Painted (Lucky Daye album)

After he previously competed on American Idol during Season 4 in 2005, at age 19, Daye established himself as a songwriter and background vocalist between 2008- 2018. During this time he wrote for many artists, most notably Ne-Yo, Keith Sweat, Boyz II Men, Joe (singer), August Alsina, Mary J. Blige and Ella Mai, among other contemporary R&B artists.

In October 2018, Daye signed to Keep Cool Records and RCA Records, releasing his first single, "Roll Some Mo", which is now certified Gold by the RIAA.[6] On November 9, 2018, he released his first EP, I, which was part of a series leading up to his debut studio album Painted.[7][8]

On January 17, 2019, Daye released the first single from his second EP, called "Karma". On February 6, 2019, he released the second installment of the EP series, II.[9] He went on tour with Ella Mai beginning in February 2019.[10]

On May 24th, 2019, Lucky Daye released his debut album, which comprised of all of the songs off his EPs I and II plus the final four additional tracks. All of the songs were written by Lucky Daye, and were executive produced by D'Mile, recorded between 2016- 2017. Of the 15 they finished, 13 appear on the album. Painted was made over a nine month period. In a 2020 interview with “Nation of Billions”, Lucky states, “It was interesting because it was 9 months but 14 sessions, so at every session I had to hit it out the park. There was no room for error.” [11][12]

In September 2019, he went on his first headlining tour “The Painted Tour” to support the album.

In November 2019, Daye received four nominations at the 62nd Grammy Awards off his debut, including one for Best R&B Album for Painted.

In October 2018, Lucky Daye announced that he was signed to the RCA joint venture Keep Cool, and released his first single called "Roll Some Mo".[13] On January 17, 2019, Lucky Daye released the second single called "Karma".[14] "Love You Too Much" was released as the third and final single on April 25, 2019.[15]

Daye has opened up about the meaning of a couple of his songs from the album in previous interviews.

In a 2019 interview with 2DopeBoyz, Lucky reveals that the song single "Karma" from his debut album is dedicated to a friend of his that committed suicide. Lucky stated, "People think it’s like “Oh it’s karma, she keeps coming around,” but it’s like she left me like literally, left me on Earth."

His song "Concentrate" is a double entendre. In a 2020 interview with "Nation of Billions", he states, "...on ‘Concentrate’ I had a friend who I would spend time with and we started getting creative cos he did music too. And over time, he fell in love with me. So it was like “oh damn” I don’t wanna stop working *laughs* like damn. So for me it was like let’s just concentrate, I respect that and appreciate it but *laughs*.”