Former American Idol finalist and acclaimed pop-soul vocalist David Hernandez has by no means shied away from vulnerability in his music, however his newest single, “really feel all of it”, marks a strong new chapter. Written throughout his personal journey via dependancy and restoration, the deeply private anthem transforms non-public ache into common therapeutic.
What started as a tune of self-therapy has blossomed right into a uncooked, resonant piece of artwork, accompanied by a transferring music video that includes actual members of the queer and restoration neighborhood – together with the enduring Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Collectively, David and his collaborators invite listeners and viewers alike into an area of honesty, illustration, and connection.
With “really feel all of it,” David reminds us that therapeutic isn’t about perfection—it’s about feeling, sharing, and discovering power in neighborhood. We had the possibility to speak to David concerning the new single and video and the way he was capable of flip his trauma right into a transferring message that resonates with folks from all walks and levels of life in our unique interview.
“really feel all of it” was initially one thing that you simply wrote only for your self however what was the turning level that made you resolve to need to share that tune with the world?
Initially, I didn’t have any plans for it. I had no expectations for it. I used to be simply sort of writing it as a result of I had a few mates, together with my sponsor, telling me that I ought to use my experiences in sobriety like I exploit any of my experiences in life and write about it via my music. Initially I used to be like, yeah, we’re not there but. We’re not going to do any of that. However then at some point – I don’t know what it was – I had simply gotten again from being on the street. It was someday in January and melodies simply began coming to my head and I began occupied with this journey and the way particular it was and I simply began writing it.
After which I referred to as my buddy Trent Park and I used to be like, hey, do you need to come over to the home this week? Right here’s some concepts that I’ve. And he was like, yeah, it’s been some time. We hadn’t labored on a document since Don’t @ Me in 2022. So, he came visiting, we sat there – usually we’d sit there with some tequila, however we weren’t doing that. I simply began singing melodies and concepts that I had. Our relationship may be very copacetic. He hears what I’m doing and he sort of builds beneath it. Then we had mainly a verse and a refrain, after which the tune simply sat there for 3 months as I went via life and was on the street and doing my appearing and my movies and stuff.
And at some point within the bathe I used to be like, oh my God, I’ve this concept for a second verse and I simply began writing it and after I completed it, I performed it for a number of folks and so they had been crying. They had been simply sobbing. And I’m like, what’s unsuitable with you? You’re all unhinged proper now.
And so they instructed me, no, this tune is so vital and highly effective and I feel that it belongs to the world and I believed, oh God, I don’t learn about all that. It is a very private story and I didn’t know if I wished to share that as a result of it’s so intimate and I’m not prepared for the scrutiny and other people weaponizing that, so I sort of simply held onto it, like a bit of protecting guardian. After which at some point, I assume I simply received the balls to say, fuck it. You realize what, why don’t we convey out the crew? So, I referred to as my publicist, I referred to as my agent, I referred to as my videographer, and I used to be like, what do you consider this concept? After which it was off to the races.
The tune, and even the visuals within the video, they’re extremely susceptible and so they present such a susceptible aspect of you. Was it tough to revisit these sort of feelings whilst you had been recording the tune?
Completely. I imply, I’ve issues in my cellphone, I name it a “drunk-ologue” to speak about instances that I’ve both figuratively or actually fallen on my face whereas being intoxicated. These are at all times good refreshers, however after I select to look again at them, or photographs, they’re refreshers to remind me. It was exhausting as a result of there’s nonetheless a variety of disgrace that surrounds any errors you make in life, whether or not it’s associated to dependancy or trauma or something.
We behave in ways in which typically are much less favorable or aren’t aligned with who we are actually. And so, wanting again on these instances, typically it’s very cringey, you understand, to be like, oh God, I did say that? Did I ship that textual content message? That message that didn’t age nicely, or, you understand, regardless of the case.
And so, after I wrote the tune, significantly after I wrote the second verse, after I say issues like, and if I’m being trustworthy with myself, I’ve been doing issues that ain’t good for my well being. I feel that being trustworthy is one factor, however once you’re trustworthy with your self, I feel there’s a distinct stage of problem there as a result of you must simply sit with that and when that’s acknowledged, it’s like you must change one thing.
So, you understand, I admit to myself that sure, I’m these items, or I’ve executed these items, shit. Now I’ve to say I’m sorry to the people who I’ve harm or now I’ve to acknowledge that possibly alcohol simply isn’t finest for me proper now at this level in my life. You realize, I’ve made a variety of errors however yeah, that’s robust. That’s a problem for positive.
You’ve mentioned sobriety sort of stripped away your escape routes and sort of pressured you to actually really feel all the things. Like how has that formed not solely your music, however your day-to-day life?
It’s so much. I imply, no pun supposed however actually one of the simplest ways to say it’s you simply should really feel all of it. The great, the unhealthy, the ugly, the apathetic, the detached, simply all the things that’s what it’s to be human. You don’t get to flee. I imply, I like chocolate and I like caffeine and I like intercourse and all of the earthly issues that we get. However, taking away one thing that was a crutch for me for thus lengthy is an attention-grabbing adjustment now in my forties, I’m a 42-year-old man that simply gave up one thing that he’s been doing since he was like 14, you understand?
So, there’s an enormous hurdle there, and in a variety of methods I’ve been capable of get again to that little child at six years previous who wished to be in theater and wished to make music and stuff. It’s actually cool and it’s sort of emotional. I’m very sentimental. I’m nostalgic so much like after I begin to unveil elements of myself that I’ve buried via coping mechanisms for trauma.
Once I begin to get these like little David-isms again, it’s actually cool. It’s like, oh my God, I do not forget that a part of who I used to be, and so they’re like probably the most refined of issues. Simply the best way that I smile at sure foolish issues or keep in mind sure smells…it’s bizarre, it’s virtually such as you’re in a brand new pores and skin.
Therapeutic is usually described as sort of a non-linear course of. What are among the every day practices or rituals that assist maintain you grounded now?
Undoubtedly prayer. I attempt to get up within the morning and switch all the things over to God. My increased energy, a god of my understanding. I didn’t develop up non secular, however I feel a game-changer for me was having the ability to have an influence larger than me, however an influence that was of my understanding and never one thing that like society or non secular buildings had put in place as a result of these really feel very confining and oppressive. So, I do have a supply energy that I depend on for steering and what I attempt to do within the morning, as a result of I at all times get up a bit of the other way up. I sort of need to management all the things. There are such a lot of unknowns and what I feel provides me reduction is to be answerable for all the things, when actually it simply makes me loopy…as a result of you possibly can’t actually management something on this life actually, besides for the way you present up – and even then it’s like sort of dodgy.
I simply attempt to stand up and I attempt to middle myself. I want that I meditated extra. I’m engaged on that. After which, I’ve different sober mates in a very nice sober neighborhood and I’m in a 12-step program that helps me lean on folks after I’m going via these crunchy kind of moments.
I don’t crave alcohol, however I do crave the escape that alcohol gave me from exhausting every day conditions after I’m burdened, particularly after I’m drained. On the finish of the day, I used to have a bottle of wine when the solar set and I miss that ritualistic kind of factor. However now it’s like, okay, nicely I’m going to go to the gymnasium. I’m going to get one final pump in after which I’m going to return dwelling and I’m going to prepare dinner, which is one thing I took up just lately.
I attempt to be of assist to different folks – mates in restoration and never in restoration. I discover that like after I ask any individual else how their day goes or I say, is there something I can do for you at present? Or identical to mates I attain out for a cellphone name. It takes me out of my obsession with myself and my issues turn into so much smaller. Whenever you cope with any individual who’s going via a lack of a guardian or goes via a very robust breakup, you get to be much less egocentric in these moments. These are practices that assist not solely maintain me sober however maintain me grounded and maintain me from spiraling uncontrolled in my very own head.
I’d talked about the video earlier than, which I like. It incorporates a restoration circle with actual folks from totally different walks of life. I feel I even noticed among the Sisters of the Perpetual Indulgence…what was it like being surrounded by that sort of authenticity on set?
