Daniel Caesar is a Canadian R&B singer/songwriter known for his passionate voice and heartfelt lyrics. R&B is a popular music genre that lyrically captures the experiences of pain, freedom, joy, relationships, and aspirations. Nowadays, there aren’t many music artists who can truly encapsulate these experiences through their music, but Daniel Caesar can. “There’s not a lot of music artists that do it like him,” said freshman, Cameron West.
Daniel Caesar started as a relatively unknown music artist. This quickly changed after he dropped his single “Get You” in 2016 which featured Colombian-American singer/songwriter, Kali Uchis. This single was a huge hit with over 10 million streams on Apple Music and the addition of 25 million streams on Spotify. He quickly rose to fame and became one of Toronto’s biggest R&B music artists.
On August 25th, 2017, Daniel Caesar released his debut album, “Freudian.” Freudian is an album consisting of 10 songs that represent how it feels to fall in and out of love. The first two songs, “Get You” which features Kali Uchis, and “Best Part” which features H.E.R, capture the feeling of being in deep love. Lyrics like, “Every time I look into your eyes, I see it. You’re all I need.” truly show how in love Daniel was. Although Kali Uchis and H.E.R are very different music artists, both of their voices seem as if they melt into Daniel’s. “Best Part” is my personal favorite of the two. The song starts off with H.E.R vocalizing, which instantly sets the mood for the rest of the song. Shortly after, Daniel Caesar takes over which eventually leads to Daniel and H.E.R singing together. Their voices go together beautifully which truly pulls the song together. Lyrics are the most important part of songs. “Best Part” has multiple hyperboles that express how in love Daniel Caesar is, such as “You’re my water when I’m stuck in the desert.”, “You’re the Tylenol I take when my head hurts.” and “You’re the sunshine on my life.” If you ever need a song to listen to when you’re in love, “Best Part” is always an amazing choice.
As you continue to progress through the album, you can begin to see the harsh realities of being in love set in. In “Hold Me Down” the lyrics show that Daniel’s love interest has begun to turn their back on Daniel and he wants answers. Verses like, “I never asked for much, only that you stay true. Need I remind you of the things I do for you? Who can I blame? I played the game, well just for now.” show how betrayed Daniel Caesar felt.
Out of all 10 songs on this album, “Loose” has to be my all-time favorite. “Loose” is about the struggles of being in a relationship with someone who has hurt you or had a negative impact on you. It lyrically shows how Daniel truly wants to move on but is still stuck on his old lover. Although this song has very few lyrics, they still touch my heart unlike anything else. My favorite verse of this song would have to be “You don’t love me anymore. Let’s see how you like this song. See you walking out the door. Wonder why it took you so long. Ever since the day that I met you, I knew you were the girl of my dreams but we could never be.” This verse is the final verse of the song “Loose” but is also the first verse in “We Find Love” which is the song right after “Loose” on the tracklist. This transition was very well done and was one of the first things I noticed when listening to this album for the first time.
The album ends off with a 10-minute song called “Freudian” which is the same name as the album. The lyrics of this song seem as if they’re a final message to Daniel’s ex-lover. Daniel thanks his old lover for giving him life, but also makes sure she knows how much he was hurt throughout the relationship. This was an amazing way to end the album. Although the song was 10 minutes long, I was able to listen to the entire 10 minutes without wanting to skip or stop listening. This truly proved to me how captivating Daniel’s voice and lyrics are.
Freudian truly does deserve all of the attention it gets. This album tells such a heart-touching story about love. Freudian is a work of art that is meant to be dissected. The way Daniel organized the album was extremely well done and unlike anything, any other music artist has ever done. The lyrics, instrumentals, vocals, and tempo of the songs all show how Daniel went from being in love to being confused, heartbroken, and betrayed. This has been, and will continue to be one of my all-time favorite albums I have ever listened to. This album is something everyone should listen to at least once in their life. Freudian truly did not disappoint.
