WASTELAND: A Brent Faiyaz Original

Written July 2022

Published August 2023

Opinions Change. Writing Changes. Life Changes. Things Get In The Way. Take This For What It Is, And What It Was.

Also I Liked This Album More As The Year Passed. Probably One Of My 2022 AOTY’s.

Brent Faiyaz is unarguably one of the top RnB artists in the game right now. With his smooth and heavenly voice, combined with his laid-back aesthetic and “not toxic but honest” lyrics reminiscent of an early Weeknd, the independent singer has begun making his mark on listeners around the world. His last project Fuck the World peaked at number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart, and recent singles such as “Dead Man Walking”, “Gravity” featuring Tyler the Creator with DJ Dahi, the Drake assisted “Wasting Time”, “Mercedes”, and “Price of Fame” have been well received by his audience, with Gravity even having a solid run on Tik-Tok. WASTELAND, Faiyaz’s second studio album after Sonder Son, was poised to be his official breakthrough into the mainstream arena.

However, while I was very excited in anticipation of this album, there’s something that feels… underwhelming, although in a generally intangible way. It’s by no means a bad album, and it’s certainly better than “mid.” I actually enjoy it, especially when I factor in the pre-released singles. The x-factor that would make this album the unquestionably superior piece of work in his discography, however, seems to be missing. Brent’s beautiful voice still shines on the album, but on many of the songs the lack of emotion and the extreme laid-back nature of it becomes much more apparent over unlayered production. This works well for some people, but personally, it leads to a lot of pretty good, but not great, songs sprinkled throughout the album. Taking a step away from the constant influx of “Trap RnB” we are fed with these days is commendable, but there has to be some other layers in the production to compliment Brent’s voice, something his music usually has, including many of the singles preceding this album. Many songs feel like they are building up to some big moment that never comes. All in all, while I may have initially added a lot of songs to my playlist, not many really hit me immediately like “Rehab”, “Been Away”, “Clouded”, or “Fuck the World” off of his previous project. This can, and probably will, change a bit as time goes on and I sit with the album.

I think the theme he lays out throughout the album, while not original, works very well for the tone, aesthetic, and lyrics we know Brent Faiyaz for. It allows him to keep his entertaining toxic theme for much of the album and still leaves room for some natural change and maturity. The singles all fit well within the album as a whole and don’t come off as a ploy for streaming numbers. He’s said in interviews that the theme came out of the songs he was making at the time and not the other way around, and that definitely helps it feel a little more organic and fluid, while also giving some more freedom for him to change the production or style of the songs (if he chooses to) without the album feeling disconnected. On a side note, I really wish he didn’t release so many singles. It makes sense given how he didn’t plan to make an album ahead of time, but so many of the best songs were released earlier, and took away from the impact of the album as a whole. Furthermore, many of them had officially or unofficially been out for a year or more, so people have run their course with them.

Faiyaz in a still from the “PRICE OF FAME” music video

The skits that split up the 3 parts of the album, while relatively long, work well to help absorb you into the project, and showcase the different sides of the toxic lifestyle Brent is trying to portray, allowing you to both take pleasure in the enjoyable parts that make us love him while still showing how it can be destructive to the people around him. The skits focus on the dynamic between “Brent” and his soon to be baby mama, with the last one, “WAKE UP CALL”, being particularly powerful. The 19-song tracklist could be cut down a bit while still having the same effect, but it is hard choosing many songs to take out; “ADDICTIONS” and “ROLE MODEL” come to mind just because the point they’re making has been made by other songs, but they’re both still good songs that I enjoy a quite a lot. This is indicative of how I feel about the album as a whole: it is undoubtedly a good and enjoyable album, but it is a little underwhelming for my expectations and falls just short of being undeniably great. At the same time, I can definitely see why some may think that this is an amazing album for them. I’m excited to see whether it will grow on me as a whole over the next few months, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it ended up as one of my favorites of the year.

