Icon

Sound DNA

• Soul & Funk
• Contemporary R&B

• polished
• yearning
• soulful

About

Brent Faiyaz wasn’t mincing words when he named his long-awaited third album. If the dramatic two-minute orchestral flourish that opens <i>Icon</i> doesn’t make the Maryland singer’s world-beating ambitions clear enough, then the subsequent nine tracks of emotionally direct yet musically adventurous R&B will drive the point home. <i>Icon</i> is rife with evidence of why Faiyaz has become your favorite rapper’s favorite chorus crooner. “other side.” casts his golden voice in a plush proto-disco soul stunner, while the aptly titled “pure fantasy.” is a shimmering slow jam that lets Faiyaz imagine he’s a Michael Jackson-level ’80s pop star, complete with roaring crowd effects. But <i>Icon</i> stretches its canvas wide enough to accommodate Faiyaz’s auteurist idiosyncrasies, with the Tommy Richman collab “have to.” indulging his love of pitch-shifting mischief and the Frank Ocean-esque reverie “strangers.” dissolving into a robo-voiced motivational speech straight out of Radiohead’s <i>OK Computer</i> playbook.

via Apple Music

Tracklist

Credits