DWELE

“If you only knew me through my music, you’d think that I was a quiet guy that wears sandals and linen,” Dwele says frankly. “That’s not me. I’m from Detroit, I like designer brands and I’ve got a crazy side.”

As one of R&B’s smoothest singer-songwriter-producers, Dwele has crafted so many romantic ballads, from “Find A Way” to “I’m Cheatin’,” that it might be difficult to see the soulful tenor as anything other than a modest poet. But that’s the great thing about Andwele Gardner, his creativity opens a new world for himself and his listeners.

“My songs wake me up. I’ll have a song in my head but in my dream, I hear it on the radio,” Dwele says of his creative process. “Then I wake up and realize there’s no radio playing, so I hurry to my studio and lay the song down.”

And so Dwele’s fifth album Greater Than One, out on August 28, was born.

Aiming to make “bedroom music” along with emotive ballads this go-round, Dwele took some time since his fourth work 2010’s W.ants. W.orld. W.omen (W.W.W) to gain some international inspiration. What resulted was a singular, limited edition project and a precursor to Greater Than One which fans will have to see to hear.

Drawing on the creative strides he made on W.ants. W.orld. W.omen (W.W.W), where he utilized live band recordings for the first time among other things, Dwele’s newest offering is a mixture of silky ballads and crispy uptempo jams.

“One of the more forward songs is called ‘Obey,’ “ Dwele says of the string-driven track, which begins with an apology for possibly “going too far” and threatening to pull his lover’s hair “if it’s real.” “It’s about when you get into a relationship and you’re experiencing each other for the first time. You never really know how far to take it, this song is a guide for that.”