Destin Conrad Will Have You Meeting the Love of Your Life at His Dallas Show

When Destin Conrad was in high school in Tampa, Florida, he joined the jazz choir although he couldn’t read music. He’d grown up singing in his mother’s church but had never mastered notation (and still hasn’t despite being a Grammy-nominated songwriter). However, one pass with John Legend’s “Ordinary People” landed him a spot and several solos, much to the anger of his choirmates.

A decade later, Conrad released wHIMSY on Aug. 28, his first alt-jazz album and his second this year alone. It’s a culmination of his off-the-cuff style and a testament to his incredible vocal skill, but it’s also proof of his entire submissive philosophy in action.

“I feel like me making this jazz album was a testament to trusting my ear, trusting my gut and not leaning on my knowledge, but more so leaning on my soul and my feeling and how the music made me feel,” he said during a Zoom interview with the Observer.

If you know Conrad’s name, it’s likely in connection with his two Submissive EPs from 2023 and 2024, respectively. Conrad broke on Vine singing songs and eventually worked his way into the southern R&B scene. He penned songs for Kehlani (“Water”), Ambré (“The Catch Up”), María Isabel (“Solitude”) and Mack Keane (“O.M.L.”). The first Submissive EP put him front and center, though.

Stylistically, Conrad is a throwback to the late 1990s/early 2000s R&B style, though he typically produces songs in a much more stripped-down style. Not quite minimalist, but with an elegant use of blank audio space, the way an art gallery lets the paintings speak for themselves.

More than the smooth timbre of his voice and the almost trip-hop beats, what struck the rawest nerve on Submissive was his lyrical content. His thirst level was appropriately high for the genre, but in keeping with the title, Conrad framed romance in terms of surrender and establishing boundaries. Example: “Luv N Devotion.”
“I’ve been meditating from a distance / I’ve been movin’ slow / You my one weakness / When around, you lose my self-control / Can we revisit this when I get sober?” he sings.

That chaotic surrender has become his brand, and it is carried through on his second headline tour as he promotes his debut album, Love on Digital, released in April. When he finally joined the Zoom, it was after one rescheduling and a missed lunch break, forcing him to chew through the interview.

Though still gorgeous, Conrad gave the impression of someone who caught a tiger by the tail and is trying to hold on. He released wHIMSY just four months after Love on Digital, and another tour was about to start. Despite that, he looked happy, almost content in the madness.

“I named it Submissive without the sexual connotation of it,” he said. “I wasn’t thinking about that. I thought about how it’s more powerful to submit to something rather than trying to control shit and be dominant. I felt like there was more power in submitting to the unknown, submitting to change. It takes more strength sometimes to do that. Dominance is fickle and not really a strong thing.”


On the one hand, Conrad is inarguably a driving force in his music. Love on Digital shows a definite progression and a shrewd culmination of his success. Fellow queer artist and superstar Lil Nas X guest spots on a track as well as old collaborators like Kehlani. Conscious of criticisms about Submissive, Love on Digital is a more lush and dynamic production. It’s no wall of sound, but maybe a nice, decorative trellis that lets Conrad drape his love songs lovingly over them. There is nothing passive about his musical journey.

There is, though, a powerful embrace of submission. In fact, when he wants to be more dominant, he outsources that to his alter ego, Mr. E. Though the character shows up across Conrad’s discography, wHIMSY is his full album debut.

“He’s British, and he’s a geezer,” said Conrad. “He’s the complete opposite of me. Just like my little guy in my head that doesn’t give a fuck as much as I do. Mr. E wanted to make the jazz album. I think Destin would have been scared.”

There’s something to be said for the compartmentalization approach. wHIMSY is the more forceful work, in part because of the harder drums and horns. Still sensual, it adds rizz and flash on tracks where Conrad would otherwise lie back and wax poetic on his state of mind and preferred sexual positioning.

For Conrad, this is all part of the ride. He can conduct an interview while planning a major tour, eating a sandwich and balancing the promotion of two albums at once because he doesn’t feel the need to fully control the entire process. Many artists who sought complete domination of their process have burned out once they realized that it simply wasn’t possible beyond a certain scale. Conrad trusts in his team, his talent and his philosophy enough to go with the flow.

“I feel like my favorite people in life, outside of even them being artists or being creative, are the most vulnerable, and it’s something I’ve always admired in people in general,” he said.
Destin Conrad will perform on Saturday, Sept. 20, at 7 p.m. at House of Blues Dallas, 2200 N Lamar St. Tickets are available starting at $58.65 on Ticketmaster.com.