Initially, Durand Bernarr thought Bilal won the Grammy.
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But first, he had to let Jimmy Jam get past the first syllable of whatever was written on the card in his hand. By the time the famed producer finished announcing “BLOOM, Durand Bernarr” as the winner of best progressive R&B album, the virtuosic, Cleveland-bred vocalist was halfway through a mad dash to the stage — in a Luar Jehan mule, no less — to deliver an instantly viral and endlessly memed acceptance speech for his first career Grammy.
“It completely slipped my mind where I put my speech. As I’m running up, I’m like, ‘Oh my goodness, let me get my notes app’ — and my publicist is running behind me with it,” he says with a laugh while catching up with Billboard. “People thought I was changing my bio to ‘Grammy Award-winning,’ they said I was texting somebody — but I was just trying to get that speech, because you only have 45 seconds!”
And in those 45 seconds (and then some), his charisma proved inescapable. The New York Times named his triumph as one of “seven great Grammy winners you didn’t hear on T.V.”; Essence profiled his stylist, Vincent Smith, to break down his winning look and Them proclaimed that his acceptance speech was “a burst of Black queer joy.” Grammy-winning songwriter James Fauntleroy wrote on X that he’s “never seen the whole community collectively celebrate a Grammy win” like Bernarr’s, and fellow nominee Destin Conrad took to Instagram Stories, writing “Black gay boys taking it b—h, I don’t give a f—k!” Kendrick Lamar even stopped to dap him up on his way to accepting best rap album for GNX, the first award of the telecast. In contrast, Bernarr hosted an intimate celebration with close friends — his earnest attempt to “be as present as possible.”
The day after his speech (Feb. 2), Bernarr’s catalog exploded 546% in weekly official on-demand U.S. streams, according to Luminate, despite his triumph happening hours before the telecast. It’s fitting that Durand finally took home his first Grammy (he boasts four career nods) on the first day of Black History Month (Feb. 1), 100 years after it originated as Negro History Week and 50 years after President Ford officially recognized the celebration. His win was a triumph for churchy, queer Black folk everywhere, the exact intersection of identity whose art is constantly pillaged and repackaged, while their individual persons are often discarded and ignored.
“We have worked!” he says emphatically. “Yes, we’re excited! What is there to play cool about? We’ve been acknowledged for our hard work!”
Born to a music teacher mother and an audio engineer father, Bernarr entered the music industry at just 16 years old, accompanying his dad as a production assistant for an Earth, Wind & Fire tour. As he cut his teeth professionally, Bernarr used the ever-waning power of third spaces to hone his musical and vocal chops: He attended the Cleveland Institute of Music, dabbled in acting at Playhouse Square, mounted stage productions at Karamu House Theatre, and even frequented open mic nights and poetry slams.
Of course, he owes his sanctified grounding and gospel-informed musical foundation to the hours he spent hooting and hollering in the church choir. His impassioned renditions of gospel standards like “Total Praise” and “Calvary” helped him accrue an online following when he first started sharing clips on YouTube (“Holy Commentating” remains a classic) — and they were the first posts to resurge following his Grammy win.
“I honestly could not imagine my personality or sense of humor without Black church culture,” he says. “It’s such a big part of how I express myself. It’s important we acknowledge our roots, whether that’s sonically or how we move in our character. “
Bernarr’s early YouTube blueprint harnesses the same energy he tapped into on BLOOM a decade and a half later: an inimitable balance of the sacred and the secular, as well as the comedy and theatricality woven through both spheres. A debut mixtape (Alcoholharmony) arrived in 2009, which gave way to a 2010 EP of Erykah Badu covers that helped him land an ongoing gig as one of her background vocalists. And to be clear, a Grammy win isn’t stopping him from fulfilling his BGV duties. “Who else gon’ be tenor?” he quips. “I want to continue being of service; it’s not a competition to me. It’s not an ego thing. I enjoy [singing backup] because I genuinely love what I do.”
His contributions as a background vocalist and songwriter for projects by artists ranging from Kaytranada to The Internet brought him closer to Grammy glory throughout the 2010s, but his first nomination would come in 2025 for En Route, an EP that competed for best progressive R&B album. The following year, he emerged as the second-most nominated artist in the R&B field, with three nods for BLOOM and its tracks. At its core, BLOOM — which arrived almost exactly a year ago — is about friendship, a relatively underexplored subject in contemporary R&B. Across 15 shape-shifting tracks, featuring appearances by T-Pain and GAWD, Bernarr cartwheels through funk-driven soul, Prince-esque rock balladry, and ‘00s pop&B with remarkable precision.
Not only is the album a clear culmination of his primary influences, but it’s also a testament to the power of collaboration. It’s why Bernarr began his acceptance speech by reminding the crowd, “We are all we got — and we know who I am referring to.” After penning most of his catalog solo, Bernarr opened his creative process to additional songwriters like “Freaky Rob” Gueringer, resulting in both his most expansive album yet, and deeper ties with the artist community that would eventually get him to that Grammy stage.
