Lucky Daye's 'Aloud' Is Out Today: Truth Over Pain, Pusha T On Board

By Daniel Okafor

Lucky Daye released his album "Aloud" today, and he wants one thing understood immediately: this one isn't built on pain. "Every other album stemmed from pain," he told Variety. "This is from truth. It hurts worse."

The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter is in a season of change, and he knows it. He's settled at a new label home, Warner Records. He's widened his circle of collaborators. He's taken control of his creative process end to end. Even his hair — a sculptural frohawk, styled by natural hair artist Susan "Susy" Oludele — signals what he calls the album's new era.

The day before Variety's interview, on the Atlanta set of the video for "Knockin," his collaboration with Muni Long and the Black punk band Paradox, that era was visibly taking shape. Around him: two managers, a chief of staff, and a creative ecosystem that is, notably, built on predominantly Black women. Their presence makes him "very, very happy."

"I feel nurtured," he said, before making clear the care runs both ways. "I feel like they let me care for them the way that I want to care for them… It's a back and forth." Later he put it more bluntly: "Really a team. It's not one of them fake teams."

What did Warner change? "Every feature."

Daye had already begun "Aloud" before signing with the label. Asked how the deal affected the record, he didn't hesitate: "Every feature." He credits Warner with taking "a huge load" off him and his management while helping assemble a guest list that includes Leon Thomas, Pusha T and Akeem Ali.

He insists the machinery isn't the point, though. "It's not about the deal. It's not about the money," he said. "It's really about the magic."

Who's on the record?

• Muni Long on "Knockin," a dorm-room narrative about wanting a friend you shouldn't want. She was in the studio next door after Daye cut a feature for her album. "She's not going to apologize," he said. "She means it."
• Leon Thomas on "Fly You Out." Daye calls him one of his favorite R&B artists and shrugs off comparisons: "I expect comparisons. That's part of the game."
• Pusha T on "Mouf Say." "Pusha is a hip-hop legend," Daye said, citing his work with Pharrell, Jay-Z and Kanye. "His voice is iconic. Clipse is iconic."
• D'Mile, his longtime collaborator, on "Nowhere Fast" — the only anchor to his earlier records.

What's different this time?

Daye calls himself "Lucky 2.0": more sensitive to love, compassion and his own feelings, and less reliant on the safety net. Previous albums had someone listening in, giving input as he went. This time he stayed hands-on throughout.

"It's no relying," he said. "God was like, 'You're actually the guy. So do it.'"

On D'Mile's reduced role, he's philosophical. "Me and D'Mile love each other, and we respect each other," he said. "I don't know what God's doing with him; you don't know what God's doing with me." If he wanted a whole album with D'Mile, he could make one. "I think on this album, God wanted me to look inside myself."

The record has playfulness to spare — current single "Talk to Me" is his own favorite, and the quirky interludes he describes as "commercial breaks" exist, in his words, because "the world forgets fast." The title says it plainly: to be "Aloud" is to be confident and happy, and anything holding you down should go.

Whether audiences follow him from pain into truth will decide if "Lucky 2.0" sticks. He thinks he caught the feeling. Now the album has to prove it.