Daniel Caesar Taps His Inner Producer for Post-‘Peaches’ Return: ‘I’d Been Itching to Do It’Daniel Caesar Taps His Inner Producer for Post-‘Peaches’ Return: ‘I’d Been Itching to Do It’

Daniel Caesar Taps His Inner Producer for Post-‘Peaches’ Return: ‘I’d Been Itching to Do It’

 Setting up shop in a small town a couple hours outside of Toronto, he spent days writing, crafting beats, and putting together the album that would become “Never Enough.”Setting up shop in a small town a couple hours outside of Toronto, he spent days writing, crafting beats, and putting together the album that would become “Never Enough.”
Setting up shop in a small town a couple hours outside of Toronto, he spent days writing, crafting beats, and putting together the album that would become “Never Enough.”
While “Never Enough” continues Caesar’s poignant thread of heartbreak, riddled with philosophical allusions, the Republic Records release feels like his most personal yet -- driven home by the production and instrumentation credits on almost every track.
The 15 songs are confessional, folkloric and, at points, gut-wrenching as Caesar puts his demons on display.
I set up a little studio in my guest house and I spent days at a time in solitude just getting a house feeling.
So the order in which I would make the songs was different because I was also in charge of recording the actual instruments.
Was it a challenge stepping into a producer role, or do you feel it came naturally?
I’d been itching to do it, and it was just the right time.
Did you find it daunting working with Raphael Saadiq on “Do You Like Me?”
It was, until you’re in there for 15 minutes, and then you’re, like, “Oh, this guy's as cool as fuck.”
And you know, he's only in there because he respects you already, so you can just cook and he’s there.
At what point in the process did the title “Never Enough” come to you?
And then one day, like a year or two ago.
Like, I was so far away from home and met a family from Toronto on this boat.
The song “Valentina” paints a very vivid picture and tells a relatable story.
He showed me the song, and I was, like, “This is absolutely incredible! I didn't know that you were so good; I didn't know that you could do this.”
On “Let Me Go,” the lyric "Ain’t no sleep tonight / My dreams exhaust me" is interesting.
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I don't think it eliminates scars, but it heals wounds.
"Best Part” and "Get You" were big streaming hits through playlisting, and ‘Peaches’ went viral on TikTok in 2021.
How do you feel about the current landscape of music?
And there’s no use complaining about [the current landscape].
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