6lack: “Being in a good place made me want to talk about good things” on new album

6lack knows there’s toxicity permeating through the music industry, but he wanted his new album to showcase how it feels to feel good.

“Being in a good place made me want to talk about good things. I think that music is a little bit cluttered right now with everything else,” he tells Complex. “Toxicity seems to be the punchline at the end of every song, but it feels good to feel good. I wanted to spread that as much as I could.”

That feel-good attitude is now heard on 6lack’s newly released album, Since I Have a Lover, his first full-length project since 2018. He admits he felt pressure during the nearly five-year hiatus, but says “it was more so just the pressure of me making sure I was getting my life together first.”

Now, 6lack’s at a point where he’s matured and gotten better at expressing himself. “In the beginning of my career, I was a lot more closed off. I had a lot of trouble … getting things out of my body if it wasn’t music related,” he explains. “So I finally graduated to the part where I’m so much more aware of my emotions and how I feel, and the result if I don’t do something a specific way. I’m still working on it, but I speak a lot more freely than I used to speak. And I trust myself a lot more than I used to … I just trust the process more than I used to.”

With a focus on self-improvement, the singer/rapper leans toward R&B these days, as it “consists of really calming production.” “I’ve been needing the softer side of things, and R&B is that for me,” he says.

Since I Have a Lover is out now.