The singer, songwriter, and producer known as blackbear is devoted to brands; it’s one of many ways in which he’s old-fashioned. The songs on his new album cybersex, released sure enough on Cyber Monday (his 27th birthday) bristle with product mentions. There are spots for Gucci, Timberland and, blackbear’s potential favorite, Wilhelmina Models, whom he brags on “Thursday/Froze Over (“Interlude”)” about sharing carnally with G-Eazy (another example of the artist’s inherent conservatism is his unrepentant, unblinking misogyny.) His interviews, even the ones conducted by phone, come with a monotonous, Patrick Bateman-esque recitation of what he was wearing as he discussed how little he cared about music. You imagine his publicist sending multiple emails to the reporters: “Don’t forget, you said you’d include that he had on a…yep…yep, it’s spelled R-A-F…”
cybersex is blackbear’s fourth full length, but it’s the first that he’s released since signing what he touted as a $10 million deal with Interscope and the project has all the bells and whistles of the industry playing catch-up with a genuinely new sound. His talents are for melody, mimicry, and self-promotion and he has marketed himself as a polished answer to what critics have called SoundCloud rap. cybersex scans as a major label affair, with a bloated 14-song, 51 minute tracklist, shiny Rap&B hooks scattered chaotically like glitter on hotel bedsheets. The record has a dream list of features for someone whose teenage years coincided with the death of blogroll-rap. Appearances, some energized, some dutiful, are made by Cam’ron, Paul Wall, T-Pain, Rick Ross and Ne-Yo, among others.
Ne-Yo and blackbear have known each other for a third of the younger man’s life, since he was releasing music as Mat Musto (he was born Matthew Musto). Their meeting marked the beginning of the near-decade that blackbear has spent termiting his way in and around the industry. His writing assist on the 2012 Justin Bieber hit “Girlfriend” granted him insider cred and his prolificacy, social media presence and nose for fashion trends did the rest. His explosive popularity, seeded by his 2015 record Deadroses and several appearances on Kylie Jenner’s snapchat, culminated this year with the Gucci Mane-featuring hit “Do Re Mi” and a burst of tabloid coverage linking him with the actress Bella Thorne.
As a public figure, blackbear is so objectionable in his self-pity, mean-spiritedness, and obliviousness—after Lil Peep’s death in November he criticized the 21-year-old as a swagger-jacker who glorified drugs—that it’s tempting to dismiss his music on the basis of the lyrics alone, which can’t help but to reveal those qualities. But there are germs of musical talent in evidence on cybersex, particularly on a string of R&B songs that display his melodic abilities. The first of these is “Playboy S**t” but the best is the Ne-Yo feature, “Top Priority,” a sweetly sung, inescapably catchy R&B song that features the mentor in A+ vintage form, as he serenades his old flame, Ms. Independent.
There are fewer rap songs and they are significantly weaker. On several, blackbear and his featured guest (Rick Ross, Cam’ron) seem to expect each other to carry the weight and the results (“Glo_Up,” “Bright Pink Tims”) sound like a dresser being dropped down a flight of stairs. Even on the stronger tracks, blackbear’s lack of originality is near stunning. “Top Priority” shamelessly rehashes the “ho to housewife” trope and the high-point of “Gucci Linen,” outside of the 2 Chainz verse, is a hook which references Nelly Furtado’s 2001 hit “I’m Like a Bird” and Nelly’s 2002 hit “Hot in Herre.”
Then, there are the lyrics and boy, are they awful. “Thursday/Froze Over” begins with a recitation of the most famous men who have had sex with the same women as blackbear, who, along with the aforementioned G-Eazy, apparently include Bieber and Bruno Mars. On “I Hope Your Whole Life Sux,” women are compared to foodstuffs—“Instagram be feeling like the grocery store I pick and choose”—and on “Candayapple,” he boasts of a companion that “She my accessory, you know that ima flaunt her.”
These sentiments are a natural outgrowth of vibes expressed on Drake’s Take Care and in the Weeknd’s entire discography. blackbear appears to have studied both artists closely and, like the two Canadians, his melodic gifts will yield a handful of hits—“Down 4 U,” the T-Pain feature on cybersex, might be a contender. But unlike Drake or Abel Tesfaye, blackbear has little interest in perfecting his music, exploring new sounds, or earning pop stardom; he has repeatedly told interviewers that he plans to quit within the next couple of years. “Music’s a hobby to me,” he said to Noisey. “I have stocks and bitcoins, I consult for things and whatever, I dress girls for Coachella.” His lack of investment helps explain why listening to cybersex feels the way it does. Initially appealing and often catchy, it reveals itself relatively quickly as a shallow record made by an emotional idiot, stocked with brand names and old ideas, signifying nothing.
