Stream Brockhampton’s New Album Ginger
Brockhampton are showing no signs of slowing down. Late last month, the self-proclaimed “boy band” announced that their fifth studio album, Ginger, would be out in August. And sure enough, it’s available now. The group is also livestreaming their Friday Therapy album release show (with special guests!) tonight on their YouTube channel.
Ginger serves as a follow up to last fall’s Iridescence, their first for RCA. Frontman Kevin Abstract also put out his own solo album, ARIZONA BABY, earlier this year, and was just spotted in the studio with Lana Del Rey and Jack Antonoff.
Brockhampton have shared four advance singles from Ginger, including “I BEEN BORN AGAIN,” “IF YOU PRAY RIGHT,” and last week’s release “BOY BYE,” which was shared with a ridiculously goofy video. Just this morning, they also shared the album’s opener, “NO HALO,” which features softer sounds and lo-fi singer-songwriter Deb Never. It came with a Spencer Ford-directed video and tackles some rougher themes such as depression, religion, and substance abuse in a way that’s unprecedentedly introspective for the group.
Now, we can stream the new album in full, and it does not disappoint. Aside from the tracks we’ve already heard, the album’s title track is a high point. Brockhampton’s otherwise chaotic energy seems slightly reined in on that one. It’s more low-key, as an R&B beat alternates tempos and jives as the rappers nearly mumble their verses. There’s an early 2000s thing going on with the instrumentation, a la Omarion, which feels fresh when incorporated with so many different voices.
The last two tracks have their own air, but most important is the closer. “VICTOR ROBERTS” starts as a piano spoken word ballad that utilizes open seventh chords to really hone in that eerie emotion, and is chilling to the bone as a stacked chorus comes in singing, “Thank God for me.” When digested in full, the album definitely illustrates a different direction — darker, emotional, maybe even sensible.
Listen to Ginger in full below, where you can also livestream the Friday Therapy concert beginning at 9PM PT.
Ginger is out now via Question Everything/RCA Records.