GINGER (album)

***GINGER*** (stylized in all-caps) is the fifth studio album by the American boy band BROCKHAMPTON. The album was released on August 23, 2019, through the band's label Question Everything and RCA.

The album features guest artists Deb Never, Ryan Beatty, slowthai, and Victor Roberts II.

## Background

On April 20, 2019, Kevin Abstract announced that he was working on the next BROCKHAMPTON album. According to a Beats 1 interview with Zane Lowe, Kevin said that could not finish his solo album *ARIZONA BABY* and that he needed something else to work on. The other project became *GINGER*. In the same interview, it was said that up to 100 songs were created for *GINGER*.

Leading up to the release of the album, Kevin posted on social media saying that he would have another solo album released during the summer, alongside new BROCKHAMPTON music. In an interview he compared *GINGER*'s sound to OutKast's hit song "Hey Ya!".

On June 20, a song from the album, titled "SUGAR" was found on TikTok and jukeboxes in some local bars. The full song was soon leaked online. This may have led to *GINGER*'s release being pushed back to August. It's been also suggested that "SUGAR" could have been the lead single for the album.

Members of BROCKHAMPTON were seen wearing merchandise with the words "GINGER" in public performances. On July 1, 2019, the theories that the next project would be titled "GINGER" were confirmed in a short teaser posted on BROCKHAMPTON's official social media. The video showed member Matt Champion tying his shoelaces while Merlyn Wood rapped a verse and had Bearface singing. The song would be later revealed to be "LOVE ME FOR LIFE."

The group also performed their song "BOY BYE" in Spain during their summer festival tour.

Another snippet/teaser was released midway through the month, this time featuring images of vocalists flashing while "ST. PERCY" played. This teaser announced that the album would be released in August 2019.

The band released the first single and music video for the album, titled "I BEEN BORN AGAIN" on July 31, 2019. Around this time, snippets of some songs were shared, including "NO HALO", "ST. PERCY", and "GINGER." The second single, again with a music video, was released for "IF YOU PRAY RIGHT" on August 7. Shortly before the release of the "BOY BYE" video on August 14, 2019, it was confirmed in an interview with Ryan Seacrest that the album would be released on August 23. The final music video before the release of the album came on August 21 titled "NO HALO", featuring Deb Never and Ryan Beatty.

BROCKHAMPTON also had a Beats 1 radio show named GINGER Radio that ran from August 21-23. In its second episode, it was said that Dijon recorded two songs with the group, titled "150" and "DAYLIGHT." These songs did not make it on the final album.

On the release date of the album, they had a free live show called FRIDAY THERAPY at the Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles, where they performed the full album plus other well-known BROCKHAMPTON songs. Guest artists that also performed at the venue included JPEGMAFIA, Dominic Fike, 100 gecs, and some features on the album (Deb Never and Ryan Beatty.)

On August 26, 2019, the group announced their HEAVEN BELONGS TO YOU Tour and released the music video for the title track, starring slowthai. It was also announced that slowthai would appear at most dates on the tour. Later, on September 10, three more dates and musical group 100 Gecs were added to the tour.

On August 29, 2019, the group released the music video for "DEARLY DEPARTED". The video was initially teased in a video posted on their special GINGER instagram page.

On December 10, 2019, the group released the music video for "SUGAR". A censored version appears on YouTube while an uncensored version appears on the group's website.

The band has released videos snippets for "LOVE ME FOR LIFE" with one being the first *GINGER* teaser, one featuring JOBA's verse only, and one featuring Kevin's verse. The band has also done the same for "SUGAR", posting a video of Dom performing his verse on September 1, 2019.

### **Scrapped**

 150
 DAYLIGHT

## Features

* Deb Never ("NO HALO")
* Ryan Beatty ("SUGAR", "VICTOR ROBERTS"; background in "GINGER")
* slowthai ("HEAVEN BELONGS TO YOU")
* Parker Mulherin ("LOVE ME FOR LIFE")
* Victor Roberts II ("VICTOR ROBERTS")

## Personnel

Refer to the official BROCKHAMPTON website for complete credits.

## Trivia

* Between leaks, snippets, and singles, only the tracks "HEAVEN BELONGS TO YOU", "DEARLY DEPARTED", "BIG BOY", and "VICTOR ROBERTS" were not heard by fans before the album's release.
* On the back of the cover for *iridescence* (2018), it was said that *iridescence* was the first album in a new album trilogy. It is widely believed that this trilogy was scrapped.

## References

1. ↑ https://twitter.com/kevinabstract/status/1119809831420850176
2. ↑ https://hypebeast.com/2019/7/brockhampton-ginger-first-music-teaser
3. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/BzSWRxyAFBU/?utm\_source=ig\_web\_copy\_link
4. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7M1DPmfUi9g
5. ↑ http://brckhmptn.com/
6. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/BzZVQtIAWcV/?utm\_source=ig\_web\_copy\_link
7. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/BzZctz0nH-T/?utm\_source=ig\_web\_copy\_link
8. ↑ https://twitter.com/kevinabstract/status/1166879504196866048
9. ↑ https://twitter.com/kevinabstract/status/1168382492019240960