Laterras R. Whitfield Talks New Single “You” and Love

Laterras Whitfield says there is nothing more sexy than when he sees a woman out alone having dinner, acknowledging the “confidence” it takes to be in that space living a single life. We recently sat down with the popular host of the Dear Future Wifey podcast to discuss his latest project. A single titled “You,” he co-wrote and performed by singer David Michael Wyatt, dropped on Feb. 12. Read more about his thoughts on love in this generation, his home purchase for his future wifey, and how his healing untimely led him to his often viral always trending podcast.

I know that it’s going to capture the hearts of people.

First, Congratulations! The single “You.” My God! It is a beautiful song!

You wrote it along with Michael Bethany, and it dropped this week. And it is set to be the love song, proposal, and wedding song of the year. What are you feeling about this new music?

I know that it’s going to capture the hearts of people. I said that we don’t have music anymore that speaks to love and that generation has changed. I started thinking about what song, if I were to get married… what song would I walk down the aisle. I said I would have to write one, so I decided to be a part of the solution and not the problem, and I decided to write a song that brides can happily walk in on.

Women ask singer Ciara in her comments what prayer she prayed for her husband. Rarely do we see this from men, so your platform, from your Dear Future Wifey podcast to writing love letters in search of your wife, to most recently, purchasing your dream home, intentionally for your future wifey, what are you saying to the men out here for their stories about preparing for love to be amplified?

The first step is to go through your healing process. My whole podcast was based on me going through my healing publically, so in 2020, when I launched the podcast, I said listen, I’ve been divorced. At that time, I had been divorced for about five years, and then I said it was time for me to get healed, and I said I couldn’t be the only person going through this. I said I’d take my healing journey publicly and, as a student, sit down on my podcast weekly with other married couples who have managed and overcome the pitfalls of marriage. So I said, let me glean insight and wisdom from those individuals so that when I take these vows again, I’ll do so properly, and the healed version will say I do when I get married. You hear a lot of women saying the negative side (about men), like “dude lives at home with his mama (laughs).

I’m 45 years old. I’m grown, grown. The Bible says I go to prepare a place for you, and that’s what Jesus does, so I said listen, I will go and prepare a place for my future wifey, and in doing so, I felt buying a home would be the best statement of doing that and had it fully decorated where it is “absolutely beautiful”‘ and even this is just the starter home for us. Whenever I get married and our dream home is built together, she can weigh in on it. However, she wants it built and designed; this is just the temporary home before the main house we will get.

In this age of social media, what advice do you have for married couples and singles?

For singles, first of all, treat dating as such data collection. Sometimes, you may sit down and overly fantasize about that person. Before you sit down, you have already made your whole life plan together, said you all will have two kids and a home with a picket fence, and you have not even got a chance to sit down to see if you all have some chemistry and connection. Treat dating like a job interview (sit down) and keep it very light. I always find that people who are friends last longer than people who are just people who over-sexualize relationships (you know) if it’s just a sex relationship, and you’re turned on every time you see him, and he’s turned on when he sees you. But, If you all have a solid friendship, that will last because as you go through the pitfalls of marriage and relationships, you will be able to go back and recenter yourself with that friendship.

I know they want the best for me, and for married people, don’t stop dating. What you did to get them? Keep that up. It breaks my heart when I talk to a lot of married couples, and they say, “I don’t know when was the last time I went on a date, and I’m like, you got a live-in spouse with you, and you don’t know. It’s like they have gotten rid of all that. I have this friend who is a pastor, and he and his wife date every single Friday. They don’t let anything get in the way as long as they have been married, and everybody knows it. Their friends and family members know you don’t mess with them on a Friday, and that is how intentional you should be when you are married to make sure you have a set date night so you don’t lose the flame that was once burning when you all say I do.

How important is prayer in dating and relationships?

