The singer D4vd’s career was replete with death and blood imagery even before the police investigation into the human remains found in his Tesla trunk.
The partial body belonged to Celeste Rivas, a 15-year-old girl who was reported missing in April 2024. That revelation came on September 17 from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s office, which lists Rivas’s cause of death as pending. However, the death is being investigated as a possible homicide, according to the Los Angeles Times.
In the wake of that investigation, D4vd is now dismantling some of the death imagery from his website. According to TMZ Minute on Fox News Radio, he deleted a bloody shirt that had caused controversy. “D4vd has pulled controversial merchandise from his website,” the reported, describing it as “bloody shirt merchandise.” The action came as D4vd’s record label paused promotional activities for him, and he cancelled tour appearances.
D4vd’s ‘Withered’ Concert Tour Includes ‘Themes of Death’
That’s not all. D4vd’s concert tour was filled with death references, according to The Times. The Withered world tour “includes themes of death and remembrance. Fans entering Burke’s show are greeted by a casket and guest book,” according to the newspaper, which noted that these aspects focused on a character that D4vd played in music videos, wearing a “where they can pay condolences to a character Burke sometimes reprises in his performances and music videos.”
Part of that character’s uniform includes a “shirt covered in bloody handprints and a blindfold,” the Times reported.
The Music Video for D4vd’s Song ‘Romantic Homicide’ Shows a Bloodied Woman
And then there’s his famous song “Romantic Homicide.” The YouTube video for that song features a woman in a white dress covered in blood, who, at one point, is seen lying on a bed. D4vd said in a previous interview with Genius that the death is figurative.
“I didn’t kill her physically, but in the back of my mind, she died. I didn’t even cry, not a single tear,” he explained in that interview.
The lyrics include the lines, “In the back of my mind / I killed you / And I didn’t even regret it. I can’t believe I said it / But it’s true / I hate you.”
In addition, D4vd recorded an unreleased song that mentioned “Celeste,” according to The New York Post.
“Oh, Celeste, the girl with my name tattooed on her chest, smell her on my clothes like cigarettes,” the lyrics say, according to The Post.
Although D4vd (real name David Anthony Burke) has not been accused by authorities in connection with Rivas’s death, various alleged links have raised questions. For example, D4vd and Rivas shared the same tattoo, he penned a song called “Celeste,” and photos that may show them together are under investigation, The Times reported.
The Times also noted that police searched a home where D4vd has lived in connection with the Rivas death probe.
