Singer-songwriter Destin Conrad has refined his pop potency. With R&B, he’s laid most of his heart on the floor. Now, with the deluxe edition of his album, wHIMSY!,  the 25-year-old Florida native is jazzing things up and spilling over into a new sound. 

Destin Conrad is in the business of doing the most. He began as a child of the Internet with Vine and has since gone from strength to strength with his rhythm and blues-infused tracks that are bumped anywhere from festivals to clubs, and work exceptionally well on a sunset evening drive (tried and tested). It’s the kind of music you side step to with a glass of a rum-based cocktail: sexy, sensual, sometimes serious but always cheeky. In 2021, he appeared on our radars when he released his debut album COLORWAY, asserting his pop star-in-the-making status. He’d always been a character that people were watching, but with music, he gave them another reason to be.

On California home turf, he’s rubbing shoulders with the likes of Wonderland Spring ‘26 cover star Kehlani (the two have been friends for over a decade) and collaborate often, taking turns on verses on “Form Of You” and “BAD BITCHES”. On a normal day for him, all the girlies from Doechii to Ravyn Lenae to KATSEYE’s Lara Jay are hyping him up in his comments. Here, in the UK, he’s secured his spot in all of the right circles, making songs with emerging stars like Nia Smith and calling chart-toppers like Sasha Keable his ‘besties’. All this while sharing Instagram carousels with some of fashion’s finest (hello Yasmin Wijnaldum).

Last year’s LOVE ON DIGITAL, his fifth studio album – and the one that earned him a Grammy nomination for Best Progressive R&B Album – marked a turning point. It was confident and cohesive. Glimmering with standout singles like “KISSING IN PUBLIC”, “BAD BITCHES” and “MR E”, it topped playlists, quickly rising the ranks of summer soundtracks. Vocally, he glides over sexy, sultry flows, with his beloved, velvety falsetto glistening over a piano riff-laced melody. You can catch him anywhere between ballad and bouncy, uptempo banger.

Still, wHIMSY! feels like the body of work that’s been five years in the making – where the others felt a little more structured, here, it flows like an improv. On this record, all the pieces of the puzzle come together fittingly, painting a fuller, brighter and _ picture of his musical learnings and training, in a genre that he’s felt the most resonant with. Drum snares sizzle and bass’ buzz into sensual-sounding melodic…whimsy, for lack of a better word. There’s a touch of pop, a tipple of funk, a glint of afroswing, and a whole lot of soul and R&B, of course. For that reason, the added exclamation mark makes sense. 

The original wHIMSY (no exclamation mark) reached number one on the Jazz charts on Apple Music four months after its release. The 11-track record enlisted a lineup of collaborators who are some of the best in their field – the ever-glorious singer and composer Vanisha Gould, trumpeter Keyon Harrold, and LA-based, big-deal saxophonist Terrace Martin, with the latter making a return on another new track, “NOTHING IS REAL”, for this deluxe version. “We really were just getting the band back together,” Destin says. It’s a sonic pivot, but unsurprising given his cornucopia of musical influences. With this record, it’s clear Destin’s right at home. 

Bringing the wHIMSY! world to a total of 18 tunes, he rallies some more troops on the additional tracks. Multigenre artist Jean Deaux is one of the newest, best known for her bouncy-beat hit “Energy”, who adds a softly spat debonaire touch to the whole mix with her feature on “(MORE) LOVE”. Elsewhere, Sasha Keable scratches some of her sharp pen on the writing for “DIAMOND GOLD”, and he swings a reflective, bluesy jingle on “GO HOME!” where he shape-shifts between soulster and spoken-word poet. The rest is his-story. And though this record is alleged (and cover art stamped) to be ‘presented by Mr E’, his alter ego, this is Destin to the core. 

Now, as wHIMSY! saunters into headphones and speakers everywhere, Destin chats with Wonderland about musical “LALALALA”’s and why jazz is the drum he keeps beating to.

