Music News
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After releasing three studio albums, Bryson Tiller decided his fourth, arriving Friday, April 5, would be a self-titled record. Speaking to Billboard, he explains why he chose his name for the project.
“One of the reasons was because people put me in a box for so long. They want me to stick to this one thing I did in 2015, which was T R A P S O U L. Rapping, singing and blending it to make it one thing. Keep doing this and everything will win,” he says. “I’m like, ‘No, I’m an artist. I feel like I’m capable of so many different things.'”
The intentionality behind the album is another reason, as it reflects his exact desires for each song.
“Everything’s intentional with me,” Bryson says. “If I choose not to do something or if I’m not doing something, it’s not because I can’t, it’s because this is what I want to do.” He notes that people may not be fans of his decisions made on this project but guarantees he has “music for everybody on here.”
Finally, Bryson feels like “this is just a great time for me to show people myself and be myself. Show people who I am and do things that are me.”
“I love sci-fi movies, which is the inspiration behind the cover. I love video games. I’m a nerd. I always kind of been one and I want to embrace that as much as I can this year,” he explains. “Embrace everything that’s me regardless if people like it or not. I’ve never been cool before and I don’t know, man, I’m just happy with who I am because I think that’s cool.”
Ultimately, Bryson’s hope is for “the masses to hear everything I’m capable of doing.”
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Fans hadn’t heard solo music from Kehlani since 2022’s Blue Water Road, but the wait for a new song ended Thursday, April 4, with the release of “After Hours.”
Speaking to Apple Music 1’s Zane Lowe, Kehlani says she was inspired to write the song after a day of surfing in San Diego, when Nina Sky‘s “Move Your Body” came on, literally causing everybody to move their bodies.
“I remember walking around the house and I was like, ‘Why has nobody sampled ‘Move Your Body?” Because those drums, when they drop, it’s so recognizable and everybody just loses it … ,” she says. “Coming out of this pandemic to global tragedy … I was like, I’m not really in a space of wanting to make something that feels super jarring or super sad … I want my art to provide some kind of life and fun and I want to go outside.”
So, she focused on “making something that feels really good.”
Kehlani says writing the song “was probably the most fun I’ve ever had making music in general.” She recalls going out to a San Diego club with those working on the album and having the song on repeat in their Sprinter.
“You get to the hook and the whole Sprinter is screaming all the words,” Kehlani remembers, adding she “can’t wait to see the reaction from the general public about this, how it makes them feel.”
After years of being “attached to some story … or some trauma,” Kehlani’s now in a “happy place” and wanted her music to reflect that.
“I was like, ‘You know what? I’m just going to have fun, and for once, I’m going to let myself and not think that that makes my art any less creative or any less large,'” she says.
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