Artists to Watch in 2025: Davey Legend

Pop-infused songwriter and producer Davey Legend has taken L.A by storm since he relocated there last year, collaborating with the likes of Meyta and OZ Goliath and injecting his unique brand of experimentation into the veins of one of the greatest music scenes in the world.

Born in Redding, California, Davey began as a classically trained musician at the inquest of his parents, but he naturally gravitated toward the freedom that guitar provided him, learning to write and perform largely in the isolation of his small town.

Now, in the amassed company of his peers, Davey awaits the release of his newest project, which he feels is “leaps and bounds ahead of everything else [he’s] done”. 

Read our interview with Davey Legend below:

This transcript has been edited for the sake of brevity and clarity.

How did your journey into music start? What did that look like for you? 

From a very early age my parents pushed me into music; I was playing violin at six and doing piano at eight. They were trying to make me a little classical person. And then when I hit, like, 13 or 14, I wanted to learn guitar, but that wasn’t classical. They wouldn't pay for lessons, so I taught myself guitar.

And then, because I taught myself guitar, I was like, “Oh, guitar isn't classical. I don't have to read notes and all this sh*t; I can just do chord shapes. [I realized] I can play any song I want. I think the first song I ever played and sang to was Bastille… 

I started singing all the time. And then I think my voice sucked so bad that my mom was like, “We need to get you voice lessons”.

So then I started doing voice lessons, and I had the best vocal coach ever. He really encouraged me, and all the vocal lessons turned into me just learning how to sing the stuff that I wrote. Then from there, that's how I really got into music.

Did you know right away that guitar was the instrument you wanted to play? What was your shift away from classical music like?

I think, for one it was just the first instrument that I could just do my own thing; the independence was cool. I kind of have a philosophy on the whole thing, because I did classical, with piano and violin, they teach you the notes and they teach you the rules, the theory.

With guitar I just taught myself like shapes and I was like “F*ck the theory, f*ck even scales, I'm just gonna do this purely by ear.” I still play piano, I still play drums, but guitars are my favorite to write on because I don't know the rules. So I'm a little bit clunky playing with other people or jamming.

But I think that that gives me so much more freedom, because I'm not thinking about all the rules, just purely how it sounds.

Since you’ve had the experience of being both classically trained and being self-taught, what were the biggest challenges you encountered in trying to teach yourself guitar?

I mean, nowadays, with this technology, I really think we're at the biggest advantage ever. [However],  I realized now, like in the past couple years, my main disadvantages were because I grew up in a small town.

Since moving to L.A., I can go anywhere and just learn from the people around me. I'll be in a session producing and this guy does a little trick and I'm just like, “Oh, that's sick,” and then I’ll learn it. 

I learn so much all the time. But being in Reading and in Northern California in this small town, it was really hard to  learn anything because I was like one of 15 people that made music in the town.

But with YouTube and now Tik Tok and all the tutorials, that's basically how I began learning. I was able to make really cool riffs and get really good guitar in my own unique way.

What caused you to gravitate toward more pop-driven music?

I don't actually know. I think I'm just broken, dude. It just feels right. 

A lot of people  think a lot about what they're making. I really don't think about that. I just like an idea, it comes into my brain, I make the idea happen. There's no thinking before or after, just very ADHD. So I don't know, man, I think it's just the way it flows.

I think pop music actually isn't a sound. I mean, pop stands for popular, obviously, but it doesn't really have a sound and it changes. I think pop is just purely how it's arranged. 

My experimental stuff is present in the production, whereas the writing and arrangement is just just written really, really well. I think maybe it's just my brain thinking that every second of the song needs to be brilliant, amazing. In my music, every five to 10 seconds there needs to be another element or thing that's driving it forward, or else people are gonna lose attention, because I'll lose attention. 

Would you say the one thing that distinguishes your sound is that experimentation? Or is it something else?

It's probably a lot of different things. I think the production is really a big thing, but it's not instantly crazy the first time you hear it.

I think it's a lot of vocal stuff. I feel like it's a modern take on Imogen Heap mixed with more acoustic guitars. That's the unique thing: crazy vocals, crazy layers mixed with crazy production. 

And you'll hear big, crushed acoustic guitars that are doing Midwest emo riffs that you wouldn't think that they work together, but for some f*cking reason, they do. 

So, being in LA, obviously, you're surrounded by music people, you're surrounded by producers, people that know how to work a studio. Are you still doing most of your own production these days? 

I always do all of it. I love working with other producers, but finding ones I can really vibe with is few and far between. Because I'm just so ADHD and fast, when I work with someone who isn't as ADHD as me, the whole time I'm sitting there I know exactly what needs to be done and how it needs to be done. Maybe this is something I just actually need to get better at (laughs).

I think I like doing my own stuff, and I probably will continue doing my own stuff the majority of the time. But I want to work with more talented artists, and, the ones that I do vibe with, I’ve had the best sessions ever with, getting different ideas that I would never have thought of.

Compared to where you were at with your first project, Heartbreak Hotel, where’s your mindset at now? How have you grown? How have you changed?

I think back then, I was very much trying to figure out what I wanted to do.I just wanted to make cool sh*t. I was leaning a lot more into experimental stuff because that's what excited me. But now I've got a new project that I've been working on for about two years, and I think my mindset now is a lot more mature in terms of songwriting and production and everything.

I think, with the experimental stuff that I do or even the production effects in general, everything needs to be intentional. I'm not just going to throw an effect on because I like distortion. What's the purpose of it? Is it helping the narrative and  the story that the song is telling? Or is it an element to build energy or release energy? So I think the way that I think about music is a lot more mature in that sense.

I'm just trying to make good songs; I don't care if it's experimental. Is this the best song that it can be? Is this the best story? My mind is purely set on the thematics and story-telling.

A new project? What can you tell us about it?

We have four or five singles that we're dropping, but the rest of our plan will be under wraps.

“Internal Monologue” was the first one. This next one is called “Subliminal”, which will be dropping next month. I'm really, really pumped about it; the project is, I think, by far my best work.

I think it's like leaps and bounds ahead of everything else I've ever done: sonically, writing wise, production wise.

There's a theme to the album that incorporates something we called headroom. So, when I go around and I walk, or I go on a trip, I’ll take voice memos. I went to Oregon, and there's this big aircraft hangar that was like the biggest aircraft hangar in America or something, but it was just super empty. And inside of it,  just the noise, right? The atmospheric noise, I took a recording of it, and that’s behind the song.

So almost every single song on the project, I use real-world voice memos to create the space.

I very much believe in what you hear vs. what you feel, so, a lot of the headroom stuff, no one will hear it, but everyone will feel it. If I took it out and played it for you, you’d think that something feels like it's missing. You still can't hear what is making the difference. But I think that's a huge theme: taking real-world stuff that's sh*tty-on-purpose, iPhone-mic-recorded and putting it behind things.