How Lucky Daye Flipped a Difficult Upbringing into Pure Music Gold
At O.N.S, we take pride in telling stories about modern living and profiling the most authentic urban transplants and unique individuals we can find. It’s not always easy to unearth truly original personalities, because let’s be honest, most people find it safer to travel the familiar and tested path. Not Lucky Daye — this soulful and versatile artist revels in exploring the depths of his own multilayered personality, and transforming whatever he finds into musical magic for his legion of growing fans. Currently signed to Keep Cool/RCA Records, Daye has been riding the waves of his hypnotic hit, ‘Roll Some Mo” and tearing down stages with his electric live performances. This spring, he is releasing a new album (Release Date: 05/24) to add to his already impressive catalog, and we can’t wait to hear it. On a recent layover in NYC, we invited him to our flagship for an O.N.S Manual chat.
First off, how did you get the stage/recording name, Lucky Daye?
It came from wanting to prepare myself for anything and everything. I looked up what Lucky meant and it was “when preparation meets opportunity.” I knew that was something I wanted to do that every day. So I combined the two, but on paper Day didn’t look right to me, so I took inspiration from Marvin Gaye who added an “e” to the end of his name and created Lucky Daye.
Tell us a little bit about your background, the city you’re from, where you’ve lived, and how you discovered your love for music?
I’m from New Orleans. My background was secluded and isolated growing up there. I was able to find music in books and reading, before I knew what a song was because I didn’t have access to music. I first learned melody and it really came from wherever I wanted it to come from like rhyming with books and the bible, and then I learned to put it to words. That started really young for me and once I realized music was a thing I started going as far as I could and as deep as I could listening to everything I could find, from CDs, to cassettes and vinyl. Music became everything to me – listening to all genres, it wasn’t just 90’s music or 2000’s music.
You’ve said in other interviews that in your early years, you were part of a strict religious group that didn’t allow secular music; how has that experience shaped your love and appreciation for music?
I like to think that when you come from something so low, or go through something so bad, that your highs are greatly appreciated and it gives you this type of hunger to keep going. It allowed me to want to know more at a high capacity. The fuel was intense and I just wanted to keep learning. I didn’t have opportunity when I was younger and I was always jealous of my peers, so I felt like I had to catch up. It makes me hungry to know more about my craft. I feel like I can always know more.
“Roll Some Mo” is a definite smoker’s anthem and a HUGE hit. Did you think it would catch on the way it did?
Actually, I didn’t expect it to catch on how it did, but I’m glad it did. I wanted to take it off the album. It became a thing where everyone else liked it, but to me it felt a little sad and I thought, ‘I don’t want people to think I’m sad and my entire album is sad.’ But this is me. I’m an emotional roller coaster, I’m painted all different ways. Learning how to accept that is part of the process. So, when people started gravitating towards “Roll Some Mo” it made me just relax with myself. It is kind of a smoker’s anthem, but it was originally meant to be a song about being in love. No matter if we are in one room, big room, small room, take a trip, doesn’t matter where you are to be in love. It’s also about the idea of using psychedelics to do all of the things people imagine doing in a dreamy relationship.
Tell us about your new project dropping this year. Any noteworthy producers/ features on it, and are there any songs you can’t wait for your fans to hear?
Painted is all the colors of my emotions on a blank canvas. There are no features on the album because I didn’t want anyone to feel they needed to create the feelings I wanted to personally express. I took the characters that are me and I tried to bring them all to life on this album. That’s why it’s a lot of talking or melodic rapping or fast cadence singing. I didn’t want to be stuck in a stigma of “he’s a singer or a rapper” so he needs a certain type of feature. I wanted my debut to be all me, but if anyone wants to hop on I’m here for it [haha]. In terms of producers, D’Mile and DJ Camper both worked with me on this project. Camper did “Love You Too Much” but other than that it was just me and D’Mile. We formed this bond and went in and created all of Painted together. For me, I can’t wait for my fans to hear “Call” because it’s light, it’s the most fun song on the album.
This is the Free Radical issue. What is it about your music and persona that makes you radically different from other musicians/artists?
I see artists who do music as a career and I see artists that are deep in it. For me, I’m deep in it. I do music for myself. I don’t do it for the approval of others. I was at the point of wanting to stop trying for this career in music and giving up all together and this album saved my life. It was never a big scheme for me. I’m not here for the fame, I’m here for friends and to tell my story.
What types of outfits do you like to wear on stage? And also, what’s your everyday style uniform when you’re just relaxing?
As a kid I had a lot of hand-me-downs. So, I always put together a lot of my outfits with mismatched items. I wore mismatched socks on purpose or high socks because I saw other people doing it like LL Cool J. So I’m never afraid to experiment.
Now, I just really take inspiration from things I’ve seen and then make it my own. I try to pull from everything I see around me. I look to old school musician’s style too, like Jimi Hendrix, white tees or button down shirts that are open a few buttons down. Rockstar looks [haha]. You can always find me with an open shirt like that.
I like to be clean. Nothing too bubbly, I like the edge. I wear a lot of all black outfits as well to keep it sleek and simple. I do love color too, but there are so many hues sometimes I just go for simpler fits. My stylist, Paris really helps me to find the right pieces for me to keep the vibe right at all times whether I’m hitting the stage or traveling from city to city.
Lastly, what is one piece of advice to young singers/musicians with promising talent but are finding it difficult to break through in the industry?
Be true to yourself and don’t let anyone tell you or make you feel like you’re not good enough. At the end of the day, it’s not about what they think, it’s about what you think.
If you liked this story, check out more from our Urban Transplants issue.