Listen to wHIMSY!…

Who is your wHIMSY icon? Who epitomises the feeling of whimsy? And you can’t say yourself…

There are a lot of different people who come to mind. I don’t know why right now I’m thinking of this person, but Solange. She’s the epitome of a whimsical being. Vanisha Gould; she was a big inspiration in making this, and I listened to a lot of her album. When she said she would be on the jazz album, I kind of freaked out. She is definitely on my whimsical list, for sure.

If you could create your own fantasy jazz band, who would be part of it and why?

Some of them are definitely already on the album – Terrace Martin, Vanisha Gould, Meshell Ndegeocello, Nancy Wilson, Samara Joy, and…me.

What’s the last song you listened to – that’s not your own – that made you feel like you were floating?

The last song I listened to that made me feel like I was floating? Probably a song by Gretchen Parlato. Actually, it’s a cover of “Weak” by SWV. I was listening to that not too long ago, and it just made me feel like I was just beautiful. And she also has a cover of “All That I Can Say” by Mary J. Blige, and it’s just so soft – and I already love those songs, so listening to them is like taking a breath of fresh air.

Now to speak about your whimsy, when I was listening to the record, or at least the deluxe songs, it felt very sexy – obviously – but also, intentional and considered. When did your vision for wHIMSY start to materialise?

It was a really quick process. I made the majority of this album within a two-week trip to LA. Some of the songs I had before, for example, “wASH YOU AWAY”, “wHIP”, and the rest of the album I made within that trip, and it was so easy. Probably one of the easiest albums I’ve made. Even this deluxe has been such a smooth process. That’s the thing with jazz, it’s so easy. It’s off-the-cuff, which is why I called it wHIMSY, because, like the definition of whimsical – let me just look it up so I can not butcher it – is playfully quaint, fanciful, especially in an appealing and amusing way, and that sums up what jazz music is to me. It was just very playful.

What’s your earliest memory of jazz?

Wow…what comes to mind right now is, honestly, I didn’t grow up in a house where jazz played. My mum is from Jamaica – not to say that Jamaicans can’t listen to jazz music, but she didn’t really play that in the house, so it wasn’t what I grew up listening to. I had to find jazz on my own. In high school, I was in jazz choir, and I feel like that was my introduction to what jazz music was. That’s when I became a fan – my freshman year of high school, and my first memory of studying it, actually. Of course, I would hear jazz in random places, but that was my first time really discovering it for myself.

I feel like a lot of jazz and R&B history is rooted in traditional perspectives on love and desire, and you reinvent those themes in a uniquely Destin way on this record. How conscious were you of reframing that through your own lens?

It’s just natural for me. I’m obviously an R&B head, and that was my first love, really, and I feel like that shows up within this album, just naturally. I think my love for R&B led me to make this album as well. That’s something that was a driving force. It’s something they share in common. I feel like R&B is a little more – not technical, because that’s not the word – but hook, pre-hook. There’s a system, whereas with jazz, there are no rules, which I was drawn to.

Did working within the genre or jazz framework allow you to do things that you maybe haven’t done before, vocally or structurally?

A lot of the songs started as an idea that was straight through, but some of them I punched. One of the songs coming out on the deluxe, called “GO HOME!” was just one take.

That’s my favourite!

Thank you. I didn’t do it [one takes] before at all. I’d literally punch everything all the time, but I feel like I was trying to emulate what the jazz music I hear felt like, and a lot of that was just one take. I definitely took that [technique] and want to try to use it with my approach in different styles of music that I do in the future. I’m not going to give too much away, but definitely with this next album, I’m keeping to exploring the genre. I’m excited to see what I took from making this album that I can apply to my next stuff.

One of the collaborations on the deluxe is “NOTHING IS REAL” with Terrace Martin, who you mentioned earlier. The whole record does it together, but I feel like this track in particular was one that really encapsulated the feeling of being in a jazz bar, wine in hand – that swirling feeling. I’d love to know more about how you curated the collaborations on the project, how they came about, and if you perhaps made any of the songs with some of these collaborators in mind.

