![]() ![]() How did you land on the album title Since I Have A Lover ? All those little bits and pieces have made me feel better waking up in the morning, it’s made me feel like I have less weight on my shoulders. I had to honor myself, do what makes me happy, keep up a schedule and routines. I needed to stop prolonging situations because I was scared of what might happen. I needed to go to therapy, I needed to figure out how to talk about things that didn’t make me comfortable. ![]() That was harder to actually act on than most things I’ve had to fix in my life. It took a second of me really looking at myself in the mirror, being honest and saying: I am not doing as much work on myself as I claim to be doing and want to be doing on myself. I can’t thrive unless I’m around people who are constantly trying to better themselves as individuals. A better me equals a better you equals a better us. Has learning to love yourself better in recent years affected how you love others? You were once well known for your heartbreak songs, but this latest album feels a little more idealistic and romantic. There’s been a pretty clear thematic shift in your music. I’ve always drawn from love and my relationships as a way to create - whether that’s heartbreak music, reflective music, in-a-better-place music my relationships have never really stopped me from wanting to create. It made me look at love for what it really is and not just what my idealistic view of it was. It’s not always flowers, it’s not always romance. It made me more aware of the ups and downs of being in a relationship. It made me figure out what unconditional love really consists of, what patience really consists of. It went from the idea of: I’m always at home, I love to be at home - and then you realize you can’t go outside, you can’t have the extra space you need, and it forces you to really look at yourself and at the person you’re with. ![]() How did the pandemic affect your romantic life and your idea of romance?īeing forced to share space with someone was a test that we hadn’t necessarily had to go through as a generation yet, it was brand new. This album strikes me as deeply romantic at a time when, post-pandemic, romance seems to be in a kind of crisis. spoke with the artist about his new record, which dropped March 24, and how he got to this point. A vast departure from his previously sepulchral sound, SIHAL is breezy, with a psychedelic palette and paeans to romance and self-love. With the release of his third album SIHAL (Since I Have A Lover), 6lack has transcribed that healing into sound. "What I learnt through that was that I didn’t really need solutions, I just needed to say things out loud," he tells. He relived his past so that he could shape his present with intention. He bulldozed himself and built 6lack back up. He gained hundreds of millions of streams, a devoted fanbase, three GRAMMY nominations. In the mid-2010s, 6lack established himself as one of the doyens of introspective post-Soundcloud rap and R&B. It’s been almost half a decade since 6lack (real name Ricardo Valdez Valentine Jr.) last released an album. Then, before sundown, he posted a photo of his found wallet on Instagram that his wallet has been found. Case in point: soon after our call, 6lack loses his wallet. For 6lack, the universe moves in pointedly poetic ways. Patrick’s Day for someone so given to superstition - his stage name is both a testament to Atlanta’s Zone 6, where he grew up, and his penchant for numerology - it’s unsurprising that the rapper and musician is dressed head-to-toe in green. 6lack enters our Zoom call wearing a forest green beanie and hoodie. ![]()
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