D4VD just locked in the second best debut this week on the Billboard 200, and he did it almost entirely on the iPhone.

Rising alternative behavior Dry, His debut albums after his debut albums like "Here With Me" and "Romantic Killing" ranked No. 13 on the Billboard chart, sandwiched in Billie Eilish's. Hit me soft and Chappell Roan The rise and fall of the princesses in the Midwest.

This is a solid opening in itself, as the 20-year-old (with 32 million listeners on Spotify and signed to Darkroom/Interscope) earned the top 15 of his first album, but this is especially noteworthy given his recording process. Of course, with recording devices getting cheaper and higher quality, of course, in the digital age, it’s been a step further after another inch of the production of a successful commercial album on a six-inch phone screen.

D4VD tells thr. "You don't have to go through it anymore. You don't need to book Westlake (a studio in West Hollywood) and put together all of these things, which is another way to work now and it works very well for those who don't have access to these things early in their careers."

D4VD (real name David Burke) has recorded his music on BandLab over the years, the music creation platform most commonly used on mobile devices, which is becoming increasingly popular among young music makers. BandLab runs on a freemium model with many basic features such as virtual instruments and vocal editing for free, although some features (such as music distribution to streaming services) are extra costs. This is also part of the social media service, as users can share and comment on each other’s music in the app.

D4VD said the heart of the album was built by Beats he sent on his phone, who went to London with some producer friends to “lay the foundation and form some ideas” to get the record. Then he returned to Houston, where he fleshed out the songs and recorded most of them Dry He spoke alone and brought his sister's closet directly into the phone. Depending on the hi fi or lo fi he wants, he will use a pair of microphones from Apple earpods or plug in a higher quality external microphone.

Dry Includes songs like "Crashing" with Kali Uchis, as well as hits written for Amazon Prime Video Invincible Gold has since been certified by RIAA.

Since its release in 2022, D4VID's biggest song is "Romantic Killing", one of Bandlab's Marquee Manthits. for Dry, D4VD estimates that 80% of the record was made on his phone. BandLab tells Hollywood Reporter This is the first album, mainly using its software to make album charts.

The company's CEO Meng Ru Kuok said the milestone reflects Bandlab's broader goal of serving young digital customers, which mainly uses mobile phones rather than computers. Kuok said Bandlab has more than 100 million users.

"I think whether it's using tools like Capcut to edit videos and move on here first or make music, this generational shift has started to start first on your phone," Kuok said. "Desktops are their follow-up. We started Bandlab 10 years ago. It's time to use a phone, a pair of headphones and dreams to empower people to think, which was a necessity at the time, and even more so now."

Of course, Bandlab isn't the only music platform centered on mobile power. Steve Lacy, for example, talks extensively about using GarageBand on iPhones. (D4VD calls Lacy the inspiration and points out that he is watching TED talks recently.)

Cook said about 25% of BandLab users are from the U.S., and he said the focus remains on accessibility, especially given that more evolving markets still have limited options for music creation.

"The hero in this story is someone like D4VD. We are in an industry, there isn't a right way to do things," Cook said. "Hopefully he inspires more people to try different things. This milestone is a career milestone for me because it represents the seriousness of music like this, not only a viral fate, but a real album Charting Industry Success. It's special."

D4VD grew up as an avid gamer, and in his teenage years he started uploading Fortnite Videos on YouTube. Part of the reason he started making music for videos was to avoid copyright issues, he shortened his own pop music path when the game community brought songs.

"When it comes to making music, there are two aspects of my brain, because I come from the gaming world. In games, you start with a console like the PS5 and then if you want to do it professionally, you need a PC," D4VID said. "You have to upgrade your CPU, get a new graphics card, you have to do everything to play at a high level. But music is a subjective sport. I don't think the studio is better than my phone. I don't think this crazy expensive engineer or crazy expensive producer is better than my phone or YouTube maker, or I made my biggest interest."

When he upgraded, he signed a record deal and will be open to SZA on the 2023 SOS Tour. D4VD Call Dry Back to his roots. He began writing albums about two and a half years ago and matched his floral aesthetics (his previous two EPs were called Petals turn into thorns and lost petals), He describes the symbolism of the album as “when a flower grows, it will also die and return to the soil where it grows.”

In the whirlwind, as he becomes more famous and takes away the lives of pop artists, D4VD Hope Dry First of all, it can help him get back to what drove him to music. “I went homeschooled in high school, from sitting in the room doing tasks and playing all day long. Fortnite "To tour with SZA, you also have to try making music during that time, and you can only spend a lot of money before it starts to overflow. I want to find out that I feel like I have lost the magic of the last two years and found the passion to write again."

Dry More introspective than past D4VDs, from his own life experiences, such as homeschool, lost relationships and friendships, rather than more "alternative" writing he's done before. The record explores the themes of loss and sadness, and D4VD calls the album "basically a goodbye letter to me."

"I wrote about the 'romantic murder of ending a relationship," D4VD said. "It's an interesting process, and it's a hard time from a storyteller to my own experience. It's even harder. Because there's no element of what I've written, there's an element of fantasy. I can draw any picture I want. But when I write about my life, I can say limited things because what I want to say is real."

and Dry Out, D4VD toured the trip this summer. Will he move on from the DIY settings after that? He doesn't think so, it's the way he wants to work in the "foreseeable future."

“I had the opportunity to experiment again, find new sounds and try to find ways to innovate my own sounds and check the way the music is going after the tour,” he said. “The internet moves so fast. There are a million different genres every day. I’ll try to stay up to date and stay.”