Daniel Caesar branches out with new ideas in 'Never Enough'

Canadian singer Daniel Caesar [CASSANOVA CABRERA]

Every musician aspires to change and evolve for the better with each consecutive project. For Canadian R&B singer Daniel Caesar, his new album “Never Enough” is wholly different from his past works in that, this time, he was given free rein in the production.

“I was entirely in the driver’s seat for the whole process,” Caesar said of his new album during a group interview with local reporters at a hotel in Mapo District, western Seoul, on Thursday. Caesar is back in Korea for the first time in five years to perform at the “Have a Nice Trip 2023” concert on Saturday. “All my work up until now had my mentors with me, showing the ropes and teaching me things. There were a lot of things I knew nothing about back then. But with ‘Never Enough,’ I directed most of the production.”

“Never Enough,” Caesar’s third studio album with 18 songs in total, garnered favorable reviews from critics and reached number 14 on the U.S. Billboard 200. Most of Caesar’s songs on the album have a heavy R&B influence, though they still differ from traditional R&B as they feature chord progressions and synthesizer sounds unheard of in the genre. When asked about how he felt that would sit with listeners, Caesar said that he felt anxiety at times.

“The album took many forms while I was making it, and I didn’t want to alienate my audience,” Caesar said. “I wanted to grow, change and scratch the itch that people have come to know and expect in me to scratch. I want to change the idea of R&B in people’s heads. I hate the idea of genres in general. I appreciate so many things outside of R&B, and that has influenced [me.]”

Canadian singer Daniel Caesar [VLADIMIR KAMINETSKY]

Regarding what he wanted to express through the music in “Never Enough,” Caesar said that themes of resilience and “life being made of cycles” is what he wanted to address.

“I feel like life is made of cycles, so there are different forces at work pushing and pulling at you,” Caesar said. “You spend so much energy chasing this thing that you perceive to be outside of yourself, and the closer you get to that, the more energy you acquire because of the excitement. It’s this endless cycle of reaching something you think is outside of you. It’s the action of pursuing that makes life worth living.”

Although Caesar has made a name for himself with his past works including albums “Freudian” (2017) and “Case Study 01” (2019), his most far-reaching project was no doubt the collaboration with Justin Bieber on the mega-hit song “Peaches” (2021). Caesar featured in the song along with singer Giveon, and “Peaches” debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100 and received four nominations at the 64th Grammy Awards.

“The harmony is my favorite part and an important aspect of what I brought to ‘Peaches,’” Caesar said. “Things definitely changed for me after that song. More people recognized me in the street, and I would find myself listening to my voice more on the radio.”

On whether this popularity with “Peaches” and mainstream acclaim has changed his songwriting, Caesar said that it has allowed him to move on from writing songs only about love to addressing larger themes.

“The subject matter has changed because the more popularity I acquire, it changes my life and changes the interactions I get to have,” Caesar said. “Which then changes the internal dialogue and the things I think about and dwell upon. Singing about love just seemed basic to me at one point. Maybe that was just my ego, though, but I wanted to address other subjects that were bigger and more important.”

Excited to be back in Korea, Caesar reminisced about the last time he was in the country, when he was introduced to fellow singers in the Korean music scene.

“I became good friends with Dean [a Korean R&B singer] and I have also met Jennie from Blackpink,” said Caesar. “And the things you guys are doing with K-pop in terms of the fans and how much adulation there is for celebrities is very cool. I don’t think there is any place like this elsewhere in the world.”

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]