“Durand’s voice is otherworldly, and he writes very specific to him, and that’s gotten us to this point,” explains his publicist and BLOOM co-executive producer Shean England. “But how do we continue to elevate your sound and creativity? By bringing in artists he’s actually friends with, and people he’s been wanting to work with. It was really a community project, and Durand is an extension of that. He calls his fanbase his “cousins,” because it really is a family affair.”
Though she does not appear on BLOOM, Avery Sunshine, the 2025 best progressive R&B album Grammy winner (So Glad to Know You), proved to be a key member of this family. And it was at her urging that Bernarr even wrote an acceptance speech. “I think it was the tone behind it,” he reflects. “It was this feeling of, ‘I counted myself out, or I got counted out, and I wish I would have given myself the consideration to be prepared.’”
Beyond that encouragement, the two independent artists also sat for a 45-minute, in-depth conversation about their musical journeys. Couple that with ensuring Bernarr performed essentially everywhere he could, and you have the two primary tenets of England’s victorious Grammy campaign. From a hilarious viral clip of him belting out “Do you know the Muffin Man?” to the eternal life of early breakthrough hit “Mango Butter,” Team Bernarr took advantage of every click-worthy moment and turned that attention back to BLOOM.
“We won because I wasn’t trying to do everything by myself,” Bernarr says. “And now I say, if I don’t have to do it by myself, I don’t want to do it by myself. Creating is a playground; when you have company that has just as big an imagination as you, it makes the experience more fulfilling.”
And so, Bernarr handwrote a speech. In fact, that’s what England was clutching in his hand as he sprinted down the aisle behind him. While his delivery instantly made the speech memorable, it’s the content that made it so immediately resonant for so many viewers. Here was an openly queer, flamboyant, sanctified Black man accepting music’s highest honor with both of his parents standing behind him. Here was a self-proclaimed “butch queen” being honored for an album about friendship in a genre that generally prefers to ponder romantic love and sex.
“A point had to be made, and a standard had to be set,” Bernarr says, taking care to stress every syllable. “I felt that it was important for people to see that not all of us are coming from certain experiences. There are those of us [who] have active fathers in our lives who allow us to be ourselves. That is a healing component that was needed in this time; now I’m inspiring fathers to take inventory on how they are handling their children and loved ones. How your children treat you when you’re an adult, and you don’t need them, is your report card. This was me showing the world what an outstanding job [my parents] have done.”
The same night Bernarr triumphed, Leon Thomas took home his first two Grammys for his own music, and the late D’Angelo and Richard Smallwood were honored with an all-star, Ms. Lauryn Hill-led tribute. The legacy of Black male vocalists towered over the ceremony, and that wasn’t lost on Bernarr, despite his personal win.
“When you’re in the moment, it’s about you, but afterwards, it’s beyond you,” he reflects. “I’m standing on the shoulders of those men. And I’m glad that they not only crawled but trudged through times when it wasn’t okay to be too much of yourself. As loud and boisterous as Little Richard was, there was still this element of not fully loving yourself. I like to think that I’m a continuation of that, but in a way that is genuinely being embraced and celebrated.
“We are both Black gay men, living a dream in a world that tries to show us that we can’t or try to take it, take it away from us,” adds England, who joined forces with Bernarr in November 2021 after stints at entertainment companies like Beyoncé’s Parkwood. “That’s not something that people can just take away because they didn’t give it to us.”
It’s been over two weeks since the Grammys, and Bernarr is still wading through congratulations messages. Notably, some are from potential new besties like Tyla — who hit him up with, “Chile, just from the run alone, shoot, I want to be friends,” after his speech. A deluxe version of Bloom is in the works, as are forthcoming collaborations with Vic Mensa, Dawn Richard, and Sebastian Mikael.
Meanwhile, he’s set to combine his musical and comedic chops into a special variety show at Netflix Is a Joke on May 7; the week prior, he’ll play two sold-out shows at the newly opened Blue Note Jazz Club in Los Angeles on April 29. He also auditioned for the role of James “Thunder” Early in Dreamgirls, which makes its Broadway return this fall, but his You Gon’ Grown, Too Tour conflicted with callbacks. As a newly minted Grammy winner, the opportunities are endless, so England’s top priority is maintaining a pace that respects Bernarr’s health while keeping up with this “huge momentous period that has changed [their] lives.”
“My dream show is my own show — a combination between the Chappelle Show and That’s So Raven,” Bernarr muses as his Uber pulls up to the set of The Jennifer Hudson Show, which he’ll be appearing on later that day. “The idea that I have hasn’t been done. But being an independent artist who has done the things that I’ve done while being who I am ain’t never happened either.”