I do know Sister Roma, she wasn’t truly within the video, Sister Unity and Sister Kumonawanna Leya are. All of them know one another.. they’re broadly identified, but it surely’s sort of a core group of individuals in that neighborhood, however that was actually cool. I actually like it as a result of what they stand for is de-stigmatizing non secular oppression and kind of all of the issues that include that, as a result of inside the queer neighborhood, a variety of us grew up with considering that homosexual was unhealthy. And so, their important mission is to de destigmatize that.
Once I was speaking to my sponsor, John Duran, he was like, are you aware anyone that will need to be on this video from totally different walks of life? And that was his suggestion. And after I reached out to Sister Unity, she put me in contact with Sister Kumonawanna Leya. Once I received on the cellphone with Sister Unity, it was identical to unbelievable. It was a direct connection. She comes from a variety of trauma herself – and all of us do, proper? Several types of trauma…and this video is sort of about that collective trauma. It doesn’t should be the very same story, but it surely’s a narrative that you would be able to relate to of survival and restoration.
It was nice to have their illustration in it. I didn’t count on that. I actually didn’t even take into consideration that. I’ve executed so many Prides within the final decade the place The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence had been concerned and I’ve turn into mates with a few of them and we’re distant mates via like Instagram, but it surely didn’t cross my thoughts and I’m so grateful that he introduced it up as a result of I can’t think about that video with out them. It was so cool to have that in there and so they’re in drag and that’s one other a part of our queer neighborhood. But it surely simply touched all of the bases, like trauma, non secular trauma, drag, queer neighborhood. It simply all made sense.
Was there a selected second throughout the filming of the video that deeply impacted you or sort of modified the best way you noticed the tune?
I feel it was the complete expertise having everyone there. I received there with my crew about two hours earlier than, so we began reducing footage that was simply solely I used to be wanted for and when my manufacturing supervisor got here in and mentioned that individuals had began arriving, I sort of was like, oh shit, that is like actually taking place. I felt like nervous, but additionally very excited and after I walked out into the ready space, everyone was there and I used to be like, oh, that is so cool that just about 25 folks confirmed up and donated their time for the message as a result of the message was that highly effective.
I feel I noticed in that second that if it wasn’t one thing they related to, and if it wasn’t that highly effective, all of us have 1,000,000 different issues we might be doing and so they actually wouldn’t have pushed downtown within the warmth – it was so sizzling in the course of August. They wouldn’t have been there for eight hours if it wasn’t one thing that they really believed in. So, I feel having everyone there and seeing it come to fruition was the second I noticed that is a lot greater than me and this might doubtlessly have an effect on saving somebody’s life.
Illustration has been a recurring theme in your work. What do you hope that queer and restoration communities will really feel once they see themselves presumably mirrored within the video?
I simply hope they don’t really feel alone. You realize, rising up as a bit of child in Guadalupe, Arizona, Phoenix, Arizona, I didn’t see lots of people that seemed like me. I’m biracial, I’m half Mexican, half white and I used to be predominantly both in a white grade college neighborhood or an excellent Latino and black grade college neighborhood, so I at all times sort of straddled the fence and I by no means actually like slot in. And you then add the layer of being like a theater child and being homosexual. I knew I used to be homosexual after I was six years previous. I had an affinity in the direction of being mates with ladies. I preferred to play with Barbies. I by no means did just like the issues that little boys had been alleged to do. I didn’t see a variety of illustration and after I watched TV and even simply round me within the communities I grew up in, I didn’t see any of that. So, I feel for me, it was so vital for me to get all walks of life on this video as a result of I need everybody as a lot as doable to see themselves in any individual in some capability. You realize, that’s why we have now so many individuals within the video. We’ve got from younger to previous, we have now alcoholics to addicts to sexual assault survivors to…I imply, you identify it. There’s a lot illustration within the video and whilst you could not relate on to that exact story, there are items within the story that you would be able to.
We at all times search for similarities and never variations, proper? Like, nobody individual’s going to be precisely such as you or have precisely your story, however that doesn’t imply you possibly can’t join with them – and possibly that’s your window of alternative to say, hey, I need assistance and will you information me in the appropriate course? I hope that by folks seeing this video and simply seeing the colourful forged that there’s a lot of magnificence in our variations and there’s a variety of similarity in these variations too.
You’ve described music as a bridge again to your self. What do you hope that the tune turns into for the listeners who could be struggling proper now?
