Fireboy DML - Playboy (2022)

Fireboy DML’s third studio outing sees him shift moods entirely—from the vulnerable, introspective, and romantic persona he revealed on 2019 ’s Laughter, Tears & Goosebumps and 2020’s APOLLO, to the self-assured and unmistakably confident mindset that characterizes this project. That shift was born out of an episode of writer’s block.

“I started working on the project in late 2020, early 2021, but I got stumped,” the artist born Adedamola Adefolahan tells Apple Music. “That was my first-ever writer's block. I was panicking. I was all over the place, thinking I’ve lost my mojo. It was really weird. But I think I grew very fast. I’d given so much of myself into APOLLO that I lost myself for a while. But I spoke to [YBNL label boss and recording artist] Olamide, who told me I just needed to get out of that environment. So, I booked my very first flight to the United States.”

Recording his hit single “Peru” in San Francisco turned out to be just the thing to unlock his creativity. “The experience of seeing that song blow up opened up my mind again,” he explains. “Like, ‘Yo, you’ve been overthinking everything. You’ve been overthinking your songs, your music, your creativity, your output. It’s time to relax and let the universe just take you wherever the universe want to take you to.’ And that gave me a direction for the album.”

Across 14 tracks, Fireboy learns to loosen up. “‘Playboy,’ in this sense, does not connote the playboy that we are familiar with—women, pools, lingerie, doing great stuff,” he clarifies. “This is the phrase ‘boy, play.’ I’m ready to come out to play. I’m ready to step into my superstar element. I’m ready to be more expressive. Not careless, but carefree—someone that’s willing to come out and play, and just have fun and relax. I was always holding back—now, I’m telling my truth.” Here, he breaks down key tracks from Playboy.