Chris Brown – Breezy

Breezy is the tenth studio album by American singer Chris Brown, released on June 24, 2022 as the follow-up to his 2019 album Indigo. The artists featured on the album are Lil Durk, Capella Grey, Fivio Foreign, Lil Wayne, Yung Bleu, Lil Baby, Wizkid, H.E.R., Bryson Tiller, Ella Mai, EST Gee, Jack Harlow, Blxst and Tory Lanez.

Background and recording
Brown said in July 2021, while working on the album, that he wanted to make some “really endearing music” that “talk to women’s soul”. In February 2022, he stated on his Instagram account that the album would contain some pure R&B material. He later said that on some of the album’s songs he wanted to depict “a different type of love mixed with heartbreak”.

Artwork

Brown’s haircut designed for Breezy’s artwork
Breezy’s artwork was revealed on May 18, 2022. The cover art consists of a black and white picture of the back of Brown’s head with the album’s title shaved into his hair. The haircut was done by American artist and barber Rob the Original. According to the barber, the haircut of the album’s cover was designed by Brown and himself, and was inspired by works of Italian artist and barber Nto Hair Mugen. Shawn Grant of The Source found the artwork to be “minimal” compared to those of Brown’s latest projects.

Release and promotion

A fan holding up a sign encouraging Brown to release Breezy, during his concert in Saudi Arabia in March 2022
On November 4, 2019, Brown posted three videos that showed snippets from songs that he recently worked on, supposedly called “Get Naked”, “Hit My Line” and “Stressed”. On December 22, 2019, Brown announced that he was working on new material for his next album, posting an Instagram story where he wrote “2020, what do you think my 10th album is going to be called?”. A couple months following the release of his collaborative mixtape with Young Thug, Slime & B, on July 9, 2020, he announced that the name of his tenth album would be Breezy, making a reference to his stage nickname. On October 22, 2020 he shared through his social media a snippet of a song supposedly called “On Some New Shit”, in a video that showed him working and recording the song in a hotel room in London, also suggesting the possiblility of releasing the album in 2021 in the video’s caption. In November, Brown created an OnlyFans account, where he posted snippets from the songs “Sleep at Night” and “Warm Embarce”, during his travel in Tulum, Mexico. Two days before Christmas 2020, Brown posted on his Instagram account a picture that showed a pen and a piece of paper, captioning it with “My heart on this pen and pad. A SIDE B SIDE. Hope y’all f**k with my frequency. No time soon”, hinting the possibility of Breezy being his third consecutive double-album, following Heartbreak on a Full Moon and Indigo. On January 8, 2021 Forbes published an article that listed Breezy among the most anticipated R&B albums of 2021. In June 2021 he said that he was not in a rush to release his new album, by posting an Instagram story where he wrote “I ain’t dropping my album until I’m ready. I need to give y’all a chance to miss me”. On November 1, the track “Closure”, contained in the album, featuring American rapper Tyga, leaked online.

Months later, on December 18, he announced the release of the lead single of Breezy for January 2022. On the first day of 2022 he announced the title of the single, “Iffy”, through a teaser of its music video, announcing its release for January 14. However “Iffy” ended up not being included on the album’s final track listing. In March he announced that the already previewed song “Warm Embrace” would be the second single, announcing its release date for April 1, and teasing a joint tour for Summer 2022 with a mystery co-headliner. Two days before the release of the single, he revealed that Breezy would be released during summer 2022. In late April he announced his “One of Them Ones Tour” with rapper Lil Baby as a co-headlining act. On May 9 he announced that the album would be released in June. Nine days later he revealed Breezy’s release date, June 24, along with its cover art, and a list of features including Lil Wayne, Blxst, H.E.R., Ella Mai, Jack Harlow, Tory Lanez, Fivio Foreign, Yung Bleu, EST Gee and Wizkid, hinting that more features could be on the album.

Brown unveiled most of the album’s track listing on June 7, while also posting a video of him dancing to a snippet of “Possessive”. Two weeks before the album’s release, Brown has debuted the track “Wheels Fall Off”, performing the track for the first time for the “4ShootersOnly” music platform, in a video portraying himself alone with a microphone in his backyard, while he smokes a blunt and executes the song. That same day he posted a snippet of “Call Me Every Day”, featuring Nigerian artist WizKid, on his Instagram account. On June 21, he released the music video for “WE (Warm Embrace)”, starring Normani and directed by Arrad.

Short film
On August 2, 2021, Brown announced on his Instagram that his Breezy album would be accompanied by a short film of the same name.

SHARE: