Syd: In Bloom

On a bright July afternoon, cars drift by Highly Likely cafe in the West Adams neighborhood of Los Angeles. Syd sits in a corner looking entirely at ease, her otherwise casual fit offset by the subtle flash of diamond studs in her ears. It’s a striking contrast to the Syd who first entered the public eye as Odd Future’s DJ and in-house engineer, helping soundtrack the collective’s chaotic ascent in the early 2010s alongside Tyler, the Creator, Earl Sweatshirt, and Frank Ocean. Back then, Syd was behind the boards, today, though, she’s firmly at the center of her own work and the vibe could not be more different.

We greet one another and I sit down. I’m here to talk about Beard, Syd’s third solo album. The server arrives to take our order. Smiling, Syd orders french fries. Me? An unsweetened hibiscus iced tea. The cafe is one of Syd’s regular spots, but her grounded demeanor seems to extend beyond the fact that we are simply on her home turf.

Syd, now 34, explains that throughout her teens and twenties — from her time with Odd Future, The Internet, and her subsequent solo projects — she hoped each new project would “do something” for her creatively, financially, and spiritually. By the time she began making her new album, however, the work no longer needed to deliver her to an imagined destination. Instead, she approached it from a deeper, more holistically settled place in her life.

Across its 12 tracks, Beard brings a batch of Syd’s definitively warm, unhurried R&B: drums snap into unexpected pockets, layers of vocals surface and recede, while precision-crafted arrangements keep the momentum going from beginning to end.

Guests include Blu June, Jordan Ward, and James Fauntleroy while co-production on one track with Raphael Saadiq and one with Van Hunt keep ties to R&B tradition strong. The result reflects both a change in Syd’s outlook on life, as well as the expertise she now wields as a vocalist, producer, and engineer. “During the process of making this album, I got to a really happy place,” she says.

Evidence of her evolution is everywhere, to be clear. Since her last solo album, she co-wrote and co-produced Beyoncé’s Grammy-winning “Plastic Off the Sofa,” from 2022’s Album-of-the-Year-nominated Renaissance. It’s the kind of achievement that might once have represented a destination. Now, it sits alongside changes that feel even more meaningful to her: buying a house, renovating her studio, and getting married. Even the vintage Land Rover Defender 90 she once admired when touring overseas now sits in her driveway. The life she once imagined has begun to take tangible form.

Witnessing Syd in her current state hits hard for me personally, too. While doing A&R work for Kingdom, the producer alias of my younger brother, on his 2017 debut album, Tears in the Club, I connected him with Syd for their collaborative track “Nothin.” Between enjoying a fry or two, Syd jokes that it was around then that she “first got on the mic” — an exaggeration, of course, but one that captures how hesitant she felt as a vocalist back then. Now, more than a decade later, the artist sitting across from me has gone from tenuous to trailblazing. She is less interested in longing for what might be than in naming, with unusual clarity, who she already has become. Syd has a simpler description for the change: “I feel like I bloomed.”

Hypebeast: How have you been feeling going into the release of Beard compared to your last project?

Syd: I feel a lot more content with life. All my previous projects I felt like, “OK, I want this to do something for me.” But during the process of making this album, I got to a really happy place. I feel like it’s only up from here.

What are some of the things that you feel most content with now, that maybe in the past felt more challenging?

I had been dreaming of buying a house since my early twenties but I had to put that dream off. It took me a long time to get to the place where it all aligned, and even then I got lucky. It’s a dope little house and I’m so happy with it. I’ve been there about two years now.

I feel like location and home are big themes for you creatively. I remember hearing stories about you and The Internet renting houses and making a bunch of music or working in the attic in the garage at your parents’ house.

Yeah, my studio’s still above the garage, too…

Did you record most of Beard in there?

All of it. I guess since the renovation, this is the first project I recorded there, and I recorded most of the next Internet album in there, too.

Anything you can tell me about the new Internet album?

I’m really excited about it. It’s different, but it’s still us and it’s been probably the most fun I’ve had recording.

How does it feel having been this nuclear unit, and then to all have done these solo things, and now it coming full circle with a new Internet record?

I think a big part of the motivation to commit to all of us just going for it was that when we started making Hive Mind, we were all in different places musically. It felt like we kind of needed to get our own things out so that we could come back and not feel like we left anything in the tank for ourselves.

That makes sense. This is also your first album in your 30s. Does that feel significant to you?

There’s a confidence that comes with that. It’s a light feathery feeling you get from not second guessing anymore.

How does that tie in thematically with the idea of Beard and what you’re trying to say with the title?

