With his last album, “Larger Than Life” dropped in 2023, the suspense of a new release from R&B icon Brent Faiyaz left fans eagerly waiting for the next installment in his discography for years. That anticipation was met with his newest release, “Icon” released Feb. 13.
The album features 10 tracks, all varying in purpose and style. With several tracks highlighting Faiyaz’s memorable choruses, emotional lyricism and smooth vocals, “Icon” offers no shortage of standout songs within its track list.
The album starts off with “white noise.” a track whose unique instrumental immediately pulls in listeners to what the album has to offer. It serves as the album’s intro and, although notably similar to a traditional interlude, doesn’t actually feature Faiyaz singing. Faiyaz utilizes several instruments that make the track incredibly cohesive and wonderfully melodic. The string instruments almost make it feel like music you’d drift away to, implied by its name being “white noise.” Faiyaz’s lack of vocals in this track also leaves the song as what it is — a beautiful instrumental quartet forming a blend of soothing, peaceful melodies.
As a whole, the album focuses on Faiyaz’s love life, but not exactly with a happy connotation, as heard in the song “wrong faces.” Faiyaz sings about a lover with a wandering eye, who dismisses the love he so readily gives.
“Ain’t no way out (Running, flying) / I know that you’re searching for one (I ain’t stopping, not until I fall, fall),” he sings. “You like to stay out / Think about who you’re hurting for once.”
Faiyaz says his lover searches for love in other people, her wandering eye preventing her from acknowledging him. In a way, he wonders what he did to deserve this unfaithful treatment from her, when all he has to offer is his own loyalty and desire for domesticity with her in exchange.
Unlike the previous track, Faiyaz is in love and seeks pleasure from the woman he has found himself enamored with in the track “have to.”
“I’m in a race with time to get where I belong / ‘Cause it feels so right after all these nights alone,” Faiyaz sings. “Dreaming about, touching down / I can’t sleep ’til you touch me, baby, when?”
He feels the thrill of the chase, seeking the sexual intimacy and pleasure he feels from spending time with the woman he loves. Faiyaz describes that after a time period without romance at all, her presence in his life feels right and he finds himself waiting for the next moment with her. The track is romantic and gives a more positive outlook on love as compared to “wrong faces.”
Continuing the lovesick train from “have to.” is “butterflies.” Faiyaz expands on his enamoration with a woman he is deeply in love with as he sings, “And I know we can do this together (Talkin’, you and me) / How do you feel? / Is it anything like I feel? (Yes or no?).”
However, instead of just focusing on his own feelings for her, he contemplates if she reciprocates the same feelings and intensity. This track brings a sense of hesitancy and deep-rooted desire surrounding someone else you’ve found yourself waiting for. Following the tone of the past two tracks, this yearning seems to be a natural emotion for Faiyaz with his newly taken lover.
Faiyaz feels no shortage of desire for his new lover, but wants her firm assurance that she feels the same even after they begin their relationship — a dilemma he expresses in “other side.”
“Girl, you know I love it here (I love the life) / You’re the only thing I like (Oh),” Faiyaz sings about the girl. “(Girl, you) You must be from the other side.”
He begins worshipping her again, saying she must be from heaven or some other life, because he can’t come to explain why he feels as drawn to her as he does. The way he sings about her implies the two have settled into a relationship, but he longs to know if she feels the same. Faiyaz also wants her to know she really is the woman of his literal and figurative dreams, as he sees her when he sleeps at night and in his vision of the pleasant “other side.”
After a couple tracks of young, blooming love, “strangers.” gives the album a turning point, as Faiyaz crashes out when the relationship comes to an end.
“You were supposed to hold it down / And I was supposed to be there in the end / As your lover and a friend, and I still got one question / Is it something I did?” Faiyaz laments.
After being so devoted to his new girlfriend, their relationship ends, which Faiyaz implies is the result of her infidelity. He sings that he can’t undo the things he’s seen and the words he’s heard. He is in disbelief of the woman he romantically idolized betraying their relationship, and his hurt and grief resounds through the entire track. The addition of this song gives the album a dimension of heartbreak, opposite of its previously romantic disposition.
The result of his breakup presents itself as anger within the track “four seasons.” where Faiyaz sings, “Some days you’re hot as July / Sometimes you’re cold as the wintertime / But no matter the weather (Don’t matter) thought this was forever.”
He criticizes his former lover for acting so differently throughout their relationship, noting his own consistency in contrast to it. He seems to have built resentment towards her inconsistent personality and hasn’t forgiven her for breaking his heart. This solidifies the album’s melancholy demeanor, focusing more on the heartbreak after a romantic storm rather than the bloom of a new relationship eventually destined to go south.
Overall, “Icon” is a well-rounded addition to Brent Faiyaz’s already renowned discography. It has tracks for those in love — particularly seeking to fulfill the desire within their new relationships — while also empathizing with those experiencing heartbreak and harsher romantic experiences. This versatility in meaning, combined with Faiyaz’s clever lyrics and soothing vocals, only makes “Icon” a staple in your next R&B playlist.
Audrey Phoukong is an Arts & Entertainment Intern for the winter 2026 quarter. She can be reached at aphoukon@uci.edu.
Edited by Corinna Chin and Annabelle Aguirre
