Blood Orange

As Blood Orange, Devonté Hynes advances a progressive mixture of styles including soul, funk, post-punk, and chillwave, all while incorporating lyrical themes of identity, sexuality, belonging, and spirituality, among other issues that have shaped his existence and those of his peers. The British singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer established himself in the mid-2000s as a member of the dance-punk band Test Icicles. Two subsequent solo albums as Lightspeed Champion drew from a deeper pool of inspirations, from Baroque pop to folk. Blood Orange, Hynes' longstanding primary alias, debuted with Coastal Grooves (2011) and has remained an outlet for continuous diversification and exploration. Concurrent with a period during which the Blood Orange albums Cupid Deluxe (2013), Freetown Sound (2016), and Negro Swan (2018) each registered on the album charts in the U.K. and U.S., Hynes was sought out by a varied multitude of contemporaries such as Sky Ferreira, Solange, Carly Rae Jepsen, and Philip Glass. Starting with Palo Alto, he also became noted for his soundtrack work, and he branched out further into classical composition with the Grammy-nominated Fields, performed by Third Coast Percussion. Essex Honey (2025), the first Blood Orange album in six years, dealt with loss and promoted self-acceptance with Zadie Smith, Lorde, and Daniel Caesar among Hynes' supporting cast.Originally from East London, David Joseph Michael Hynes got his start in the mid-2000s in Test Icicles. The combustible dance-punk band released a handful of singles and an album, 2005's For Screening Purposes Only, issued on Domino, which would become Hynes' long-term label. Hynes then relocated to New York, and in 2007 launched Lightspeed Champion and landed his first of many major collaboration credits, as co-writer of the Chemical Brothers' "All Rights Reversed" (off the Grammy-winning We Are the Night). As Lightspeed Champion, Hynes made two comparatively conventional singer/songwriter-oriented LPs, Falling Off the Lavender Bridge (number 45, U.K. pop) and Life Is Sweet! Nice to Meet You (number 102), among a handful of EPs and numerous mixtapes, through 2010. Hynes shed the alias and adopted another one. Blood Orange debuted in early 2011 with "Dinner," a single that showcased a softer singing style necessitated by an emergency throat procedure he underwent the previous year. The song became the prelude to Coastal Grooves, which arrived that August on Domino and entered the U.K. chart at number 180. Hynes handled most of the instrumentation and worked closely with producer Ariel Rechtshaid, a frequent collaborator in the ensuing years. Having assisted the Chemical Brothers, as well as Diana Vickers, Florence + the Machine, and Theophilus London, Hynes' extracurricular work became increasingly high profile through the completion of his second Blood Orange album. Beside Rechtshaid, he worked with Sky Ferreira on "Everything Is Embarrassing." He also assisted Solange in the writing and production of the True EP, and he produced and co-wrote "Flatline" for Mutya Keisha Siobhan. Cupid Deluxe, the follow-up to Coastal Grooves, arrived shortly after the latter in November 2013. Featuring contributions from Skepta, Clams Casino, Kindness, and members of Chairlift, Friends, and Dirty Projectors, the willfully wayward set became Hynes' first album to reach the R&B and independent Billboard charts (and entered the U.K. chart 178). During this flurry of activity, Hynes carved out time to compose and record the score for Gia Coppola's Palo Alto. The drama premiered at the 2013 Telluride Film Festival and the following May received a limited release, after which the score, credited to Devonté Hynes rather than Blood Orange, was made available separately.Kylie Minogue ("Crystallize"), FKA twigs, Jessie Ware, Kindness, and Carly Rae Jepsen ("All That") account for just some of the artists who released Hynes-aided material from 2014 through 2016, during which Hynes continued to develop solo material. In June 2016, Hynes released Blood Orange album three, Freetown Sound. Named after the capital of Sierra Leone, the home country of Hynes' father, it was inspired by Hynes' West African roots, both genealogically and musically, with material that resonated deepest with marginalized Black and queer listeners. Kindness and Jepsen reciprocated with their presence at the sessions, while Hynes added Debbie Harry and Nelly Furtado to his extended musical family. The album debuted at number six on the Billboard R&B chart and in the U.K. reached number 154.Hynes' name popped up on releases from Blondie, HAIM, A$AP Rocky, and Mac Miller into the latter half of 2018. During this period, Hynes also performed with Philip Glass at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and with a little help from Diddy, Project Pat, Georgia Anne Muldrow, and A$AP Rocky, put together the alternately comforting and startling Negro Swan. Issued in August 2018, it became the third consecutive Blood Orange LP to chart on Billboard's R&B and independent listings, peaking in the U.K. at number 64. Hynes' appearances on Empress Of's Us and Mariah Carey's Caution preceded a Blood Orange mixtape, Angel's Pulse, issued in July 2019. Later in the year, Hynes contributed to Danny Brown's uknowhatimsayin¿, provided music for the romantic crime drama Queen & Slim, and composed the material performed by Third Coast Percussion on Fields. The latter was nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance.In 2022, Hynes issued the Four Songs EP, which included the hit single "Jesus Freak Lighter." That same year, he also supplied the soundtrack to director Paul Schrader's film Master Gardener. The whirling single "The Field" arrived in June 2025 and found Hynes collaborating with Tariq Al-Sabir, Caroline Polachek, and Daniel Caesar. It also contained a sample from the Durutti Column's song "Sing to Me." "Somewhere in Between" and "Mind Loaded" (the latter featuring Polachek, Lorde, and Mustafa) followed as additional previews of Essex Honey, the fifth Blood Orange album, which saw release that August.
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