Durand Bernarr honors his family legacy with his newly released album, Bernarr. It’s a project he didn’t originally plan to release, as he was working on a deluxe edition of his Grammy-winning album, Bloom.
“We thought that we were only doing seven additional songs — two remixes, five new records — to make it 20 altogether,” he tells Billboard. “During the recording process, there were just so many ideas coming out. And I already wanted to do something for the ‘heated fellowship’ side of things, because being spicy wasn’t the topic of Bloom. We were planning a deluxe, Blooming, and another EP for the end of the year, but eventually decided, ‘Why don’t we just do another project?’”
Durand had initially saved the title for a future rock album. He switched gears after his family’s reaction to the cover art, which features him reclined on a couch propped up by his elbow, much like Luther Vandross on the Give Me the Reason album cover and Michael Jackson on Thriller.
“When I saw the album cover, I heard so many of my aunts and homegirls in my head saying, ‘You looking just like your father!’ This look and sound really do encapsulate Bernarr. And with the heavy hitters [involved], I had to do the lean,” he explains. “When our ancestors did that lean, they meant business!”
Those “heavy hitters” include Big Sean, James Fauntleroy, BJ the Chicago Kid, Khalid, Sevyn Streeter, Vic Mensa, Raphael Saadiq, Bryan-Michael Cox, Kandi Burruss and Miguel, among others.
Bernarr. is now available on streaming services.
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