I always say you should vet that at the very beginning because it shouldn’t catch you by surprise after you all get married or in a relationship. You say well; I wish you had a prayer life well, you knew that when you started dating, you overlooked it and thought that you could deal with but then when you are facing the most trying times when you have nothing but prayer to lean on when you’re dealing with a cancer diagnosis. An endometriosis scare or (whatnot), and you have to rely on prayer. I remember back in December, my daughter was going through something, and I called her up and told her to get her husband on the phone. They had just been married going on a year this past December. I said, “Hey, listen, I need him (her husband) to come to this phone,” she was like, “Well, he’s playing a game right now,” and I said, “No, we need to pray, and I told him to come to the phone and put the phone on speaker phone and put his hand on my daughter’s stomach.” And we began to pray, so prayer changes things, and I always heard that growing up. I am a firm believer the Bible says “One man chase a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight” (Deuteronomy 32:30 NIV). How are they setting it to flight through prayer? And what’s so beautiful about prayer is you’ll find it all the time. People who may not be Christians let there be a major catastrophe that takes place; they’ll say, “Hey, let’s have prayer,” you know you’ll find the whole United States will take prayer when something really bad happens so I say let’s be on the offensive and not on the defensive and pray. So I always ask at the very beginning, if you’re dating somebody, ask them about their prayer life; as a matter of fact, you can see on the first date, be self-aware as you sit down. You see them start to dig into their food without even saying grace; then they’re letting you know where they stand to take your time and ask, “Do you mind if I pray,” if that’s your core value, then don’t compromise that.

What can we do about our self-love?

Be honest with yourself. Whatever things you don’t like about yourself, you have the opportunity to fix it. You have the opportunity to fix it in the dark. You know what happens is if you find out you’re the common denominator in every relationship where they say you’re extremely selfish, or you’re so this or whatever… take that moment to fix those things and then date yourself. If you don’t like your own company, don’t expect someone else to like your company. You should be able to go take yourself out to eat to a nice dinner you should be able to run yourself a nice bath with rose petals in the water. You should be able to enjoy your own company literally. There’s nothing more attractive for me when I go to a restaurant and see a lady sitting over there treating herself to a nice meal, and she’s by herself and very confident. Another thing, I don’t know how women do this, but hats off to them when they go on solo trips. I’m saying, “Like, how are you able to go on a solo trip now?” I haven’t graduated to that level yet on self-love (laughs); I would feel really lonely if I did that, but those women who are able to do that are absolutely amazing because that means they are not waiting on some guy to take them on that trip. They’re saying, “I’m single.” What I have control over is my own happiness. I’m doing this because I want to be happy, so self-love is taking the time to reflect on who you are and those great things about you that make you uniquely you. You know you always hear “accentuate the positive,” so those things that are positive about you amplify that, and the things that you may be struggling with work on that in the background. Then, you will be able to look at yourself in the mirror and be happy with the reflection. Just as Michael Jackson says, “I’m looking at the man in the mirror” (and to look in the mirror) and say you know what, “I’m asking him to change his ways,” and once you change those ways and say. ” I’m glad of the version. I am 35 or 42″ (whatever your age is).

What are some of your favorite episodes from your podcast that made you laugh out loud?

It was about two of them, two really hilarious ones I just did with Phylicia (Hooper). She is hilarious. She does all these different voices. She does comedic skits, and one aired on Valentine’s Day with Mr. and Mrs. Kev on Stage was absolutely hilarious. Of course, everyone knows about the one when I was interviewing my homie Whitney, and her wig slipped and fell off behind the stage. That video got 100 million views worldwide.

Plus, I did one with Marcus Wiley, which was hilarious, and another from season one or two with Jessica Reedy. That episode was one of my funniest episodes to date. I love to laugh, and a lot of people know that on my podcast.

Why should people connect with the new single You?

Those of us who desire a relationship, those who desire marriage, those of us who desire a purpose partner, we’re all desiring that YOU, whoever that you is, we realize we don’t have control over that you, and so in the song, it literally talks about looking forward to the day to spend forever with this you whoever she is and whoever he is. In the second verse, the singer celebrates the other people who have found love, people who have children, and not being a hater. You know, often you see people that get married. You see the room of people, and they always say not everyone in that room is cheering for you. Some people may be angry and jealous of you. So, I wanted to take the approach that if you get into the heart posture of celebrating others who have obtained the love you desire, then if you can celebrate them, your love is right on the way.