Credit: Interivew Magazine

If you talk to any die-hard Brockhampton fan, they’ll have a different moment that made them fall in love with the group. Whether it was hearing the opening seconds of Heat on SAT I, Gummy on SAT 2, or Boogie on SAT 3, everyone has a different answer. For me, hearing Boys for the first time while I was searching for the Charli XCX song of the same name made me a huge fan. While it’s not necessarily their biggest song, or their best, the way the group clicked for me still draws me in, even to this day.



The Brockhampton fanbase, in many ways, doesn’t seem to know what they want. Many members are happy that ex-member Ameer Vann was removed, due to multiple sexual assault allegations. However, go to a live show, and you’re very likely to run into at least a couple of fans that long for Ameer back, despite his flows getting somewhat dragging by Saturation 3. This is in part due to unreleased snippets from scrapped album Puppy, as well as a CDQ song called Ready For War, showcased in the band’s documentary The Longest Summer in America. It’s hard not to imagine the divergent path the band would have taken had Ameer stayed in the band, but for a group that bills itself as socially responsible, then there was only one real choice.



It’s hard enough to rank the Saturation Trilogy in an order that a majority of the fanbase agrees with — it’s even harder when you throw in Iridescence, this year’s singular release from the group (worth noting, when they dropped 3 independent albums last year). Having signed to RCA for $15 million dollars, it could have been expected that the band might take a step towards a more palatable sound — but what resulted was quite the opposite.



With the amount of members Brockhampton has, it’s not hard to note who shines on each release, and Iridescence saw Joba and Bearface step to the front. This resulted in a sound quite distinct from the Saturation Trilogy, and instead transition towards more experimental production — quite reminiscent of PC Music. To forget Brockhampton’s production would be to forget a central tenet of the band — Romil Hemnani helps shape the sound of the band, arguably more than everyone (and has the best eyebrows in the band to boot). Along with Jabari Manwa and Kiko Merley, one of the reasons Brockhampton are so versatile is the fact that they are able to keep their production in-house, whilst having multiple contributors.



The question is — where to next for the boyband? Clearly, their reputation is growing, both amongst hip-hop and non hip-hop fans. If recent performances are to go by, the band is going from strength to strength, gaining a reputation for their live shows, as well as visiting more places than ever — their live shows in Australia featured some of the first performances of Iridescence, and were met with rave reviews — including from yours truly.

Brockhampton might be the world’s greatest boyband, but they’re still, at their heart, making music for themselves. With ringleader Kevin Abstract driving the show, it’s hard not to feel that sometimes, the direction they might be taking won’t be a continuation of the Saturation Trilogy’s sound that everyone got hooked on in the first place. However, that’s OK — sometimes, you just have to trust those in charge to make the right decision. After all, that’s the reason we all fell in love with them.



PS. Sat 2 > Iridescence > Sat 3 = Sat 1