Isaac Gramse ’26
EE Staff Writer
If you’re in the majority of people in the world who listen to music, then you’ve probably heard of the musician David Anthony Burke or d4vd. However, he is currently under fire for all the wrong reasons, and it’s likely that he’s going to end up in prison.
In case you haven’t heard of d4vd; he musical debut came in 2022 with the release of “Romantic Homicide” which went viral on TikTok bringing him quickly to success. Following the release of his debut single, he released the song “Here with Me” quickly showing the world that his debut was not simply beginner’s luck and signing a record deal with Darkroom/Interscope Records.
d4vd also made singles in popular shows like “Feel It” from Amazon’s show Invincible and “Remember Me” from the Netflix show Arcane.
Unfortunately, this musician who had so much potential, may be hiding a dark secret from the world. It initially started when the body of a deceased girl named Celeste Rivas Hernandez was found in the trunk of an abandoned Tesla which had a Texas license plate, according to the Los Angeles Times. Celeste Rivas went missing on April 5, 2024 at the age of 13.
Fans had initially hoped that this had been a simple misunderstanding and that d4vd was being framed. However, more information was released and it doesn’t look good for d4vd in the slightest.
Reports testify that d4vd had met Celeste when she was 11, and he allegedly paid off her friends to not speak out about the fact that he was going out with her.
It got even worse when a demo track titled “Celeste” got released online, which included the lyrics “Oh, Celeste The girl with my name tattooed on her chest.” which matched up with testimonies that both Celeste and d4vd had matching tattoos.
There is currently speculation going around social media that Celeste was pregnant when she was killed, which has not yet currently been confirmed. The tragic events have caused people to start doing their own detective work online. They looked everywhere; and they found more incriminating evidence.
They looked in his inventory on his account on the popular game Roblox and found he had purchased a necklace that had the letter C on it for his avatar. They looked in his discord server and found that he had been publicly speaking about his relationship with Celeste and no one had been talking out about it. They looked at his TikTok account (which had a profile picture of Hello Kitty with a bloody shirt) and found comments from his early posts threatening to come out about his relationship with Celeste and the fact that she was underage.
It was recently revealed that d4vd had been dropping subtle hints about Celeste his entire career; releasing songs on her birthday, using dancers that look like her in his music videos, and making his lyrics about her.
Because of the recent events, people have started looking at his music differently. His single “Romantic Homicide” is no longer seen as a bittersweet love song, but as a warning of what he was planning; as it included the lyrics “In the back of my mind, you died And I didn’t even cry No, not a single tear”. And in his following release, people believe that the lyrics “I don’t care how long it takes” is implying that he is waiting for the day Celeste turned 18.
The evidence is pretty clear and the chances of d4vd getting away with this is next to nothing. While it is sad to see a musician who had such good music end their career after 4 years; we must remember the true victim in Celeste Rivas Hernandez.
Photo Courtesy Jhyphenn CC0, wikimedia.org