He was seventeen, recording in his sister's closet in Houston, Texas — a Fortnite YouTuber who'd stumbled into music to avoid copyright strikes. But when d4vd watched a sunrise and thought of the opening scene of the movie Up, he wrote "Here With Me," a bedroom pop love letter so quietly devastating it went viral across the world before anyone knew his name.
From Fortnite Montages to Indie Icon
David Anthony Burke — known as d4vd — was born March 28, 2005, in Queens, New York, and moved to Houston, Texas at age 13. His earliest creative outlet wasn't music: it was Fortnite gameplay on YouTube. When background tracks kept triggering copyright strikes, his mother suggested he make his own music. He started doing exactly that on BandLab, a social music-making platform.
His studio was his sister's closet — cramped, makeshift, acoustically imperfect, and perfect for what he was making. "I grew to like being alone and finding creativity in isolation," he explained. No formal training, no mentor, no label. Just headphones, a laptop, and a teenager who was quietly becoming one of the most distinctive voices of his generation.
The Movie Up and the Kind of Love Nobody Writes About
Released September 22, 2022, "Here With Me" was co-written and produced by d4vd and Dan Darmawan, and samples South Korean producer Blueday's 2021 instrumental track "Snow Day." But the emotional core came from somewhere else entirely: Pixar's Up. Watching the sunrise one morning and remembering that film's opening montage — Carl and Ellie growing old together — d4vd wanted to write about that kind of love. Not the heartbreak. Not the beginning. The long, quiet middle.
"I tried to harness the parts of love that no one writes about," he said. "Growing old together. Just being there, without the tragedy." The official music video, directed by Arman Mitchell and released November 23, 2022, brought that vision to life: a couple from childhood to old age, held together by small moments and steady devotion. By November 2025, it had accumulated over 266 million views.
"I tried to harness the parts of love that no one writes about — growing old together, experiencing life together rather than ending with tragedy."— d4vd
When "Here With Me" went viral on TikTok, d4vd's world changed overnight. He signed with Darkroom and Interscope Records — the same label home of Billie Eilish. His follow-up "Romantic Homicide" also became a Billboard Alternative number one, cementing him as one of the most compelling new artists of the post-pandemic era. Critics noted his uncanny ability to capture emotional nuance — the same quality that made him a phenomenon in South Korea, where listeners dubbed him "the American Black Skirts," after the beloved Korean indie band.
The Chart Numbers Behind a Quiet Masterpiece
"Here With Me" debuted on the US Billboard Hot 100 at number 88 in January 2023 and climbed to a peak of number 60 the following week. On the Hot Alternative Songs chart, it reached number 4. The song's rise was slow-burning and organic — driven by TikTok, by late-night playlists, by people sharing it with people they loved.
In South Korea especially, the song found a devoted audience. Its dreamy, lo-fi bedroom pop textures resonated with fans of thoughtful indie music, earning d4vd comparisons to home-grown artists with a similar emotional register. For a teenager making music in a closet, the reception was anything but ordinary.
What d4vd built in his sister's closet reached stages and streaming queues across the world. A love song about the quiet, undramatic, beautiful reality of staying — and it turns out, that's exactly what people needed to hear.
