Steve Lacy and Syd, the two most prominent voices of R&B group The Internet, released solo albums on the same day, July 17, and NPR reviewed them together. Lacy's album is called Oh Yeah?, and Syd's is Beard, and the two records arrive under very different circumstances: Lacy answering the meteoric breakthrough of his 2022 single "Bad Habit," and Syd continuing a more under-the-radar solo arc.
The Internet emerged as a post-Odd Future project blending R&B, rap, jazz and neo-soul, and landed a surprise Grammy nomination for its 2015 album Ego Death. The band has wrestled with balancing solo ambitions against staying a unit ever since, and Lacy's role shifted the dynamic further: its most junior member became its most famous almost overnight when "Bad Habit" went viral, becoming the first song to top both the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot Rock & Alternative Songs charts at once.
On Oh Yeah?, Lacy leans into a bisexual playboy persona wrestling with commitment, singing on the SZA duet "is it cool?" that "you ain't gotta trust me to love me, baby." NPR's Sheldon Pearce writes that the album trades Lacy's usual pop-funk for a muted, rock-inflected sound, with lyrics meant to mirror what Lacy has described as conversations with him: "a thought here and something profound there, and then a joke right after that."
Syd's Beard takes the inverse position, presented as a more fully realized, entirely self-produced record that folds Afrobeats, bossa nova and synth soul into her usual laid-back register. On the song "2 Many Days," she sings, "nowadays, everybody knows us, seems like I've accomplished so much, but inside, I've been feeling so rushed," a rare moment of visibility breaking through her typically unbothered persona.
In a recent Popcast interview, Internet member Matt Martians said the three central members are planning a group album for 2027, explaining, "we want to do things that aren't money plays with the Internet." Both solo records follow up on their own earlier album announcements: Lacy's Oh Yeah? and Syd's Beard, both filed under R&B and soul.
The facts
- Steve Lacy's Oh Yeah? and Syd's Beard were both released July 17
- Both artists are members of R&B group The Internet
- "Bad Habit" was the first song to top both the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop and Hot Rock & Alternative Songs charts
- The Internet's three central members plan a group album for 2027
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