Rating: 8/10

After releasing a chain of singles over the past few weeks, BROCKHAMPTON have finally released their fifth studio album ‘GINGER‘. The twelve-track album is their shortest project to date, but it shows a great deal of growth and maturity, through the album’s expert production, dark lyrical content and catchy hooks.

After releasing the critically acclaimed ‘SATURATION‘ trilogy in the space of six months in 2017, BROCKHAMPTON had a tough 2018. Rapper and cover star of the SATURATION trilogy, Ameer Vann, was removed from the group after a number of allegations of sexual misconduct came to light. The band cancelled all their projects that were in the works before returning with their fourth album, ‘Iridescence’, in September of 2018 – a project recorded at Abby Road studios over the course of 10 days. The album earned the group their first billboard number one, but the general feel of the album was quite experimental and not particularly easy to listen to.

BROCKHAMPTON’s fifth-studio album, ‘Ginger’ definitely feels more commercially viable than the group’s previous material. The album’s opener, ‘NO HALO‘ is a chilled out chart-ready tune, with a guitar based instrumental and a great hook from female guest vocalist Deb Never – a pleasant change-up from the normal hooks by the boyband. The track is followed up by the summery tune ‘SUGAR‘, which definitely should have been released as a single before the album’s release. It’s easily an immediate favourite on the album and perhaps one of their best songs to date.

‘SUGAR‘ is one of many tracks on the album that features a standout performance from singer bearface. The singer-songwriter has been involved in all of BROCKHAMPTON’s previous studio albums, but throughout the ‘SATURATION‘ trilogy, bearface was often excluded to a single solo track to close the albums, such as on ‘WASTE‘, ‘SUMMER‘ and ‘TEAM‘. On ‘GINGER‘ bearface surprisingly has some strong rap features, like on ‘BOY BYE‘ and ‘ST. PERCY‘, but perhaps the highlight is that his singing ability is finally being incorporated effectively into songs like ‘BIG BOY‘ and ‘VICTOR ROBERTS‘ for stellar bridges and outros, rather than feeling like he’s just been thrown onto a song.

Dom McClennon really proves himself as the group’s strongest lyricist on ‘Ginger‘, with some amazing verses on this album. Dom’s verse on ‘DEARLY DEPARTED‘ is a particular highlight, as the rapper goes deep on his friendship with disgraced former member Ameer Vann. McClennon raps about how Ameer confessed to robbing one of Dom’s closest friends in the past, which leads to an emotional and passionate verse from Dom, ending with the lines “You could talk to God, I don’t wanna hear, motherfucker” before we hear the sound of him throwing his headphones to the floor in anger.

There are many great moments on this album, however one issue I had was that at times structurally it seemed messy and didn’t flow well as an album at times. Track four, ‘HEAVEN BELONGS TO YOU‘ is a solo track from British rapper Slowthai, over a reworking of the beat from track six, ‘IF YOU PRAY RIGHT‘. Slowthai sounds great over the beat, but I honestly just don’t get its placement on the album. I feel like it would have worked much better if the two tracks had been next to each other, or Slowthai’s track could have even replaced Kevin Abstract‘s sung outro on ‘IF YOU PRAY RIGHT‘.

The overall vibes of the album are quite confusing. The mood of the first three tracks is pretty chilled and summery, but these instrumentals are juxtaposed by the much darker tracks on the project, like ‘DEARLY DEPARTED‘. Most of the lyrics on the album are rather melancholic, as the group discuss topics of mental illness, breakups, substance abuse and religion; BROCKHAMPTON have often delved into topics often overlooked in rap, but there are moments on ‘Ginger‘ where it would maybe be quite nice to have a really upbeat or quirky song, like on their previous albums, to brighten the mood a tad.

On the track ‘LOVE ME FOR LIFE‘, the emotions of the song vary from member to member. A forgettable verse from Kevin Abstract is followed by a softly sung verse from Joba, but then Merlyn Wood comes in with a complete changeup, shouting his verse. Despite this, ‘GINGER‘ on the whole feels like all the of the members are much more in-tune with each other than on ‘Iridescence‘, which makes for a solid project.

The album closes with the track ‘VICTOR ROBERTS‘, which perhaps signals the start of a new era for BROCKHAMPTON. Friend of the group, Victor Roberts II, is given the platform to make his rapping debut, as he tells the story of his troubled childhood. Kevin Abstract has previously discussed wanting the lineup of ‘BROCKHAMPTON’ to change and adapt after the current lineup move on from the group. Whether Victor Roberts becomes a recurring member of the group, or is just a one-off guest feature, it definitely shows progression from the group, on an album that truly demonstrates their maturity and growth.

Ultimately, ‘GINGER‘ is a vast improvement from the experimental ‘Iridescence‘, however I can’t help but feel that the group is still stuck in the shadow of the ‘SATURATION‘ trilogy. That said, the production on this album is incredible and it is matched equally by great rap and sung performances from all members of the group. Who knows how long we’ll have to wait for another release, but if they continue the growth shown by ‘GINGER‘, listeners are in for a treat.

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