d4vd’s Musical Guide to Love, Loss, and Performative Males

Since the writing of this review, on Sept. 9, ABC7 Los Angeles reported that a woman’s decomposing body was discovered in an impounded Tesla registered to d4vd. The investigation is ongoing, and a spokesperson for d4vd said that he is cooperating with authorities. 

There’s a particular scream that only happens in the two seconds between house lights dimming and an adored artist sprinting onstage. At the Roadrunner stadium on Thursday, Aug. 28, that scream erupted like a wave and then—bam. d4vd exploded into “What Are You Waiting For,” his barreling pop-rock single from his debut album, “Withered.” The question immediately became rhetorical as the crowd jumped around in lockstep.

The “Withered” 2025 World Tour has been a long time coming: d4vd (David Anthony Burke) started out making Fortnite montage videos during the pandemic and eventually began recording original indie pop music in his sister’s closet to avoid copyright strikes. These tracks, including the ultimate tear-jerker, “Romantic Homicide,” blew up on TikTok and Spotify, kickstarting his musical career. Three years later at 20 years old, he filled Roadrunner to the brim following the release of his album in April 2025. Boston obviously had been itching to see him.

Let’s start at the beginning of the night: Before the openers came on, I took a moment to appreciate the white roses and deep green vines that covered the stage. They wrapped around white marble pillars and coated the sides of a second, taller stage. Beautiful. Classic.

Right on time, New York’s LAUNDRY DAY set the energy for the night, with crunchy guitars and sticky hooks. Sawyer Nunes (vocals/drums) had me tearing up, giggling, and kicking my hypothetical feet in a hypothetical chair. Beautiful man with a beautiful voice. Nunes played beside Jude Ciulla-Lipkin (vocals), Henry Weingartner (guitar), and Henry Pearl (bass). Each brought their unique but equally magnetic spirit to the performance.

As soon as LAUNDRY DAY said their goodbyes, the crowd started chanting for d4vd. Flashes of red and ominous music introduced him and his big blonde hair onto the stage, only for him to jump into “What Are You Waiting For.” It was a witty choice; demonstrating he could be taken seriously while still knowing how to get an audience enlivened. At times, his dance moves seemed Fortnite-emote-esque, kind of nostalgic.

From there, the night toggled between exhilarating and existential. d4vd used his unique voice, a soft-focus tenor that vibrates into falsetto, to carry the audience through “Here With Me,” the viral hit that I would cry alone in my room to three semesters ago even when life was going perfectly. He followed this with “This is How It Feels,” his 2023 slow-burn duet with Laufey, but not without addressing the performative males in the audience first. Naturally. All of the Laufey fans in the crowd turned into a disjointed choir as he sang, each of them trying to sing louder than the other in hopes of getting a signed Labubu from d4vd. A couple of Hello Kitties were thrown into the mix, too. I was hoping for a mid-show matcha or maybe some feminist literature, but I’m sure d4vd just saves these things for after the set.

The pendulum continued to swing to and from mayhem, with the most heartbreaking songs saved for last. “My House Is Not a Home” had the entire audience silent, watching d4vd in awe as he played the piano. He told a painful story about distance and coming undone in a relationship, sharing vulnerability with the audience in a way I had never witnessed onstage before. I first assumed that his Garfield hoodie, sweatpants, and pink shirt that said “love a pretty girl” would make it difficult to see him under a serious context, but it was undeniable that his stage presence came before anything he could have worn.

This vulnerability spilled over into how he interacted with his fans. He was quick to sing “Happy Birthday” to someone at the front of the pit and jumped down from the stage to hold peoples’ hands, including mine, twice… Does d4vd want me? Throughout the entire performance, he consistently found the time to communicate his appreciation for Boston. 

After once again sharing a few grateful words with concertgoers, d4vd went into his second-to-last song (and the one we were all waiting for), “Romantic Homicide.” I heard sniffles and wail-singing all around me. Maybe I was sniffling and wail-singing too. d4vd only heightened emotions, belting the most hard-hitting parts of the song. 

I realized with this final song that while “Withered” might read like a concept record about a dying rose, in person the show feels the opposite: alive, thorny, generous, weird. d4vd’s message was transparent; he could show complexity in his songs, powerful chords with heavy words, and in the same breath, lift the energy in the crowd to the ceiling. 10 seconds after “Romantic Homicide” finished, d4vd put on “Fein” and stage dove.

d4vd is a rare artist, and an authentic one. He has a background and a story that an entire generation can relate to, and it spills into his humor, his lyrics, the subjects he discusses in his music. I’ve never seen a young personality, someone literally my age, take on both a debut album and a stage with such mastery and artistic vision.

Courtney Hines ’28 (courtneyhines@college.harvard.edu) can’t wait to see another show for the Independent.