I need her in my life.” And I was like, “She’s a synthesizer.” I was like, “I want to give it a new meaning. I want to give the person that I see in my life as this all-encompassing, beautiful, intelligent person that I truly feel like I need at the moment.” And I just gave it the name synthesizer.
You’re tying together music and being in love with this person—I’ve always said music is my first love, and it seems that could also be true for you. So, I’m obsessed with this sentiment. And now, you’ve combined the two so that the person you’re deeply in love with is also related to music. I find it to be so beautiful.
I hope that people like it even if it’s just someone that they want to be with or someone that they kind of have a yearning for. I hope they can play this song for them and be like, “I want you to be a synthesizer in my life.” Now that love is so important to me, in every type of community, whether it’s with a partner or even with my mom. Like she’s a synthesizer in my life, you know what I mean? The strong women in my life are all synthesizers. So I just want whoever hears it to feel that vibe and their crush or something like that.
I love the line in the chorus: “She’s my woman/She’s my man.” What significance does this line hold for you personally, and what do you hope listeners take away from it?
I’ve been doing a lot of work on myself and talking to people. A friend of mine talked about this thing being like, I know I’m a man. I was born a man, and I love being a man, but I’ve always just had this balance of both feminine and masculine energy. I’ve never been overbounds with either. I feel like I’ve always been set in the middle.
And one of my friends said, “It’s about being the sacred masculine person in your person’s life.” And that really spoke to me. And I was just like, “Thank you.” She’s my woman, and she’s my man because I love her. I love this person with all my heart. But also, it’s really my best friend, you know. I think going back to any type of relationship if you can have both, I think it’s that’s how it works. I think you see each other equally that way as well.
I can’t lie, I also just thought it was a badass line. Just to let people know where I’m coming from. I’m a grown man. I have responsibilities, music is my career. I do a lot of things, but I think it’s sexy to say she’s my woman, she’s my man. I’m just kind of laying it all out there to showcase more to people who I really am.
I love that you’re so willing to put this out there and for it to be so open and honest. And back to what you said earlier, which was your mom can be your synthesizer too. It’s about sharing love with somebody. And I think that goes back to the thought of like, you know, the single moms or the single dads who are both mom and dad. You know what I mean? Like that’s my woman and my man because that’s my mom and my dad in one person.
It’s so true. And okay, I’m gonna piggyback off that because you’re 100% right. I really feel that way in my relationships and my friendships because I think if you care about someone so much, or if someone needs more of you, you can’t just play one role for them. I think it was a little bit of that. It was a lot of things kind of in that line, but I would say when someone is really in your life, you’re kind of playing multiple roles. Even to my label and to my team—it’s like my manager plays a friend that I can call sometimes when I’m crying and someone who’s gonna help me with my money, make sure that I’m not spending too much. I think those important people who are in your life play multiple roles.
To me, it feels like such a declaration against gender norms, against who needs to be the more masc or femme in a relationship, no matter what that relationship looks like, whether it’s friendship or partnership or parent-child. It can be fluid.
I think my life is that fluid, and I mean it. I mean, it genuinely is. And I feel like I’m constantly just trying to show people that there’s another side to this. I know we’ve heard these things for hundreds of years, but I’m not. I really love that about myself and I love that about the people that I’m around.
Definitely speaking to my mom, too. She’s going to college full-time, and it’s so awesome. We get to talk, and she’s like, “Oh, I’m so proud of you. You have this going on now and the music and that.” And I’m like, “Yeah, you got an 88 on your science test, like, hell yes!” There’s a certain way we’ve been taught. And I think it’s beautiful to just, as you grow older, remain flexible in your mind and be able to change it. I think that’s how we really grow.
This is your first release official release on Fearless Records. Tell me about changing labels for the first time.
Yes, this is my second label. I will say that it’s really nice. It’s been really nice so far. I’ve kind of called meetings when we first started working together and was getting “synthesizer” ready because I wanted to meet the marketing and the strategic people, the radio people, the social media people, everyone, to show them who I am, and let them see this face and let them see this energy that I have.
Music is my life, and I really believe in these songs and they’ve been very open to the optimistic person that I am. I want to be the biggest rock ‘n’ roll star, and they’re super encouraging and saying, “Let’s do this, and let’s do this so we can get here, and let’s do this.” The past few weeks, we’ve been doing a lot of that and opening some doors that we can actually open at the moment. They believe in me, and that’s all I really need. That’s all I’ve ever really needed. I’m digging Fearless so far, I think it’s dope.
