Faiyaz cancelled this album the night time earlier than its scheduled September 19, 2025 launch.
In keeping with a message within the “need to.” music video, he had every little thing prepared: the album, one other lead single, music movies.
Then he despatched his group a bunch textual content pulling the plug. What arrived on February 13, 2026 is leaner. Ten tracks. The sooner singles “Tony Soprano” and “Peter Pan” are gone from the tracklist.
Icon runs 31 minutes. Ten tracks complete. It opens with “white noise,” a two-minute orchestral intro that includes violin. Government producer Raphael Saadiq strips the sound again.
The place Wasteland sprawled throughout 19 tracks with Drake options and style experiments, Icon contracts. Saadiq’s manufacturing credit embrace D’Angelo’s Voodoo, Solange’s A Seat on the Desk, and work with Mary J. Blige and Erykah Badu.
Right here, he retains preparations minimal. Drums, bass, one or two melodic components, and Faiyaz’s voice.
“incorrect faces.” opens the album correct after the orchestral intro. The manufacturing appears like Darkchild and Timbaland’s work from the mid to late 90s, early 2000s.
Faiyaz’s vocals come silky, easing you into the document. The music tackles emotional displacement. He sings about looking for one thing actual within the incorrect locations. One individual needs endlessly whereas the opposite stays caught on non permanent.
Third observe “need to.” takes you again to New Version with that Eighties esque groove. The manufacturing is immaculate, one other certainly one of our favourites. It dropped because the lead single.
The music video exhibits sped-up footage of Faiyaz aboard a non-public jet from New York to Milan. Through the flight, he’s seen recording music, texting, lounging. It was first previewed in September 2025 on the unique album launch date earlier than Faiyaz cancelled every little thing.
The observe lastly dropped formally on October 31, 2025 with a Cole Bennett video. The music hit primary on Billboard’s Grownup R&B Airplay chart, Faiyaz’s second time topping that format. The lyrics categorical intense devotion throughout distance.
“butterflies” is probably the most susceptible Brent has ever sounded. The music shares DNA with “discuss 2 u” and “keep down.” Removed from that poisonous relationship crooner.
Benny Blanco co produced. Faiyaz opens up about hoping his emotions get reciprocated.
“different facet” has that Off the Wall vibe. Your thoughts immediately jumps to MJ. The manufacturing stays minimal.
“strangers” begins with acoustic R&B riffs. The music will get extra upbeat because it progresses, including components that change the dynamic.
First it’s simply guitar and light-weight percussion. Then bass is available in. Then strings enter low within the combine.
By the ultimate part, there’s a full association, but it surely accrued so step by step you barely observed. Faiyaz’s vocal recollects Donell Jones on “The place I Wanna Be,” that conversational tenor that may shift registers with out pressure.
The outro shifts into spoken phrase self reflection: be truthful, eat wholesome, learn books, give with out anticipating something again.
On “world is yours,” Faiyaz stretches into falsetto over electrical guitar. The guitar rings out, every observe sustained.
His voice has grit within the higher register. The falsetto rides the electrical guitar, taking you again to the Prepared for the World period.
Chad Hugo from The Neptunes co produced with Dpat and Faiyaz. He sings “no matter you need,” “have me your means, right here I stand,” “the world is yours,” “I’ll write your identify on each shore.” The second verse states “I don’t examine you to nobody” and “endlessly is the one end result.”
“4 seasons” makes use of seasons as a metaphor for relationship shifts. The intro grabs instantly.
These bells once more, those that present up on nostalgic R&B Christmas songs. The construct provides Timbaland’s So Anxious drum sample, however sequenced in a novel means.
When Faiyaz sings “some days you’re scorching as July typically you’re chilly because the wintertime,” he’s describing how love fluctuates.
“pure fantasy” feels impressed by 90s R&B. The opening has that Human Nature liquidity, synth pads shifting slowly.
Then the drums lock right into a Keith Sweat groove: snare on two and 4, open hello hat on the off beats, minimal kick. Faiyaz’s supply stays relaxed.
The music explores idealistic love, uncomplicated and faraway from exterior noise. One thing you’d play when it’s raining exterior.
The album avoids apparent throwback markers. No vinyl crackle. No intentionally degraded audio.
The manufacturing stays clear: drums that punch with out over compression, bass that sits low however clear, vocals multi tracked however distinct.
The album got here out by way of ISO Supremacy, the label and artistic company Faiyaz co based in 2023. Full independence.
The Valentine’s Day 2026 launch, months after the September cancellation, shifted the album’s context.
The place Wasteland explored what Faiyaz referred to as poisonous R&B, this one leans towards romance. The tempos sit between 85 and 95 BPM all through.
“vanilla sky” closes the album. Laid again. Guitar strums create the vibe. The vocals recall Donell Jones, clean and soulful, carrying the observe.
Thirty one minutes complete. The identical runtime as Off the Wall, Jodeci’s Diary of a Mad Band, Usher’s My Method. Raphael Saadiq dealt with the general imaginative and prescient. The advertising and marketing aesthetic matches the music all through.
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