The working title was Peach Fuzz. But somebody close to me had already used the name for something, and I was like, okay, let me find something else, “What’s the matured version of Peach Fuzz?” It’s Beard. Part of the meaning is definitely just maturity. It’s also a play on the idea of gender roles, and maybe the role that I play within my gender as a woman in R&B music.

Totally. With Beard, what was your POV creatively when these songs started coming to you?

Honestly, I think the biggest thing I wanted to do was plant a flag of what my sound is and part of that was differentiating Syd from The Internet. I made an intentional effort to think about that, like what separates us, because I don’t ever want the two to be conflated. I feel like it’s a disservice to the band and to me. That’s also why I’m really excited about the next Internet album. If anything, it sounds like our most collaborative album as a group.

Are there specific sonic cues, beat choices, or instrumentation ideas where you’re like, “Oh no, that’s too much The Internet,” or “Oh that’s what I need to make it a Syd track?”

Thankfully, it’s not something that I have to really overthink. I just have to make the beats myself. With The Internet, when it comes to production, for the most part, we are all adding to it. And when you’re doing that and doing it from a truly individual place it doesn’t really need to be overthought. I produced most of the album aside from two tracks. One with Raphael Saadiq and one with Van Hunt. Two people I’ve been listening to forever.

So in terms of your process going from idea to a song, are you starting mostly with a beat? Are you starting with a melodic idea? Or does it happen in all sorts of ways?

I’m starting with a beat or at least some kind of instrumental. It takes a good composition to really compel me if it doesn’t have drums on it. So for me, most of my songs start with drums, unless I’m trying something different.

On the flipside of the spark that gets things moving, there’s the challenge of getting things finished. How do you know when a song is done?

When I can stop making excuses for it. You know, when I can play it for somebody, and I’m not like, “I gotta add this part right here.” And when there are no moments during the song where I feel like “Oh I’m not sure about this.” That’s when I know I’m done.

What about your mom? Does she get final say on whether a song is done or not? I know she’s a big part of your life personally and creatively.

My mom actually really helped me on this album with my track list. I played it for her in the order I originally was thinking, and she was just like, “The flow isn’t right.” She sat in on one of the mixing sessions, too, because we did the final mix sessions at my mom’s house. She always wanted to be an engineer, so it was really cool for her to do that.

Definitely. I feel like the last album had a lot of heartbreak energy. What would you say the energy of Beard is to you?

I think it’s a roller coaster. It’s not a straight drop like Broken Hearts Club was. This one’s more weaving through life, so there’s a little heartbreak, there’s a little romance. Ultimately it’s a time capsule of my last few years.

What’s a metaphor you might use to describe that?

I feel like I bloomed.

Wow, you literally just read my mind. I didn’t want to say it, but you just straight up psychic mind read me.

Real talk? I always felt like a late bloomer and I feel like these days I feel fully bloomed.

Yeah, homeowner, studio owner, wife haver, dope car driver… I actually get strong car energy from you. Tell me about your relationship to vintage Land Rover Defenders.

It was my dream car once I realized it existed, because, you know, we don’t see them very often in North America. The first couple tours I did out of the country, I was seeing them everywhere, and I was like, “What is this and why don’t we have them?” And then I got a ‘97 Defender 90. I got a deal on it. It’s in great shape.

I love that. How did you first get into cars?

Honestly, I wasn’t really into cars or anything as a kid. I drove the car that my dad gave me at 16 until I was 28 because I could afford a new car, but I didn’t see one that I liked enough to spend money on.

Speaking of things you like enough to spend money on, let’s talk a little bit about your relationship with the world of fashion.

These days I kind of see myself as outside of it. My style is something that I definitely put a lot more thought into before. Ironically, I feel a lot more confident and part of that is self-acceptance, probably. So I’m at a point where I won’t go shopping unless I have no more shirts cause I donated them all.

Right, but I also feel the fashion world has tapped into you because you are yourself in a way fashion aspires to and that you embody very naturally.

Wow, thank you. I think that’s dope. I’ve never been told that before.

I mean, you were in Virgil Abloh’s first campaign for Louis Vuitton, too. Was that a big moment for you?

Yeah. I knew the weight of it, for sure. That’s why I did it, because, I mean, to be honest, the stuff that I was wearing during that shoot was stuff that I would never fucking wear. I literally just did it for history and to be a part of something important.

Mission accomplished. That one will go down in the record books, for sure. Is there anything else that you want to make sure people know about Beard or what’s on the horizon for you?

I would just shout out Steve Lacy’s album and shout out Chris our drummer’s album as well. Between the three of us, I think everybody will find something they like.

And then next year you guys are all back together for the new Internet album.

That too. So stay tuned.