On Kevin Abstract’s debut album, 2016’s American Boyfriend: A Suburban Love Story, the former BROCKHAMPTON leader conjured up alt-pop songs of adolescent love, heartbreak and every emotion in between. His 2019 sophomore effort ARIZONA BABY was deeply inspired by Southern rap and the chopped and screwed stylings of Texas legends like DJ Screw. The Corpus Christi-born singer, rapper and producer returned home for the project, dealing with his upbringing, sexuality and the difficulties of managing a band of friends when money, fame and success enter the picture. His third covers many of the same themes, though from the vantage point of someone wiser, more worn and less susceptible to the whirlwinds of love and love lost, soundtracked by ’90s-vintage guitar rock. “I’ve been trying to make a solo album for the past two and a half years, and I finally found the confidence to make something that I would actually listen to and share with the world,” he tells Apple Music. Read on for his track-by-track guide. “When the Rope Post 2 Break” “This just felt like an intro to me. As soon as we made it, I knew it would be the way to get people into the album. There are some samples of kids playing, which I recorded in the neighbourhood. I was interested in capturing the ambience around me. All the details on the album are to help bring the world together.” “Blanket” “This is a song to play when everyone’s just pissing you off or something. You could jump around in your room to it, or bump it on the bus. It’s one of those songs. You close your door and play it loud, or put it on your headphones and drown out the world.” “Running Out” “I like how there are whispers on this track—that feels like the way I communicate with a lot of my friends. It represents secrets, the idea of hiding something. It represents intimacy for me. That’s what I think of when I hear this song. It’s one of the sadder songs on the record, but it sounds upbeat. I had to write from that perspective.” “The Greys” “I wanted to make something sexy, something you could dance to, or look in the mirror and sing along with. You imagine being on stage, but you’re really somewhere, broke and probably struggling. You got that look in your eye, and you’re going to make it one day. It’s a message for the people, but I was that way, too. Once I put this out, it’s no longer mine; it’s a cliché, but it’s real. I really do mean all the stuff I say because when I was younger, any interview I saw with any artist I was looking up to meant a lot if they were encouraging younger people. That helped me get through so much and it helped me trust myself. I’m not capping when I say, ‘Lean into what you feel and follow your heart.’ That shit is real to me.” “Voyager” “This song is pure beauty. If you don’t like this, you probably don’t have a soul. It’s the ballad on the album.” “Madonna” “Madonna represents being up. Why not want to be Madonna? Madonna, Tupac and Michael Jackson: Those are the icons that came before us. I wasn’t always allowed to see certain things, but that made me want to see it more. There was always some sort of danger around her art. I didn’t start listening to her until I got older and I started researching all the greats that came before me. I didn’t really discover her until I started actually making music.” “Today I Gave Up” “I was extremely sad when I made this. Need I say more? Writing and recording can be cathartic, but I only feel better when it’s a good song. So since a song is fire, I’m like, ‘Oh, this is lit. I gotta play it for friends, and it'll be a good confidence boost to show this track off.’ More seriously, though, the feelings don't really go away.” “What Should I Do?” “Every spring and every fall feels the same to me. If I could put those two seasons together, it would be the feeling of this song.” “Mr. Edwards” “This is an intermission. It’s all connected.” “Scream” “I’m obsessed with R&B music. I feel like the biggest BROCKHAMPTON songs had some element of R&B in them. I’m going into every album trying to make one song that reminds me of ’90s R&B. The challenge is trying to fit that within the vibe and aesthetic of the album. R&B features some of the best melodies in the world. And I love melody more than anything.” “Real To Me” “This is another little dance track. It’s not just a crush.” “Heights, Spiders, and the Dark” “I really did all I could to keep all of who this song is about, and it didn’t work. He left me.” “My Friend” “Someone showed me MJ Lenderman’s music and I thought it was beautiful, beautiful music. Listening to his shit made me realise that was the bar. He gave me a lot of guidance, and then I sent him this song with my chorus on it and I asked him to re-sing the chorus. I like his voice so much. Then I brought Kara Jackson in to sing some parts. I wrote this song about going to Disneyland with my friends. This one is called ‘My Friend’, but it’s about all my friends.”