Larger Than Life highlights Brent Faiyaz’s unwavering confidence and diverges from the cohesion of WASTELAND.
After his success with WASTELAND, Brent Faiyaz returns with a fresh R&B sound on his latest drop, Larger Than Life. With features from the popular A$AP Rocky, Missy Elliott, A$AP Ant, and Flea Jones, this album held great promise. Larger Than Life was a surprise drop, released Oct. 27th – the same day of Taylor Swift’s re-recording/revival of 1989. Faiyaz’s album itself is a very solid project, especially considering Faiyaz has been on his “Fuck the World, It’s a Wasteland” tour for the majority of this year.
The 28 year old began his career where many artists of his generation did: SoundCloud. His popularity grew in 2017 after a feature on Goldlink’s album, At What Cost. Within the same year, Brent dropped his debut album, Sonder Son. From there on out, he began to release music more consistently, with mixtapes and albums such as Lost and Fuck The World. He furthered his discography by working with more established artists, such as Tyler the Creator and Tems. Brent has only gone up from here.
Larger Than Life is reminiscent of Brent’s old mixtapes rather than it being a completely cohesive album like WASTELAND. As a result of this, many newer fans were not pleased with the drop, as they were expecting a follow-up to his previous album. Fans who have been following Brent since the beginning are more open to his sound, as it’s what they’re used to hearing.
The overall theme of Larger Than Life is one of self-assuredness and confidence, seen in the first track: “Tim’s Intro” in which Brent expresses being “ninety-nine overall” and has a distinct tone of being carefree and relaxed. This is a notable track with a conversational style, a concept that continues throughout the album. Faiyaz is known for incorporating skits into his songs, which makes the album sound more story-like, consequently adding another layer of depth.
I personally enjoyed the album as a whole, and believe that it deserved more recognition from R&B fanbases. Brent does a great job of working with the many featured artists, balancing skits, and lyricism. “Forever Yours” and “Best Time” are my favourite tracks. While the lyrics fall short of being anything overly interesting, the impeccable production for both these songs makes up for it entirely.
I would urge any R&B fan to give this album a chance. It may take time to ease into, I’d argue that it’s worth it.