Vanisha, I’m such a fan, and I didn’t think that she would be into it. I asked a couple – I’m not gonna say specifics – Jazz musicians if they would be up for this album, and they kind of aired me, and I kind of expected that same thing to happen with Vanisha, and she was actually so willing and open. Jazz is such a prestigious genre, and there are jazz musicians who are just jazz musicians, and they really love jazz music, like Vanisha. Same with Terrace, I love Terrace’s albums, and I love him. I think he’s one of the craziest horn players that we have, and an instrumentalist in general. It’s insane. It was really working with people that I am a genuine fan of. Even my manager would try to have me bring in other people that I just wasn’t [into]. They made jazz, but it wasn’t the kind that I listened to, and I wasn’t down. I didn’t want to just put jazz musicians on the album for the sake of it. I wanted to have people involved whose work I really enjoyed.

What is the kind of jazz that you feel most drawn to?

I don’t like big-band jazz music. [I’m not into the] ‘too-neat’ jazz, and I’m more into raw, alternative, off-the-cuff.

Is there a place that you’ve been to, either in the States, in London, or anywhere globally, where you’ve heard jazz performed live at a bar, a gig or a concert and thought they had the best performance?

One that comes to mind right now is when I first moved to New York, and I went to the Blue Note to see Marsha Ambrosius when I first moved to New York, and she definitely altered my brain chemistry. The way she told stories, as well, in between, really inspired me. That’s probably one of my favourites at a jazz club that I’ve seen. I’ve been to jazz clubs where people were playing, but that was the first time I went to one that was just singing vocally.

What would you say has been the most enjoyable part of making this album, but specifically this deluxe record?

Honestly, just working with the same people again. Getting to do it again in a smaller way, of course. There are only five or six extra songs, but getting the gang back together was really fun. I didn’t really work with too many new people on this. [Gets distracted by dog]

What’s the little pups name?

Sage. She’s my brother’s dog.

She’s so cute! Last month, you got to play wHIMSY for some fans. What was it like being in the room with them and seeing their responses IRL, in real time?

Insane. This album, I wasn’t really sure what the reaction would be. It was really cool to see people really liked it and knew these songs. I didn’t expect it. With my debut album, I expected people to know them. With wHIMSY, I wasn’t sure. Seeing people sing the words back to me, for this album, meant a little more because it was such a passion project that I really didn’t do it for – not saying I do this for my other albums – but R&B is a little more expected, and I didn’t know how to feel about that.

Is there anything musically, creatively as a whole, you feel like you haven’t done yet that you’re excited to tap into with the next project or in the near future?

Yes. Without giving too much away, definitely getting into different genres and continuing to explore. Of course, I love R&B, and I’m sure I’ll make another R&B album eventually, but this next album that I’m making is not R&B – there are going to be elements, just because that is the music that I love first, but I’m just interested in exploring. Period. That’s my main thing right now.

How do you best explore when you’re tapping into that learning process or digging for those new gems? What does that exploration look like?

Studying. Tapping into different artists that I haven’t listened to before. Training myself to listen to things that I wouldn’t normally gravitate towards. That’s something that is big for me.

The last year has been super exciting – congratulations on the Grammy nomination! What have been some of the highlights?

Definitely going to the Grammys. Bringing my mum and my sister with me was amazing. Making this deluxe album was something that I enjoyed thoroughly, and there was no part of it that was difficult for me at all. It was just very fun. Touring, doing these jazz shows, playing jazz – it’s just been so gratifying. And starting the process of this next thing has definitely been a joy as well.

And lastly, if you were to create a cocktail menu around this record, what drinks would you have on there?

Definitely gotta have the dirtiest Martini ever, possible. A gin and tonic, but with some shit in it…I don’t know, something a little spicier. Like a cucumber gin and tonic, or something. And then, a glass of red wine.

Words — Aswan Magumbe