Below are a few additional thoughts on specific tracks:

VILLAIN’S THEME: Great intro for the album; we love it when artists embrace their toxicity; still wish he sang over this nice instrumental though

LOOSE CHANGE: engaging instrumental that works great for an intro song; “you wanna be my equal but you don’t even do the half” is something a lot of people need to hear; vocals work smooth with instrumentals

GRAVITY: Brent has a great flow and his vocals mesh well with the production; toxicity levels are perfect here, and Brent harmonizing “Bitch don’t act like I’m average” hits every time; Tyler’s feature is great too, and I’m excited to see what else they do after this and “SWEET/I THOUGHT YOU WANTED TO DANCE” off of Tyler’s album Call Me If You Get Lost

HEAL YOUR HEART (INTERLUDE): short but sweet; another organ based instrumental; good lead in to the songs where Brent is trying to show out for his girl; vocals are good and you can feel the emotion in it

ALL MINE: Brent has a simple but effective repetitive hook and his relaxed vocals work well here; definitely one that will be popping off with the ladies

PRICE OF FAME: 2.5 songs in 1; chopped and screwed vocals at first, then normal vocals, both work well; production simple on first beat but effective, picks up the pace after a while and works well with Brent’s voice; smooth flow; on second song there is a very uncomplex instrumental which works well, vocals on point; manipulative but endearing lyrics are good

GHETTO GATSBY: simple production that works for the song; great title; Alicia Keys feature feels kind of useless, and after waiting the whole song just for her to whisper at the end felt weird; would love to see Brent going back and forth with other vocalists like he’s done on “Nobody But You” with Jorja Smith

WASTING TIME: felt a little underwhelming at the time, but fits better within the album, and I wish he kept it that way; the song definitely aged well and Brent’s vocals are great; amazing hook; nice minimal production by The Neptunes; still wish Drake tried to sing on here, but his verse is good in a time where you’re not sure what you’re going to get from him, and fits with the theme of the song/album

ROLLING STONE: acoustic instrumental backs Brent up here well; soft track that works really well; “I’m rich as fuck and I ain’t nothing at the same time”; the whole second verse is addicting; sorta-reflective Brent is something we’ve gotten before, but not often, and its GOOD

FYTB: Brent’s vocals are still good but a little emotionless, but it works for the subject of the song; good song; Joony feature is simple but he flows pretty nice over the production; once again, toxic Brent is just fun to listen to

DEAD MAN WALKING: infectious hook; changing levels of production work well and complement Brent’s vocals; night drive material for sure

ADDICTIONS: definitely one that was meant to be a more “poppy” hit, but still catchy; can see people going both ways on this one; hook is catchy but sort of simple lyrically given what Brent has done in the past; Tre’ Amani’s feature flows well but is fine overall; I enjoyed his “I’m wildin’ like ‘94 Scottie Pippen” line as a basketball fan

ROLE MODEL: simple but engaging enough production that’s probably the best part of the song; a nice song for sure, but Brent’s vocals feel especially simple and emotionless here

JACKIE BROWN: a low-key, smooth track; Brent pitches his voice up mad for the chorus; Brent’s vocals are emotionless here too, but the track itself is nice, because the production is simple but works fine with Brent’s laid back vocals; addictive and I could see it having legs

BAD LUCK: has that 90’s RnB flow that Brent works great with, smooth song for summer nights

SKIT: WAKE UP CALL: long but powerful skit that leads into “ANGEL” great; Brent wakes up to a 3am call from his soon-to-be baby mama, who berates him for taking advantage of her before telling him she’s about to commit suicide; Brent figures out where she is and races out to get to her before its too late, but gets into a car accident and they both become unresponsive over the phone; chaotic but impactful

ANGEL: great lead in from WAKE UP CALL; definitely one of the best on the album and a great outro to the album; it's unclear whether the “angel” is him or his girl, but we see a maturity and regret from Brent; I’ll definitely have to revisit the lyrics as time goes on; great vocals, great production, great lyrics, great placement in the album, great song

MERCEDES (not on the album): one of my favorite singles but glad he didn’t put it on the album; infectious hook; complimentary vocals and productions that we’ve come to love from Faiyaz; combines the RnB star, toxic, and street personalities Brent has displayed into an enjoyable listen

TITLE: works well for the theme of the album and applies to all the stages Brent goes through; also leads to some good jokes to be made about the album if one didn’t enjoy it as much as they wanted

ALBUM COVER: minimalist and dark cover that definitely works for the album; shows 3 Brents to represent the 3 general stages of the album

MUSIC VIDEOS: nothing notable that I can remember (so far)

IMPACT ON ARTIST: While the album may have underwhelmed, I’m still going to be turning the volume up in my car when Brent comes on and obsessing over how his voice sounds to anyone who will listen. With his popularity growing over the past 2 years, this album will probably do record numbers for him (which we always love to see for an independent artist), and hopefully that opens some more doors for him to experiment and collaborate more. His toxicity is still really enjoyable (at least to me) and brings a great feeling when you’re yelling out his lyrics during a night drive. It’s good that he acknowledged the different sides of it too.