Something has changed for Brockhampton with “Sugar”. The 2019 single, a discreet and charming ballad about adolescence, love and heartache, was the band’s most successful song in many metrics – it’s their only entry on the Billboard’s Hot 100, reaching number 66; is RIAA certified platinum; is the first song of the band that got an official remix, with Dua Lipa, no less. “Sugar” is also their most traditional song, structured to give the featured members an appropriate role: guest Ryan Beatty sings the welcoming chorus; Dom McLennon and Matt Champion sing solid lyrics; Bearface deals with a pre-chorus and outro; and leader Kevin Abstract sings the bridge. Nobody sings about One Direction; there are no strong and obvious production tricks; and finished in 205 seconds. In the best of ways, it could be anyone’s song.
Roadrunner: New light, new car, the sixth album of the hip-hop collective full of life, but sensitive, keeps this emphasis on song and economy, resulting in the most focused and impressive album of the group. This is Brockhampton, the most effective, analyzing instruments and self-examination attempts. Previously, Brockhampton’s songs were long and incoherent, which also made his albums long and incoherent. Meanwhile, a signature signed by Brockhampton was built with a unique, often crazy loop: “Boogie” has a convulsive siren; “Gold” has an arpeggio; “Boy Bye” has what I can best describe as a pizzicato MIDI violin.
The beats are more subtle Roadrunner, with low blooms and emphasis: awful happiness on “Chain On” and “When I Ball”, a passionate fan on “Bankroll”. Without the vestiges and vestigial lips that crowd the foreground, the music is robust and even sumptuous, as in the suite “Bankroll”, “Light” and “Windows”, all co-produced by Abstract, Romil Hemnani and Jabari Manwa. On these three songs, the strongest edition of the album, you feel the violent confidence of the rappers, whether they spit or open up. It’s addictive.
Since their inception, Brockhampton has prioritized uncontrolled creativity and unfiltered self-expression over discipline or structure. That’s why their songs have too many lyrics, their albums have too many failed experiments and that’s how you get something like Iridescence“Dear”, which feels like a collection of hard currents sewn together. Roadrunner it pressurizes this scattered energy, and the mood is consistent, even exuberant. Only one song – the well-earned “Windows” cut, with a strong Houston-style rhythm – features a bullet of lyrics, while the others highlight the specific talents of the members, as when Merlyn Wood plays the hype man on “Buzzcut ”.
Also, the group continues to blur its line between hip-hop and pop. The rap beats are polished enough to complete the cuts for the boys, which retain a metronomic quality. The pop song “I’ll Take You On”, in particular, is a triumph, which balances a quiet rhythm and harmonies in love. For all the focus on colored individuality, they sound best when they finally enter a synchronized unit.
Their new discipline extends to their signature confessions. In the past, a Brockhampton song felt like an opportunity to dig in and explain all the possible trauma, but beyond Roadrunner, their lives flow into compelling fragments. In the opening “Buzzcut”, Kevin Abstract uses his colorful rap with evocative mini-scenes: “Thank God you let me collapse on the couch”, “My whole family cursed”. He does the same thing in “The Light,” singing stray lines like, “I was broken and desperate, leaning on my best friends.” We don’t need much more.
Darkness appears most strongly on “Light”, where the operatic wildcard Joba describes his father’s suicide and its torturous consequences. Joba’s story is not linear, placing the listener in his whirlwind: “At a loss, aimless,” “I hope it was painless,” “I know you cared,” “I heard my mother squeak,” ” I miss you”. His voices are tactfully mixed, not burying Joba’s words as much as immersing him in the music. It is perhaps the most intense moment Brockhampton has ever recorded.
Elsewhere, they sound liberated. Matt Champion is their best rapper and he shines here. His lines may not mean a ton, but they are great to imitate, like when he sings “Nightmares, he’s scared the moment Freddy puts you” on “Windows” or the way he points out, “He it’s a blockage for you whims and you misfortunes / For the people in the back who stand on their toes, “to” Don’t shoot the party “. Everyone sounds like their best versions – focused, engaged, inspired. The joy of being a team bleeds in every bar and hook. For a change, it’s a Brockhampton album that doesn’t tell you what to believe or feel; it just sounds good.
Buy: hard trade
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