If there’s one thing adolescent drama classes and the Black church have in common, it’s a shared ability to teach participants how to take up space. Theater asks you to project your presence, while the improvisational nature of Black gospel music teaches you to trust your ear and instincts.
Combine early immersion into these institutions with being the child of music industry professionals, and you get queer R&B artist Durand Bernarr, the illustrious Cleveland-born singer, songwriter and performer whose creative breadth is just as pliable as his acrobatic vocals.
“Church and theater, I like to say, are parts of the artist's development,” Bernarr, 36, tells Boulder Weekly. “Those [settings] are where you gain your chops, and there's a culture that comes with both lifestyles. There's a certain etiquette and comedy that I pull from when it comes to church, and then there is a different language we use in the theater.”
Sharing his gifts in the early 2010s via YouTube videos, Bernarr’s work has since opened many unexpected doors. Shortly after releasing an EP of Erykah Badu covers in 2010, titled 8ight: The Stepson of Erykah Badu, he was greeted by a direct message from the queen of neo-soul herself, and soon wound up on stage at Coachella, auditioning to be part of her band in front of thousands of festival-goers.
Bernarr passed the test with flying colors and tours with Badu to this day. In the years since, he has continued to release solo projects — like the 2024 Grammy-nominated EP En Route — collaborating with artists like Kaytranada, Teedra Moses and Thundercat, and putting on an iconic NPR Tiny Desk performance in 2023, which became the third-ever installment of the beloved series to be released on vinyl.
With his upcoming, 35-date You Gon’ Grow, Too! tour, including a stop at Denver’s Gothic Theatre on April 29, Bernarr’s success story suggests that, when faithful, humble and focused, your talent will make room for you.
‘Enjoy the sunshine’
On his latest and third studio album Bloom, Bernarr plants the seeds for what he intends to harvest: greater artistic and personal depth, in equal measure. A 17-track LP about growth and the power of friendship, the album opens with “Generous,” a gospel-inspired, swelling track about loving yourself and others with your entire being, without shame, as a child does before life teaches you to harden your heart.
Singing in a sweet falsetto over piano, before the song gives way to a distorted rock groove, Bernarr croons the refrain: “I won’t become what I’ve been through / I’ll give all of my love to you.”
“That has been the catalyst for a lot of our detriment to ourselves,” Bernarr says of the weight of shame. “[I’m happy to] be this version of myself, where I can inspire people — regardless of their orientation or how they identify — to tap into that version of yourself that was curious and eager to enjoy the sunshine and be present.”
Residing in that place of self-acceptance is, as the artist says, akin to working a muscle. Many of Bernarr’s songs are about this healing journey of loving yourself, with all its peaks and valleys.
“Grace is not expecting yourself to get it 100% right all the time. That's just not possible,” he says. “I can give a cool 88% ... I can even give a scientific 98.6%, but I have to leave wiggle room for me to be able to breathe, for me to be able to catch myself, for me to be able to pivot.”
‘Eye to eye’
On the Bloom single “Overqualified,” which grooves like those two-stepping songs you play at every summer family reunion, Bernarr sings about the self-doubt of searching for romantic love. After years of doing the work to become his best, most evolved, most comfortably genderfluid self, there still lies the anxiety that others may not be able to meet him where he is, or keep up with where he’s going.
In the video, Bernarr is depicted as a hardworking college student who puts in the time, but still can’t land a good job upon entering the workforce after graduation. Desperate for something to give, Bernarr asks the listener: “Does anybody have a reference?”
Bernarr remains optimistic that, with a little help, all this searching will pay off in the long run. This much shines through in the song’s hopeful ending refrain: “Need someone to see me eye to eye / Gotta sit tight ’til the time is right.”
Until that time comes, Bernarr aims to step into his destiny and stand on business — in all his candid, theatrical glory. Taking the stage with a braided beard, sparkly eyeshadow, and a yellow RCA adapter fashioned as an earring, his shows create space for audiences to blossom as well. Come open and eager; leave transformed.
“It's one of those things where you didn’t know you needed to be fed until you got fed” he says. “It's like, ‘Oh, I didn’t know that was empty.’”
ON THE BILL: Durand Bernarr with Shae Universe. 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 29, Gothic Theatre, 3263 S. Broadway, Englewood. $35