I hope it turns into no matter they need it to turn into. Once I write the tune I write it from a spot that’s private to me, however as soon as I launch it to the world, it’s actually as much as your interpretation of it. I hope you join with it in any doable method you possibly can. If that signifies that you simply join with the refrain, wonderful. For those who join with each single lyric, unbelievable. However I hope that it conjures up one thing in you that leads you to do no matter it’s that you simply assume is finest to your life.
Possibly that change, possibly that divorce, possibly that marriage, possibly that restoration middle. Possibly you wanted to actually begin occupied with the place you’re in life and the way you need to be in a distinct place and also you need to push previous that ceiling and take a look at one thing new.
You realize, change isn’t too late. My late grandmother, Linda, she handed away at a really younger age. She was in her sixties when she handed away from lung most cancers. And I keep in mind a pair years earlier than she handed away, she was relationship this asshole. And we had been like, this man’s a dick. You need to depart. And he or she was like, no honey, I’m too previous for change. And who would know that two years later she was going to go away? My level in that’s that you simply’re by no means too previous for change, even in the event you solely have a yr or two left. Are you able to think about what that yr or two would’ve been like if she would’ve simply taken the leap and left that bastard and like executed no matter.
She at all times wished to go skydiving with me. We by no means received an opportunity to try this – and I’m petrified of heights, however I might’ve executed it for her. I feel within the story of the lesson in that’s like, simply do it. It’s by no means too late to vary. Even in the event you’re 90, you possibly can nonetheless have a very good nevertheless remaining a part of your life you possibly can with that affected change. So, I hope that the tune and the lyrics encourage power, hope, change, restoration and resilience.
You’ve had such a strong profession since American Idol. How does this tune evaluate to your earlier work when it comes to like your individual private progress?
You realize, it jogs my memory a variety of “Stunning”, to be trustworthy. Once I launched “Stunning” in 2016, that tune was very surprising for me. I didn’t have an agenda or a motive. I truly didn’t even have plans on reducing a music video for it. It’s sort of loopy now that I consider it, the way it developed. It’s similar to “really feel all of it”. It wasn’t one thing that I used to be like, yeah, that is going to be this.
It simply ended up being this, as a result of. The intention behind it was so pure and the best way that all of us went about it was simply natural. It wasn’t contrived. We didn’t do it to go viral or get X quantity of views. As a matter of reality, in 2016, I feel views, I imply clearly like digital, digital age was actually huge nonetheless.
But it surely wasn’t like, I hadn’t had a lot success in social media, so there wasn’t an expectation. That’s what it was. There wasn’t an expectation. I simply knew that after I shot “Stunning”, I wished there to be totally different walks of life in it. After which virtually 10 years later, we’re doing “really feel all of it”. It’s a barely totally different idea, however sort of the identical when it comes to illustration, inclusivity, and general love.
What’s subsequent for you after this launch? What can we count on from you?
I’m going on the street as a matter of reality. “Stunning” hits its 10-year anniversary subsequent yr, which is loopy to me. I simply enlisted an unbelievable producer to recreate that monitor and simply convey it updated a bit of bit, and I’m going to have a very particular function on it. In order that comes out the highest of subsequent yr, after which we’ll be happening a full Pleasure tour and only a common tour as nicely and people dates are TBD.
I’ve a string of exhibits this weekend in Vegas and I’m doing AFAN’s Black & White Gala subsequent Saturday, September 20th. AFAN is the AIDS nonprofit charity group in Las Vegas. I’ll be headlining that after which, from that time, we have now a number of extra exhibits sprinkled all year long however I feel subsequent yr can be a very cool recent, clear slate with all the brand new music, together with “really feel all of it”. I’ll be touring with that as nicely subsequent yr and there’s, after all, my appearing and movie. I’ve a function movie popping out on the finish of October referred to as Glamping and it comes out on Tubi, which can be actually cool. I play a very attention-grabbing character. There’s a variety of issues working on the entrance, however as we wrap up the top of the yr, we’re actually making ready for subsequent yr – and, after all, this launch proper now.
“really feel all of it” is out there on Apple Music or wherever you stream music. Sustain with David on Instagram, Spotify, YouTube, Fb and on his web site.
