When Durand Bernarr took the stage at Revelry’s New York event last September, he wasn’t a Grammy winner yet.
He was still the fiercely independent artist who had spent two decades building a career on his own terms, winning over audiences one performance at a time. Fresh off the release of BLOOM, Bernarr joined High Times ahead of his Revelry appearance for a conversation that touched on cannabis, creativity, chosen family, and the long road that comes with doing things your own way.
Months later, he would take home the Grammy Award for Best Progressive R&B Album. Looking back at that conversation now, what’s striking isn’t how accurately Bernarr predicted his success. It’s how little he seemed concerned with it.
At the time of our interview, Bernarr described himself as someone still operating outside the traditional music industry machine.
“I’m still independent,” he said. “I’ve been really working from the ground up, really building and grinding. Twenty years in, now we’re nominated for a Grammy.”
The statement lands differently today. The nomination eventually became a win, but Bernarr’s focus wasn’t on awards. It was on community.
“It’s important for people to have community,” he told High Times. “Reach to the people to the sides of you and figure out how you can make some magic.”
That theme runs through BLOOM, the album that would ultimately earn him Grammy recognition. Bernarr described the project as “my love letter to my friends that have become family,” an intentional effort to celebrate the people who help us grow rather than centering romantic relationships alone.
“I love myself because of you, and I need to share that,” he said.
Photo by Savanna Miles
For anyone familiar with Revelry, those ideas probably …
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Author: High Times / High Times
