In Conversation: Bryson Tiller
Searching for what's important with the Kentucky native...
*Bryson Tiller* is back, and he’s better.
Last week, he released his third studio album 'A N N I V E R S A R Y', a celebratory album to honour his day ones for their love and loyalty. In the last three years since the release of his sophomore album 'True To Self', Bryson has been busy working on himself, his family and the love for his craft.
After welcoming his second child with girlfriend Kendra Bailey, the Kentucky native took time aside in the run-up to making Anniversary clear his mind and elevate his sound. Happier than ever, he tells me of his excitement at dropping a new album. “It feels good. The last two times I dropped an album, I wasn’t living in the moment so this time around, I’m enjoying it”.
After giving his fans an exclusive listen of 'A N N I V E R S A R Y' on Zoom, he tells me why it was vital for him to share the album with those who have supported him the most first. “I knew that everybody in the world wasn’t going to be able to listen to it at the same time and I wanted to present it to them in a way where they could all hear it at once. I wanted somebody in another part of the world can both say together, ‘hey this is something that happens on this part of the song’ so I did the Zoom call for my fans because I wanted them to share the same full experience,” he tells me.
- - -
- - -
Since breaking into mainstream R&B after his debut in 2015, Bryson has perfectly crafted his sound, describing it as “trap and hip-hop-influenced R&B, the perfect marriage between hip-hop and R&B”.
Before recording Anniversary, he was in the studio, putting together another project that he pushed back for personal reasons. “I was working on another album called 'SERENITY'. I wanted to get back to that space in my life where I was doing nothing but creating and at peace of mind. I feel like I didn’t have that for a while almost like there was trouble in paradise” he says. “At the time, I just bought a house in Florida and was planning on living in it to make music. Still, it just seemed like everything was going wrong, so I took a break from working on that project and decided to work on this new album instead”.
Consisting of ten tracks, Bryson describes the central theme behind Anniversary as ‘time’, reflecting on artistic growth since his debut back in 2015. “This album carries a different theme” he explains, “'T R A P S O U L' was more love and heartbreak, but this album is more about time, family and progression, not just as an artist but as a person. Family is also a big part of this album. Not just my blood-related family but people like my manager Neil and my best friend who works for me as my assistant. They’re all family to me, and they inspired this album simple by how much they believed in me”.
- - -
- - -
With the only feature on the album comes courtesy of Drake, serving as Bryson’s first official album collaboration since his debut. “It was important for me to have Drake on this album because he’s one of my biggest inspirations. Not too many people know what he was originally supposed to be on my debut album five years ago, but it didn’t work out because of how busy we both were at the time. We never got a chance to do it” he explains. “Time is everything, so I felt like it was only right to have him on this album and that’s how Outta Time ended up being the one for this album”.
“With 'T R A P S O U L', I thought it was dope that it just me by myself and no collaborations. I would have loved to have had Drake featured, but I honestly felt like if he got on my debut project, people would have credited all my success to him” he tells me. “With 'True To Self', my fans wanted as much music as possible, so I put it on there. That album was a play on the TV show True Life, that’s why the cover looks like that because it resembles the show in itself. I didn’t know what else to make an album about except my life because that is all I know”.
- - -
- - -
Reflecting on his artistic growth since his debut back in 2015, Bryson tells me what’s he’s learnt from then till now and how applying criticism has made him believe in himself more. “When I started, I was 22. I felt like when The Fresh Prince first got to Bel-Air, I was hanging out of car windows taking pictures. I was new to a lot of stuff, and eventually, things started to change. I feel like I’m a lot better now lyrically and vocally than I was before. I listened to all the criticism from my first album and applied it to the second album. You know I was angry about a lot of things going on in my personal life and business, and at the time, I just wanted to be as transparent as possible”.
“With 'Anniversary', the creative process was different because now I’m more grown and don’t doubt myself anymore. Five years ago, October 2nd was probably the last time I believed in myself. I started listening to watch my fans and the critics had to say and applied to myself and work going forward”.
- - -
- - -
Despite the current global pandemic affecting the world, especially America, Bryson is enjoying his time at home and away from being on the road. “For me, it was the best. I loved working during COVID because I didn’t have to fly anywhere and do all that stuff. Even though I love doing all that stuff, one of my favourite experiences was travelling the world with my best friend and seeing things I’ve never seen before. I thought that super cool,” he says.
“Now that we’re going through COVID, I don’t have to go on tour, I don’t have to rehearse for anything, I can get right to work on the next album, and that’s awesome for me. I almost feel like God stopped the world for me to be able to home in and get back to what I love doing, which is making music and spending time with my family”.
With two months left in 2020, Bryson is excited with what’s next for him and his career. “Just more music. I got more music coming this fall and more music coming this winter. I just my fans to know that I love them and I’m so grateful for this support of this new album. It truly means a lot to me. I’m thankful and blessed”.
- - -
- - -
'A N N I V E R S A R Y' is out now.
Words: *Shakeena Johnson*
Join us on the ad-free creative social network Vero, as we get under the skin of global cultural happenings. Follow Clash Magazine as we skip merrily between clubs, concerts, interviews and photo shoots. Get backstage sneak peeks, exclusive content and access to Clash Live events and a true view into our world as the fun and games unfold.
Buy Clash Magazine