So You Just Listened to Kevin Abstract’s ‘Blush’ — What Next?

Kevin Abstract's Blush is a genre-defying project assembled by the collective efforts of 17 artists that proves to not only be a love letter to Kevin’s hometown of Houston, but a showcase of these collaborating artists’ talents.

Written by Noah Keany

Photos courtesy of Prince and Jacob, *Ruben Plascencia*, *Jack Balaban*, *Mariah Aguirre, and* *SoGone SoFlexy*

Don’t know where to go next after listening to the mega-collaboration? Here’s a comprehensive guide to explore more from these artists.

The Love I Showed You Was Yours To Keep by Love Spells

Love Spells is a Houston-based project whose atmospheric pop is built around a voice that carries a weight that makes quiet songs feel heavy. The artist’s EP The Love I Showed You Was Yours To Keep exemplifies the layered, gauzy songwriting that surfaces on Blush with Love Spells’ features on “Yoko Ono” and “97 Jag.” The EP moves through longing and loss with a patience that refuses to rush toward resolution, pulling the listener into a space somewhere between grief and gratitude. Over a twangy guitar and delivery reminiscent of Cigarettes After Sex, the lead single “Lovers Only” tells a solemn story of lost love and watching someone move on with lines like, “I'm caught / In the plastic of your sea / If I was him, would you save me?” Soft, reverb-washed production gives each track a suspended quality, like a memory that faintly lingers. For listeners drawn to the more tender corners of Blush, Love Spells’ EP makes for a natural and rewarding next listen.

Slugger by DERBY

The Houston-based artist, DERBY, appears once throughout the album with the solo track “I Wasn’t There,” which largely differs from the rest of the album, adopting a country styling and acoustic guitar that teems with a uniquely Texas sound. The artist’s sophomore album Slugger, released the same year, builds on the artist’s style with a range of sounds from country to Hip-Hop to hyperpop. Pitchfork put it best when they described this album as reminiscent of Dijon, Alex G, and Frank Ocean with a distinctly rural setting to create a sonic world of sorrow.Slugger stories suffering from a heartbreak so crippling that it absorbs someone’s every thought. Country inspiration flows within every track through depictions of smoking guns, Christianity, sprawling skyscapes, and being drunk in a trunk bed, uniquely settling this album in Texas while avoiding pandering to stereotypical tropes. The album concludes with an equally tragic note in the lines “There’s a life out there in a different dimension / Where my kids would be sharing your eyes” in “Armored” and a solemn delivery that acts as a perfect thesis to the album’s despondency enveloped in a novel yet reminiscent soundscape.

“Room 64” and “one 4 the road” by Truly Young

Truly Young, the daughter of famous producer Dr. Dre, contributes to Blush with the swagger of an artist incredibly confident in her vision. Her two singles, “Room 64” and “one 4 the road,” blend experimental rock, pop, and lo-fi texture into something that resists easy categorization in the same way the album around them does. The production is unhurried and deliberately loose, creating space for a vocal delivery that feels candid rather than performed. Of the two singles released on Halloween of 2024 and 2025 respectively, “Room 64” in particular leans into a grittier, more propulsive energy, while “one 4 the road” carries an ambient warmth that echoes the mood of Blush at its most intimate within her features on “Girlfriend” and other tracks where her confident, yet light delivery acts as a standout moment. Both tracks signal an artist with a distinct sensibility that rewards boarding the hype train early.

Sunburn by Dominic Fike

Fike, the largest artist on this project, appears on the tracks “Geezer” and “Doggy” as the other half of his musical duo, Geezer, that he formed with Kevin Abstract. The musician also features on his solo track “Maroon” in which he produces a solo performance that echoes the catchy, indie-pop tracks of work on his third album Sunburn. The 15-track, 39-minute LP features power-pop band Weezer, from which Fike’s duo would get its name, and the hit track “Mona Lisa” from the movie “Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse.” The infectious pop chorus of, “Remember back when I could turn your face maroon? (I do) / Back when there was only space for two? (I do)” on “Maroon” clearly takes root in tracks like “7 Hours” and “Frisky” which share the track’s proclivity to root itself in your head. Fike’s 2023 project serves as the next best example of his pop capabilities for audiences who found him on Blush.

“Nueces County” and “F-15” by SoGone SoFlexy

SoGone SoFlexy is a Corpus Christi-born rapper whose music sits at the intersection of southern trap and soul, pulling from the same well of Texas pride that gives Blush its geographic pride. The artist appears on BROCKHAMPTON’s Roadrunner: New Light, New Machine alongside Kevin Abstract, and his four solo singles from the past year sharpen his style further. On Blush, SoGone SoFlexy comes in swinging with a hard-hitting verse on “Copy” that serves as a tribute to his hometown in his reference to S.P.I.D, the freeway that cuts through Corpus Christi. His 2021 track “Nueces County,” which refers to the county where Corpus Christi resides, leans into the deep-South melodicism of his voice, building atmosphere through production that feels rooted distinctly in Texas. “F-15” demonstrates his harder edge that is reminiscent of tracks like “H-Town” without sacrificing the emotional pull that makes him compelling. Both tracks reflect an artist expanding his range while staying anchored to the sound and geography that define him.

SCRAPYARD by Quadeca

Quadeca contributes to Blush as both a rapper, singer, and producer, and his album SCRAPYARD is where those three abilities intersect at their fullest. Tracks like “EASIER” mirror the introspective, sonically layered quality of his contributions to the project, applying the same careful construction to create sweet, yet uncomfortable tracks like “Abandon Me.” The album moves between moments of vulnerability like “GUIDE DOG” and harder-edged production on “GUESS WHO” that’s reflective of the Quadeca-produced track “NOLA” on Blush with a fluency that speaks to Quadeca’s background as a producer who knows how sound shapes meaning. Across the 15 tracks on Quadeca’s SCRAPYARD, he uses production that ranges between a mix of midwest emo and glitch hop on “A LA CARTE” that sets the ground for a moody reflection on a failed relationship. On the other hand, “GUESS WHO” creates a blend of experimental hip hop and trap metal that constructs a boastful celebration of the artist’s success and Hip-Hop roots. Where his features on Blush offer a compressed look at his range, SCRAPYARD gives that range room to breathe.

Arizona Baby by Kevin Abstract

Photo courtesy of *Question Everything, Inc. and RCA*

Kevin Abstract has spent the better part of a decade building a catalog that refuses to diminish his queerness, Texas identity, and musical ambition into separate concerns. As a founder of BROCKHAMPTON and a solo artist in his own right, Abstract’s work has always centered the experience of being a gay, Black man from Corpus Christi in a genre that has rarely made space for it. In this aspect, Arizona Baby is the clearest antecedent to the world of Blush, establishing the emotional and geographic vocabulary the album draws from with tracks like “Corpus Christi” and “American Problem” which put his identity in the spotlight with the latter discussing the discrimination he faced in school for being queer. For anyone looking to understand how Blush and Kevin Abstract came to exist, Arizona Baby is the essential record.

PLAYLISTSAfterglow ATXMarch 11, 2026kevin abstract, blush, arizona baby, playlist, Noah Keany, love spells, derby, brockhampton, quadeca