Remember an age no so long ago where different genres of music existed in their own bubbles and never the twain would meet? Thankfully, times have changed and music is fusing in new and exciting ways and the undisputed King of fusion is undoubtedly DE’WAYNE. Seamlessly flowing between rock, funk, synthwave, soul, and pretty much anything that catches his ear, DE’WAYNE has created a sound that defies easy categorisation, but one that always sits easy on the ear. Third studio album june finds him further honing his craft to deliver a record that’s sure to propel him towards the world’s biggest stages.
In modern music, words such as “pioneer” and “trailblazer” are thrown around with reckless abandon, so much so that they’ve lost much of their currency, but in the case of DE’WAYNE, no other words will suffice. Playing any kind of crossover or fusion is fraught with danger; fumble the ball and a musician can find themselves in a musical no-man’s-land, and with no appreciable audience to play to. However, the confidence and authenticity with which DE’WAYNE pushes his sound suggests that failure is not an option. One listen to opening track ‘lady lady’ will tell you that, above all, he is a music fan and as such he knows in just what quantities to mix his sound. Like a scientist with a bunch of test tubes he mixes those chemicals perfectly; too little and things would fall flat, too much and he’d be left with a sticky mess on his hands, but ‘lady lady’ sparkles and fizzes and tickles the nose like a fine champagne. Most importantly, the tracks comprising june are real earworm material and attack the heart and head simultaneously. There’s something about the likes of ‘highway robbery’ that electrify the inner being; once that funky beat hits the cranium it’s impossible to sit still and will have anyone with a pulse grooving and strutting their stuff.
The artist I’d most closely align DE’WAYNE with is Prince (especially Purple Rain era), both share a similar kind of vision and a desire to be unshackled by musical constraints, and on the strength of DE’WAYNE’s discography, he’s certain to have an equally lengthy career. It’s a very “visual” type of sound in which DE’WAYNE deals and cuts such as ‘biological’ will implant strong images in your mind’s eye, yet it’s also a canvas which will soundtrack key moments in your life.
In opposition to the lower case in which most of the song titles are presented, june is a bold album, and one that’s hard to ignore. The future of modern music? You’d better believe it!
- june is released via Fearless Records on 30th July 2025.
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Track List:
- lady lady
- june
- i’ll be there
- take a picture
- highway robbery
- sundays
- biological
- forever
- prize fight
- what does he really know
- Love Raider
