Jay’Mi Vazquez – News Editor
On September 8, music artist Teezo Touchdown released a 14- track, debut album titled, “How Do You Sleep At Night?”
Touchdown has created an interesting social media presence; some may even describe him as an unorthodox, mysterious character. Touchdown rarely does any interviews but showcases his unique look on social media apps,, like Instagram. He sports nails in his hairstyle, and avant-garde fashion tastes and creates movie-esque trailers to promote this album before the official release.
Touchdown has been making music since 2016, gaining little to no traction. In 2021, Touchdown began to touch mainstream attention at 30 years old, being featured on Tyler The Creator’s album, “Call Me If You Get Lost” and recently being featured on Travis Scott’s album, “Utopia.”
Touchdown’s ability to be genre-bending and experimental takes listeners on a ride full of emotions. Hip-hop being intertwined with rock and indie music influences makes this album unique in the vast amount of music being released today.
Touchdown has started to receive co-signs from bigger artists like Trippie Redd, Travis Scott, Drake, Lil Yachty and many others. Drake has even said Touchdown’s debut album is, “some of the best music ever.”
Touchdown has only a limited number of features on this album. These features are from Janelle Monáe on “You Thought,” Fousheé on “Sweet” and Isaiah Rusk on “Too Easy” and “I Don’t Think U C Me.” No songs on “How Do You Sleep At Night?” sound similar; every song is a blend of two or more genres of music.
Touchdown uses numerous vocal ranges and beat switches throughout the project, blending his vocals with the artists he collaborated with and creating an unpredictable element to each track.
On the track titled “UUHH,” Touchdown uses punk rock guitar elements, which is shown throughout the album, while the track titled “Daddy Mama Drama,” uses a manipulated form of ballad music. The outro to the album, “The Original Was Better,” takes listeners on a ride, showcasing examples of Touchdown’s electronic production influences.
Touchdown has even integrated audio clips into certain songs to make the storytelling element more realistic to listeners.
In the song titled “Familiarity,” Touchdown has lyrics that could easily be related to by listeners, talking about him getting an ultimatum from his father, working at the gas station or moving out of the house. It is a similar situation many listeners would be able to relate to.
Touchdown has added a music video for “Familiarity,” inserting a clip of him having a conversation with his friend and listeners about his experience with his father, giving him the ultimatum. Touchdown offers listeners, aspiring to be musicians, advice on how to navigate the trials and tribulations of not having a solid support system.
These little added details in songs like “Neighborhood,” “Familiarity,” and “Impossible” add enough to make these songs feel complete but more relatable to listeners.
The entirety of “How Do You Sleep At Night?” tells the story of how Touchdown uses the music he creates to avoid his daily problems, but also to prove that he belongs in the music industry. Touchdown’s ingenuity, drive to be successful and natural talent make this one of the highest-rated album releases of the year thus far.
