Three years after the release of his widely successful debut studio album, Give or Take, Giveon has blessed fans with a long-awaited, deeply vulnerable sophomore album entitled Beloved.
Beloved is what Giveon described in an interview with Zane Lowe as, “the type of album I always wanted to make, but didn’t have the skills for yet.” With how quickly he rose to fame, it’s no surprise that he had to take a step back from the lime-light. Giveon shared on IRL, “The concepts caught up to my life in real time and I almost ran out of things to talk about. I had to go live my life.” He explains, “Everything I do slow turns out better.”
Safe to say that the three year hiatus gave Giveon the opportunity to ripen those skills. And he did so before releasing an extremely special, nostalgic-sounding project for true R&B lovers.
West Coast Artist, East Coast Influence
Though Giveon was raised in the city of Long Beach, California, he attributes the majority of his musical inspiration to the slow-burn heartache of East Coast Rhythm & Blues from the 70s. Thus, citing artists like Teddy Pendergrass, Roberta Flack, and the likes.
Unlike his previous projects, Giveon ditched the hip-hop undertone beats for Beloved. Instead, he leaned heavily towards stripped-down, raw production that is equally familiar and integral to authentic, soulful R&B music of the 20th century. This choice of production style combined with Giveon’s distinct baritone voice, skillful storytelling, and raw delivery, results in a tasteful album that even his inspirations would be proud of.
The Highlights: A Strong Single and a Nuanced Emotional Rollercoaster
“TWENTIES,” the lead single for Beloved, was released on February 7th, 2025 and is currently Giveon’s most popular track on Apple Music. The song was a strong choice to set the tone for the album in its entirety. It has themes of regret and the difficulties of taking accountability when it comes to love. Giveon’s soulful voice and achey lyrics are accompanied by dramatically dreamy instrumentals for this track. In addition, many of the others on Beloved feature this vibe. Thus, showcasing just how well he’s mastered his take on classic R&B ballads.
The album as a whole is raw and confrontational in its realness. Moreover, Giveon spends all fourteen tracks dancing along a fine line between self-pity and self-blame, anger and remorse, defeat and longing. The album is, in its very essence, real. The blame-game sits at the forefront of the conversation. With lines like “We become strangers again all because you can’t love me yet” on “STRANGERS” and “I’m still up for the chase, don’t leave me behind” on “DON’T LEAVE ME.”
The project is very “The Agony and the Ecstasy”-esque. Giveon indirectly, yet repeatedly, asks himself the question, “How can something that hurts so bad feel so good?” He also gives himself the space to hold a mirror up to his shortcomings. Tracks like “GOOD BAD UGLY” and “KEEPER” acknowledge the flaws on his end of the relationship.
Giveon’s art is “in the flaws.”
Beloved is special in the way that it confronts every aspect of shared emotional relationships. There is no stone left unturned. Furthermore, we get the toxicity, desire, yearning, grief, reminiscing, truly the whole kitchen sink. This all-encompassing vulnerability caused NPR to refer to the project in an interview as a “soundtrack of life’s moments,” especially when it comes to love and loss.
For Giveon, “Life is ebb and flow and that’s what art is. The art is in the flaws.” Though no relationship is perfect and heartbreak isn’t the least bit pretty, Giveon has mastered how to make even the most gut-wrenching human emotions into melodic, dreamy art. Well done.
Click here to stream Beloved on Apple Music.
