Ben Madilynn
WITH OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO DIRECTED BY CITY JAMES
Grammy-nominated singer, rapper, and producer, Blxst, announces his debut album, ‘I’ll Always Come Find You,’ is set for release on July 19 via Red Bull Records/EVGLE. The news arrives with the project’s next single, “Dance With The Devil” featuring Grammy-winning multi-hyphenate, Anderson .Paak. The duo are a match made on the dance floor, bringing their quintessential SoCal vibe to a groove-laden track; rich with live horns and climactic strings.
On their collaboration, Blxst shares, “I’ve been a fan of Anderson .Paak since his ‘Malibu’ album. His approach as an artist and tone of voice inspired me while coming into my own artistry. Full circle moment, he organically reached out to me summer 2023 to collaborate with him and the group Free Nationals. I took it as an opportunity to shoot for the stars and asked for him to be a part of my debut album as well. This song is a perfect blend of two artists from California and is sonically undeniable from first listen. Conceptually, the song paints a picture of the tug-of-war with temptation in love and relationships.”
Subtle easter eggs have dropped surrounding the album’s theme since Blxst’s debut Coachella performance where he sported a jacket with the name “Birdie” splayed across the back while a classic Buick Grand National graced the stage. Just weeks later he released the visualizer for his single “Risk Taker” with Offset which sees the same car outfitted with a “Birdie” license plate on a late-night drive. This album’s trailer took these concepts one step further; this time with Blxst in the driver’s seat of the Grand National wearing black driver’s gloves as he pulls up to a chauffeur car service garage called Evgle & Son.
Stirring excitement around his first full-length record, Blxst added, “This is the most confident I’ve ever felt in my music. What I had to overcome while making this album changed my entire creative process, and the fans deserve to see the growth from that. I would be doing a disservice to not reach the heights I dreamed of reaching when I first started as an artist. No better time than now.”
In addition to “Risk Taker,” Blxst released a third track from the album earlier this year, setting the tone with his cross-cultural reggaeton hit “Rewind” (20M+ streams) with Colombian superstar Feid. All three singles see Blxst experiment with sounds outside of his signature LA-rooted R&B, foreshadowing a multi-dimensional album to come. On the heels of Blxst’s performance at Kendrick Lamar’s celebrated Pop Out this month, look out for another live moment from Blxst this weekend ahead of the BET Awards where he’s nominated for “Best Group” alongside South Central riser Bino Rideaux on behalf of their mixtape, ‘Sixtape 3.’
Blxst- “Dance With The Devil (feat. Anderson Paak.)” (Official Music Video)
About Blxst
Blxst has architected a new era of West Coast hip-hop and culture by hand, as not only a rapper, singer, songwriter, and producer, but also as a creative visionary who mixes, masters, and self-edits his own videos and artwork. Back in high school, the South Central native taught himself how to produce and record, going on to collaborate with YG, Mozzy, Snoop Dogg, Nas, and more. Following a string of buzzing singles in 2019, he forged an ironclad creative partnership with Bino Rideaux on their first critically acclaimed ‘Sixtape’. During 2020, he partnered with Red Bull Records and unleashed his solo debut EP, ‘No Love Lost’, to unanimous tastemaker praise. Upon release, it rose to #3 on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums Chart, #6 on the Rolling Stone Breakthrough 25 Chart, and #11 on the Trending 25 Chart, while the Gold-certified single “Overrated” soared to #15 at Urban radio. The deluxe edition of ‘No Love Lost’ has yielded over 1.3 billion streams along with the Platinum-certified smash “Chosen” (feat. Ty Dolla $ign and Tyga), which garnered over 300 million streams in less than a year while breaking into the Billboard Hot 100 and reaching #1 at Rhythmic and Urban radio.
In 2021, Blxst dropped the Just For Clarity two-pack and ‘Sixtape 2’ with Bino Rideaux, and claimed a place in XXL’s coveted 2021 Freshman Class. He also earned the Billboard Rising Star Award, becoming the first artist to ever receive the honor at the 2021 Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Summit. With excitement at a boiling point, he sold out his entire fall 2021 No Love Lost Tour in ten seconds.
Blxst kickstarted 2022 with the “Best New Artist of The Year” win from the XXL Awards, and the release of his sophomore solo project ‘Before You Go’ which debuted at #90 on the Billboard 200. The album spawned Rhythm & Urban radio single “About You”, for which he was nominated for “Best Male R&B/Pop Artist” at the 2022 BET Awards, priming his sold-out first-ever global tour across North America, Australia, New Zealand, and 11 dates through Europe. Whilst on the road, he nabbed the AIM Awards’ “International Breakthrough” honour, and returned home in the fall to accept the “Rookie of the Year” award from Future at Billboard’s R&B & Hip-Hop Power Players 2022. Following two sold-out hometown shows at the Hollywood Palladium, the LA Times declared, “Blxst is leading the new wave of L.A. hip-hop.”
In 2023, Blxst reached a new career high with his first two GRAMMY Award nominations for “Best Melodic Rap Performance” as a feature on Kendrick Lamar’s “Die Hard” with Amanda Reifer, and “Album of the Year” on Lamar’s revered LP, ‘Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers.’ He finished the year earning several “Best of 2022” titles from key opinion leaders such as Associated Press, Rolling Stone, LA Times, and more.
Paying homage to the city that raised him, Blxst delivered the ‘Just For Clarity 2’ EP in 2023, with four tracks featuring respected scene-shapers such as Roddy Ricch, Mustard, Terrace Martin, and Larry June. A bite-sized project with mass appeal, Blxst comes across confident yet self-aware, and he owes it all to LA. Rounding out the year, he released ‘Sixtape 3.’ the highly-anticipated third instalment from his fan-favourite series with Bino Rideaux. The duo brought their soulful melodies across the West Coast in a sold-out run that highlighted their meteoric rise to success.
Pegged as an “Artist to Watch” by Billboard, Complex, Pigeons & Planes, UPROXX, and more, Blxst continues to traffic in a lane of his own, bringing the game with him.
