Make It Out
Brent Faiyaz
"Make It Out" is Brent Faiyaz in his most narcotic register, a short, hazy piece of woozy R&B built on a slurred keyboard loop, trap hi-hats mixed low and soft, and a bass that feels submerged rather than thumping. The production leaves an unusual amount of empty space — half-heard vocal ad-libs drifting behind the lead like thoughts he didn't finish — which suits an album titled *Fuck the World*, recorded in self-imposed isolation. His voice is the draw: a light, honeyed tenor that always sounds slightly detached, almost bored, delivering wounded lines with the affect of someone who stopped expecting sympathy. The lyric circles escape — the question of whether anyone gets out of where they came from intact, whether money and women and touring constitute making it or just a better-lit version of the same trap. There's no bravado in it, which is the point; this is post-success emptiness, the flex arriving pre-hollowed. It belongs to a strain of late-2010s independent R&B that made ambivalence the whole mood. Ideal for a drive with no destination, city lights sliding past the window at 2 a.m., when the night has gone on long enough to become honest.
slow
2010s
hazy, woozy, muffled
United States
R&B, trap soul. alternative R&B. detached, numb. Circles the question of escape without arriving anywhere, ambivalence and post-success emptiness held constant throughout. energy 4. slow. danceability 4. valence 3. vocals: honeyed tenor, detached, bored affect. production: slurred keyboard loop, low trap hi-hats, submerged bass, half-heard ad-libs. texture: hazy, woozy, muffled. acousticness 2. era: 2010s. United States. a drive with no destination, city lights sliding past at 2 a.m.