"As a new artist in this climate of music, there are a lot things you're competing with."
Pink Sweat$'s brand of R&B is draped in the bravado of his contemporaries, but it reflects the romance of his 90s predecessors. Sweat$, born David Bowden, credits his "super Christian" upbringing as his gateway into music, even though his parents forbade him from listening to secular songs until he was 17. The restrictions spawned a natural curiosity in the singer, allowing Sweat$ to hone the skills he learned while improvising with songwriting as a child. Now, at 26, he's trying to put the love back into R&B. Warm vocals by the Philly native born David Bowden sit front and center on November's debut EP Volume 1. Everything about the project – neon colors, posh videos, fashion swag – screams hip R&B for the SoundCloud era. Well, save for the minimalist backing tracks, which are oft stripped down to a single acoustic guitar. It's all as cozy and inviting as.... "I was living in New York and just wearing pink sweats all the time in the studio, bumming it," he chuckles about the moniker. "I wasn't around one day and someone who didn't know my name was like, 'Yo, where's pink sweats?'" The fashion choice makes sense for a cat born on Valentine's Day. "I feel like I give off the energy I want to receive," offers the singer. "I give off a lot of love. It's not about wearing pink, it's about being pink. The world is so dark sometimes; just imagine if people were a little bit kinder to each other, how much further along we would be." Despite a growing buzz, this is still all very new to Sweat$, who transitioned from songwriter to solo artist less than a year ago. Coming into SXSW, he's performed live exactly twice, but that feeling of stepping onstage for the first time remains something he could get used to."It was bliss, man. It was beautiful."
Volume 1 was the introduction. It’s the stage of how I felt. I was delicate as an artist. It was a new stage in my life. I’m not one of those people who have to work on an album for ten years. I could take one day and if that’s what I came up with, that’s how I feel right now, so let’s put it out. Volume 1 is the opposite of [Philly] as far as aesthetic—nobody would be dressing like that or promoting that kind of message. Why shouldn’t I be the guy to do that so kids who don’t get the opportunity to move at 16 like I did, could be like, “He’s from here and he’s not doing stereotypical things.” We don’t have to only be a rapper or a dope boy. I’m not saying that those things are bad, but we have another option.