Ever since he featured on GoldLink’s At What Cost back in 2017, Brent Faiyaz has been an icon. Releasing nothing but quality projects such as WASTELAND and Sonder Son ever since, Faiyaz has continued to push his icon status. He has become a modern R&B staple, repeatedly dropping high-charting songs. His newest album, Icon, is no dip in quality from those projects.
While almost every one of Faiyaz’s other projects focuses on the concept of toxic love, Faiyaz went with a “lover-boy” approach on this album, with romantic and heartfelt lyrics. His exploration of new content really paid off. These new songs captivate different audiences due to more relatable lyrics and themes.
[Note: the artist intentionally titles each track using lower case and a period at the end of the name]
The intro track, “white noise.” is a beautiful instrumental. Even without vocals, you can still feel the emotion this track conveys through its intense orchestral buildup.
The third track is the lead single from Icon, “have to.” This song features Faiyaz changing the pitch of his vocals, a trend seen in a few songs later in the album. The pitched vocals sounded a bit weird to me on first listen, but they’ve definitely grown on me and are a nice addition to the song.
“other side.” is my personal favorite song on the album. He brings a more upbeat disco-style energy with this song, and is clearly inspired by old popstars like Michael Jackson. The production feels luxurious and upbeat, and is a nice change of pace from the slower tracks. But “strangers.” is a complete tone shift from “other side.” It has very few drums, mostly guitar, bass, and emotional lyrics. In this song, Faiyaz sings about his relationship falling apart and not really knowing why.
“world is yours.” is probably my least favorite song on the album. While still a good track, the pre-chorus features Brent using a vocal effect that clashes with the rest of the song.
In the final track, “vanilla sky.” he questions happiness: “What’s happiness for you? Can you drive it? Does it drive you?” and “Is it you in love? Or you all alone? Or you dead and gone?” These are both prime examples that show the idea of the song. With more passionate vocals from Faiyaz, paired with guitar, it works as a beautiful closer to the album.
If you’re used to Faiyaz’s usual style of music, this album will definitely surprise you. It’s still an amazing and enjoyable album, and I definitely recommend it to anyone who likes R&B.
9.5/10
