By Solé Scott
Editor-in-Chief
Christopher Brent Wood, known professionally as Brent Faiyaz, continues his reign as this decade’s greatest yearner through his new album.
On Friday, Feb. 13, Faiyaz released his third studio album just in time for Valentine’s Day, and I have had it on repeat ever since.
The album title “Icon” consists of 10 songs with a duration of 34 minutes.
Faiyaz has been in the music business for far too long to have a body of work that is still short to digest. His longest album to date is still “WASTELAND,” with 1 hour and 4 minutes.
This is one of the only complaints I have, which is not a new critique.
My favorite songs are “butterflies.,” “vanilla sky.,” “four seasons.,” “wrong faces.” and “have to.”
His romantic tone exudes throughout the project. That is a huge development, as in his previous work, the tone was slightly toxic but still raw and authentic.
He displayed this demeaning behavior on “One Night Only” in 2018, which was released by his R&B group, Sonder.
“I wanna see you face to face/ And I don’t give a damn about your boyfriend/ He can have you after I go,” Faiyaz said.
Faiyaz now seems to right his wrongs from the past and puts his feelings out there on the song “four seasons.”
“That’s why I write these songs thinking maybe I can reach you,” Faiyaz said.
On Sunday, Feb. 15, it was revealed that Faiyaz would drop a surprise director’s cut with two new songs later that night.
The album has already been critically praised, as news organizations such as Medium rated the album a solid 7.7 out of 10.
I will say that the album did lack the punch and ensemble features that were present in his album “WASTELAND.”
However, I am a strong believer that successive albums should not sound the same or even follow the same formula because that stifles an artist’s creativity.
Nevertheless, I am impressed that he wrote all the lyrics to each song since that is a rare feat for today’s artists.
I am proud to say I have been a fan since 2016 when he was on the rise and appeared on the song “Crew” with Shy Glizzy and GoldLink. I even remember when he became one third of sultry R&B group Sonder.
Since then, he has continued to elevate lyrically and creatively, which shows in this new album. The project was executively produced by legendary musician Raphael Saadiq with Chad Hugo and Benny Blanco and blends generations of emotions.
The only thing I ask is that he waits until the summer to go on tour so I can save my coins.
