Devon Gilfillian Celebrates Black and Brown Women on New Single ‘Brown Sugar Queen’
‘We wanted to get this reggaeton and cumbia feel into the song, hoping to do something with the song where you could take it to the beach and also take it to the club to dance,’ Gilfillian shared.
On his latest single “Brown Sugar Queen,” Nashville singer and songwriter Devon Gilfillian is celebrating Brown and Black women in all of their glory.
“I wanted to write a tribute to Black and Brown women everywhere,” he told of the song World Cafe in a recent interview. The song was written in Los Angeles ahead of the pandemic with the singer’s songwriting partners Ryan Linvill and Danny Silberstein.
It arrives alongside a music video that stars dancers Debria Tyler, Gabby Henson, Jessica Neshay’ and Meggan Utech performing against a bold backdrop of vibrant, warm colors.
Of the song’s origin, Gilfillian explained: “It was in this moment of me figuring out that I was still in love with my ex-girlfriend, who is now my current girlfriend. It’s a song about celebrating that and not being able to get away from love and being so drawn and comforted by it and being brought back to it in all these different ways.”
“Brown Sugar Queen” was produced by Jeremy Luitot with a focus on the percussive feeling. “One of the fun parts of recording the song was getting the drums and the percussion just right,” Gilfillian added. “We wanted to get this reggaeton and cumbia feel into the song, hoping to do something with the song where you could take it to the beach and also take it to the club to dance.”
More so than the mere feeling of the song, the musician was adamant about communicating his message directly to his audience. “I wanted to have an anthem for Black and Brown women,” he emphasized. “I wanted to celebrate them in a classy, sexy way that wasn’t a Juvenile ‘Back That A– Up’ way. I wanted it to feel nostalgic and new at the same time, to combine sexy nostalgia with new grooves.”
