During a recent edition of Work and Play with Shae Bae, the Audacy and Hot 104.1 weekday afternoon host caught up with Vedo for a conversation about this generation of R&B, his relationship with Usher, his song “You Got It” being certified 2x multi platinum, and more.
LISTEN NOW: Vedo joins Shae Bae
Currently on the extension run of his Mood Swings Tour, which he’s dubbed Still Having Mood Swings, an accomplishment the singer revealed is in large part to his dedicated and loyal fans. “It’s been amazing,” Vedo said, “it’s always a great feeling. You know I did a tour earlier this year, and they were campaigning for a second leg. So that really really made me feel good that people were wanting for me to go back on the road and see me again. And it’s funny because it’s some of the same people that came to the first tour too. So people are traveling, coming from close cities, just to see me again, so I feel really good man.”
Keeping busy on tour and cranking out music, releasing two albums this year alone, Mood Swings in January and then 7 just a couple of weeks ago. Vedo shared how he manages it all and keeps the music
“You just gotta come from a place of authenticity every time you drop. As creatives and as a writer, there’s so much I wanna say. I’m always recording, I’m always writing… and I’ve been recently going with my gut feeling, and I just felt like I needed to drop another album this year.”
“The state of R&B is back doing good, but I still think we need to press forward a lot more to get our identity back,” Vedo continued. “I think as far as this generation of R&B, like myself, we’re the gatekeepers right now, like we’re the ones, we have to show them that R&B still exists. And the only way to do that is to show up and show out. So I feel like, drop quality music as much as you can.”
Admittedly writing his song “You Got It” thinking it would “be a great album filler,” Vedo was pleasantly surprised that the track, now certified 2x multi platinum, ended up becoming a hit. “That goes to show you, you don’t know what’s gonna be a hit, so every song that you drop put your all into it,” the singer expressed. “But I wrote the record just to kinda inspire people, just to inspire women, to boss up and basically do it for yourself… but I didn’t think that it would touch that many people, and it did I was like ‘wow’. I just spoke my mind, I spoke my truth, I spoke my heart, and I feel like that is the recipe to any hit, just be true to yourself. Whatever you feel like you wanna say, say it.”
Talking about how his relationship with Usher has evolved over the past 10 years of knowing one another, Vedo noted, “We’ve known each other a long time, so we kinda know each other now, but I don’t think anything changed. I think when he decided to take me under his wing, he was like ‘yo, it’s just a matter of time for you, and I wanna be here with it and help you along.’”
“It’s more so of a congratulations from him all the time,” Vedo added, noting the R&B veteran acknowledges that he accomplished doing exactly what he set out to do 10 years ago. “I think it’s just a proud big brother moment… and any type of advice I need from him, I hit him… we honest with each other… we just have that honest back and forth… and that’s what has helped me as an artist… and as a person too.”
Ten years into his career, Vedo already has many accomplishments under his belt, and is busy collecting more. Sharing what keeps him motivated and inspired to keep setting the bar higher and higher, Vedo professed, “I just love it, you know it’s just like when you love somebody you can’t help but to do right by them. I just love music, music has always done right by me, music has always been my therapist when I can’t talk anybody else, I just love doing music.”
Vedo also opened up about his family, discussed the pros and cons of the role social media plays in catapulting the success of a song or artists success, and shared what he thinks separates a real man from a player, and more. To listen to it all, press play on the interview above.