Devon Gilfillian Releases New Album 'Love You Anyway'

Rising soul artist Devon Gilfillian releases his 2nd full-length studio album Love You Anyway, via Fantasy Records. The new album arrives on the heels of an exciting release week for Devon, which includes a performance of the hit single "All I Really Wanna Do," on The Kelly Clarkson Show yesterday.

This week, Devon announced four new tour dates as support for Grace Potter, and was also announced as a member of the fifth annual class of artists joining Fender NextTM, an artist development program designed to elevate rising musicians that are pushing guitar forward in music and culture.

Gilfillian's Love You Anyway spans soul, hip-hop, R&B, and rock, all under the banner of Black joy. Produced by Jeremy Lutito (Joy Oladokun, NEEDTOBREATHE), the album confronts as well as comforts, chronicling Gilfillian's journey as a Black artist living in 21st century America. The LP's 10 original tracks (all co-written by Gilfillian), are as much about fighting for what you believe in: equity and representation, as they are about love: finding it, making it, and channeling it into every facet of our lives.

In recent weeks, Gilfillian has shared two absorbing tracks from Love You Anyway,

"All I Really Wanna Do," and "Right Kind of Crazy."

The album opens with an ecstatic proclamation of self-empowerment and love, "All I Really Wanna Do," which The Philadelphia Inquirer called "an irresistible slinky and soulful candy-colored invitation," setting the tone immediately. The track recently hit the Top 20 on Billboard's Adult Alternative Chart, debuted Top 25 on the Mediabase Triple A Chart, and was added to Sirius XM's Spectrum Channel. Meanwhile, Love You Anyway is a Top 15 entry on the Non-Comm Albums chart.

The album's title track, "Love You Anyway," is an anthem with a powerful message: loving those around us, including people with differing worldviews. Gilfillian promises that no hatred will change his bright spirit: "We're all broken, cracks in our hearts/Let hope in, light in the dark/I'm gonna love you anyway," he sings.

Next month, Devon heads out on tour for shows throughout the spring and summer including his first-ever performance at Tennessee's famed Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival on June 17 and the recently announced Oceans Calling Festival in Maryland on September 29. To celebrate the release of Love You Anyway, Devon will headline the Mercury Lounge in NYC on April 17, and is scheduled to perform at Nashville's legendary Ryman Auditorium supporting Emily King on May 26.

Then, Devon will head to Europe for four dates supporting My Morning Jacket. The tour follows an impressive schedule at SXSW Music Festival in Austin, where he performed stellar sets at Willie Nelson's annual Luck Reunion, as well as showcases for Waterloo Records, Paste Magazine, Relix Magazine, Jam in the Van, and many more.

Growing up in Philadelphia, Gilfillian discovered that the towering icons of his musician father's era-Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Otis Redding, The Temptations-were just as formative and exciting as the new sounds of his own generation: Wu-Tang Clan, Notorious B.I.G., and Jay-Z. Bursting on the scene in 2020 with his highly regarded debut album Black Hole Rainbow, Devon received acclaim from NPR, the New York Times, PASTE and The Tennessean, among many others.

Then later that year, Gilfillian re-recorded and released Marvin Gaye's iconic album, What's Going On, which raised funds for low-income communities of color, and provided resources and education around the democratic process.

Now, with Love You Anyway, Devon Gilfillian pays it forward. Conjuring the raw, sexy emotions of his predecessors and the next-level production grooves of his R&B and hip-hop contemporaries, Gilfillian is taking soul music into an exciting and restorative new future.

Listen to the new album here: