Blood Orange

Devonté Hynes has pursued an artistic path defined by ongoing shifts in style and approach across his work as a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer, most prominently under the Blood Orange name. Having first built recognition in the dance-punk band Test Icicles and later as Lightspeed Champion, Hynes redirected his efforts once more upon launching Blood Orange. The project opened with Coastal Grooves in 2011, after which Hynes advanced a steadily expanding fusion of soul, funk, post-punk, and chillwave while threading lyrics around identity, sexuality, belonging, and spirituality alongside other concerns drawn from his life and that of his contemporaries. Even with large supporting casts assembled for the follow-up albums Cupid Deluxe in 2013, Freetown Sound in 2016, and Negro Swan in 2018—each of which appeared on Billboard’s R&B and independent charts—Hynes maintained an output that stayed resolutely personal and self-directed. At the same time Blood Orange grew into a vehicle for shared projects, a wide range of fellow artists such as Sky Ferreira, Solange, Carly Rae Jepsen, and Philip Glass sought out Hynes’ contributions. He further supplied scores for the films Palo Alto and Queen & Slim while moving into classical composition with Fields, realized by Third Coast Percussion.

Born in East London, David Joseph Michael Hynes began in the mid-2000s with Test Icicles. The volatile dance-punk outfit issued several singles along with the 2005 album For Screening Purposes Only on Domino, a label that would remain Hynes’ primary home. After moving to New York, Hynes started the Lightspeed Champion project in 2007 and secured an early high-profile credit by co-writing the Chemical Brothers’ “All Rights Reversed,” featured on the Grammy-winning We Are the Night. Under the Lightspeed Champion alias he completed two relatively straightforward singer-songwriter albums, Falling Off the Lavender Bridge, which reached number 45 on the U.K. pop chart, and Life Is Sweet! Nice to Meet You, which peaked at number 102, plus assorted EPs and mixtapes through 2010. Discarding that name, Hynes adopted Blood Orange. The new identity surfaced in early 2011 with the single “Dinner,” recorded after an emergency throat operation the prior year had prompted a gentler vocal delivery. That track led into Coastal Grooves, released on Domino that August and entering the U.K. chart at number 180. Hynes performed most of the instrumentation himself while collaborating closely with producer Ariel Rechtshaid, who would remain a recurring partner.

Already having worked with the Chemical Brothers, Diana Vickers, Florence + the Machine, and Theophilus London, Hynes’ outside projects gained greater visibility during the making of his second Blood Orange album. Alongside Rechtshaid he joined Sky Ferreira on “Everything Is Embarrassing,” assisted Solange with the writing and production of the True EP, and handled production and co-writing duties for Mutya Keisha Siobhan’s “Flatline.” Cupid Deluxe followed Coastal Grooves in November 2013. Including appearances from Skepta, Clams Casino, Kindness, and members of Chairlift, Friends, and Dirty Projectors, the deliberately unpredictable collection became Hynes’ first release to register on Billboard’s R&B and independent charts while reaching number 178 in the U.K. Amid this activity Hynes also composed the score for Gia Coppola’s Palo Alto; the film debuted at the 2013 Telluride Film Festival, received a limited release the following May, and later saw the score issued separately under the Devonté Hynes credit.

Between 2014 and 2016 Hynes contributed to tracks by Kylie Minogue (“Crystallize”), FKA twigs, Jessie Ware, Kindness, and Carly Rae Jepsen (“All That”) while continuing to shape new Blood Orange material. Freetown Sound, the third album, appeared in June 2016. Titled after the Sierra Leone capital that was his father’s birthplace, the record drew from Hynes’ West African heritage both personally and musically and found particular resonance among marginalized Black and queer audiences. Kindness and Jepsen took part in the sessions, and Hynes added Debbie Harry and Nelly Furtado to his widening circle of collaborators. The album entered Billboard’s R&B chart at number six and reached number 154 in the U.K.

Hynes’ name surfaced on releases by Blondie, HAIM, A$AP Rocky, and Mac Miller through the second half of 2018. During the same stretch he performed with Philip Glass at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and, with input from Diddy, Project Pat, Georgia Anne Muldrow, and A$AP Rocky, assembled the contrasting tones of Negro Swan. Released in August 2018, the album became the third straight Blood Orange LP to chart on Billboard’s R&B and independent lists and reached number 64 in the U.K. Appearances on Empress Of’s Us and Mariah Carey’s Caution preceded the Blood Orange mixtape Angel’s Pulse in July 2019. Later that year Hynes contributed to Danny Brown’s uknowhatimsayin¿, supplied music for the romantic crime drama Queen & Slim, and wrote the pieces performed by Third Coast Percussion on Fields. In 2022 he issued the Four Songs EP, which contained the hit single “Jesus Freak Lighter.”