AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
On his latest album, "Mood Swings," the platinum-selling artist Vedo sings about a man who's flattering, passionate and all about indulging his woman.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "YOU AND ME")
VEDO: (Singing) Let's have a one-on-one. It's only you and me tonight, baby. Shawty, just let your hair down. You're here with me now.
RASCOE: That was "You And Me," from Vedo's sixth full-length album, "Mood Swings." And he joins us now from Atlanta. Vedo, thank you so much for joining us.
VEDO: Absolutely. Absolutely. Thank you for having me. How are you feeling?
RASCOE: I'm feeling good. I'm glad to be talking to you now. I'm - you know, I'm just going to say it, you know, R&B can be very sexy music. It could be other stuff, too.
VEDO: Right, right.
RASCOE: But in this album, it's a lot of songs that I will call, you know, kind of bedroom R&B.
VEDO: Yeah, absolutely.
RASCOE: You know what I'm saying? It's like, get with your man. Get with your partner. Get with whoever, and have a nice time. So in a way that's safe for radio, tell us about why you like making that kind of music.
VEDO: Oh, man. Well, it's self-explanatory. I think that's how we all got here. I think it's...
(LAUGHTER)
VEDO: It's a soul tie, of course. And, you know, it's just sexy, man. I think, you know, people like feeling sexy. You know, women like to, you know, get dressed and feel sexy while they're doing it. And I think that was something that I wanted to give the ladies. That's what "Mood Swings" did.
RASCOE: What do you think makes a Vedo song? And, like, as an example, because we want to hear a little bit of "Celebrate," and then I want you to tell me, like, what makes this a Vedo song?
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CELEBRATE")
VEDO: (Singing) Tonight I want to celebrate. You deserve your own award - diamonds and some cold champagne - for everything you've been working for.
What makes it a Vedo song is just, you know, the sheer appreciation and love and emotion that goes into it. And I think that everybody should be celebrated, and I think "Celebrate" is that song that you can celebrate whomever to. And "Celebrate" is 100% a Vedo song because one thing I'm going to do is I'm going to give my women some encouragement, you know? I'ma get them they flowers.
RASCOE: Well, that's the thing. This album is called "Mood Swings," and it seems like it's different kind of characters in each song because you've got the songs where you celebrating the women.
VEDO: Right.
RASCOE: You with them. You know, you there for them. But then you've got some other songs where you like, I'm just here for a good time.
VEDO: Right.
RASCOE: Like, I'm just trying to have fun. So when you're singing, are you the player? Are you the long-term person? How do you think about that when you approach your songs?
VEDO: In some cases, you know, I have to put myself in the realm of being a player to, like - to basically, you know, get that emotion across. But honestly, I'm a long-term thing. I like to create music that I feel people will relate to. That's why, you know, you got the songs on there, you know - "D.A.F.," which is explicit, but it's like - it's fun, you know. It's fun, and that's where I had to put myself into the player aspect of it, so it's like, aight. You know, maybe we should start charging. Y'all charge us, you know?
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CELEBRATE")
VEDO: (Singing) I'm so proud of you. Yeah.
RASCOE: "D.A.F." is a song. We can't play it on the radio because it's a little explicit, but, you know, you do talk about getting a woman to buy you a PS5. Has a woman ever bought you a PS5? And what's the most expensive gift a woman has ever bought you?
VEDO: Yes, a woman have bought me a PS5. It's downstairs in my room right now.
(LAUGHTER)
RASCOE: You saying - so you got it right now?
VEDO: I got it right now, yeah. I'll probably go play after this. But I don't think I would call it a gift. I would say, like, a celebration. I think my celebration for my 28th birthday, I think we spent like $70,000 or something like that.
RASCOE: And who did that? Did your momma do that? Or this was your girl?
VEDO: This was my girl - my fiancée. Yeah.
RASCOE: (Laughter). That's love. That is real love.
VEDO: Yeah. For sure. Absolutely.
RASCOE: (Laughter). I mean, your very smooth voice really shines on these tracks. I want to play a bit from another song that I really like, "Soul."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SOUL")
VEDO: (Singing) Forgive me if I get too sentimental. Some things in my life have been instrumentals with me. I know I'm hard to love, but if you do, can you promise me? Hold on to me. Never let go. Broken, but you give me hope, baby. Show me, show me you can love me slow.
RASCOE: You know, I should mention since this is NPR, you did a Tiny Desk concert last year with Usher.
VEDO: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
RASCOE: And Usher called you and singer Eric Bellinger, who was also there, two of the most incredible voices of this time.
VEDO: Yeah.
RASCOE: This is what he said. We got it on tape. That's huge coming from Usher.
VEDO: Absolutely.
RASCOE: Like, what was it like hearing that?
VEDO: Oh, man, it was amazing. It just really solidified that, man, you're on the right path. Great things take time. But until then, share my light.
RASCOE: Yeah. Yeah. No, that's amazing. I do want to get back to the album. And you have a lot of songs, like I said, that are about, you know, loving somebody - celebrating somebody. But then you talk about, you know, some toxic relationships, like on "Somebody Else." And here's a little bit of that.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SOMEBODY ELSE")
VEDO: (Singing) I don't know what happened to you. You used to be my little boo, now I can't even sleep no more. You ain't even a freak no more. I can't wake up and repeat no more. It can be you or somebody else, yeah. Who do you think you are? This ain't good for my health. I can do bad all by myself. I'ma be good with somebody else. Who do you think you are?
RASCOE: I do think this will be an anthem because, you know, we quick to say, I can do bad all by myself. (Laughter).
VEDO: Oh, yeah, for sure. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
RASCOE: I don't need this. I can do bad all by myself. I mean, I know you're in a happy relationship now, but, like, have you been in those types of situations? And, like, how do you move on from them?
VEDO: Yeah, absolutely, I have. You know, a lot of people would think that, man, you know, once you get the girl or once you get the guy, you've got them. Being in a relationship and being - you know, it's work. And, you know, oftentimes, we get comfortable. I'm guilty of getting comfortable, you know, and then my fiancée is guilty of being comfortable. Even in the past relationships - you got comfortable. Move on. I think my advice with people - when you move on from someone, you have to find another distraction.
RASCOE: Is that finding another person, though? 'Cause they always say get under somebody else (laughter).
VEDO: Whatever - yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, I feel like, you know, whatever your distraction is, let it be that.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SOMEBODY ELSE")
VEDO: (Singing) I'd rather do bad all by myself.
RASCOE: We've almost covered the entire emotional spectrum on this album, but I want to end with my favorite, favorite, favorite song, "FOREVER."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FOREVER")
VEDO: (Singing) Let's make it forever, girl, not just for this moment. I'll be yours forever, girl. Say yes, and we can own it.
RASCOE: You sing about finding love after pain. So, like, what kind of message do you have for those who are still looking for love but struggling?
VEDO: You know, I would say don't look for love. I think what you should focus on is being happy. You have to be in a happy place, and you have to have a certain aura around you to attract that. Stop putting so much emphasis on actually going out and finding love and just focus on being happy. Love yourself. If you're single now, I promise you, once you happy, you going to start running into people that just make you smile and make your day light up. Focus on being happy, and the love will find you.
RASCOE: That is beautiful. And the love for yourself is a forever love.
VEDO: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.
RASCOE: But thank you so much. That was Vedo. His latest album, "Mood Swings," is out now. Vedo, thank you so much for joining us.
VEDO: Thank you, Ayesha. I appreciate it. Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FOREVER")
VEDO: (Singing) I don't mind being used as a place to escape to. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
