The mysterious R&B act, dvsn, has been making waves over the last few weeks, even though no one really knows anything about the artists behind it. They've released three songs on SoundCloud—"The Line," "With Me" and "Too Deep"—that have amassed over 200,000 plays in total. Rumors around Nineteen85's involvement in the project quickly spread after he played two of the songs during his OVO Sound set back in October.
Fans quickly wondered if Nineteen 85, real name Paul Jefferies, was the sole artist behind dvsn. While there's no doubt he's somehow involved, sources told Noisey back in October that the vocalist on dvsn's songs is not Nineteen85. So, who's behind the vocals Through some digging, one name—Daniel Daley—continues to pop up when searching who Nineteen85 has worked with over the years. Daley, who's from Scarborough, started to make waves on the pop/R&B scene in Ontario around 2010, but quickly disappeared from the scene and social media.
A past profile of Daley on Toronto Music Scene points out that Nineteen85 and Daley have worked together extensively in the past, and have stayed close. The songs Daley and Nineteen85 recorded together back in 2010 have since been deleted from the Internet, but Daley's MySpace page does include some of his older music. The music on his MySpace has more of a pop feel than the three songs that dvsn has released, but the vocals sound almost identical. The range of Daley's voice on his older songs seems to match the peaks of dvsn's tracks, especially the opening sequences on "With Me" and "Dance With Me."
Wanna Be Loved from Daniel Daley on Myspace.
Dance with Me from Daniel Daley on Myspace.
Girlfriend from Daniel Daley on Myspace.
Though it's tough to find more recent music from Daley, he sang on the hook of Lecrae's 2013 song, "Lost In My Way." The uplifting vocals featured on this particular song seem to be more powerful than the dvsn tracks, but the resemblance is still strong. Part of the beauty of the three songs that dvsn have shared is how subtle his vocals are over the stripped down production.
Daley currently has a private Twitter account with under 1,000 followers and a Facebook page that hasn't been used in years. Aside from releasing music with Jefferies, Daley was a finalist on an American Idol type show in Canada back in 2009. Though Daley isn't active on social media, he's popped up on Nineteen85's Instagram. Around two years ago, Jefferies not only posted a picture of him with Daley at a Drake show with the caption, "Team," but he also posted the logo that dvsn is currently using before anyone even knew what dvsn was.
With only three songs released as dvsn, it's still a mystery as what they're planning to do next, but people are still taking notice. Apple Music's Zane Lowe is a fan, and even tweeted about the new song, "Too Deep," earlier today.
Most things in Toronto run through Drake and OVO, and while Jefferies has produced two of Drizzy's biggest hits—"Hotline Bling" and "Hold On, We're Going Home"—it's unclear if they're involved in dvsn. Even so, from what we've heard already, dvsn needs no co-signs. The music alone is making waves, and though they want to remain a mystery for now, the world will soon know.
