Giveon’s ‘Beloved’ Album Is Out – The Best R&B Album of the Year

Three years after his debut album Give or Take, Giveonreturns with Beloved, a stripped-back, emotionally weighty R&B project that favors subtlety over spectacle. Released via Not So Fast/Epic Records and executive produced by Sevn Thomas, the album marks the end of a long creative stretch that Giveon describes as “over a thousand days” in the making. The time away hasn’t just refined his sound—it’s recalibrated his perspective.

Rather than pivot toward trendy production or formulaic hooks, Beloved stays grounded in Giveon’s comfort zone: minimal, analog-rich arrangements, and lyrics that pull from real-life emotional detours. There are cinematic strings, warm drums, and moments of real vulnerability, but the album resists overstatement. It’s intentionally slow-moving, often demanding repeated listens before it clicks.

Giveon’s signature baritone remains central—understated but magnetic. His voice doesn’t reach for melodrama; it sits in the discomfort, allowing space for both clarity and confusion. On tracks like Keeper and Twenties, he reflects on love not just as heartbreak, but as a formative force that shaped the person he’s become. These aren’t just relationship songs—they’re records of introspection.

There’s a noticeable shift in Giveon’s writing since his earlier work. Where songs like Stuck On You once leaned on romantic ache, Beloved zooms out to take stock. He examines not just the breakups, but the lessons left behind. Mud and Strangers explore the murky space between blame and understanding, while Rather Be finds him surrendering not to love, but to its inevitable aftermath.

In interviews, Giveon has spoken about his desire to protect the roots of soul music and resist digital over-saturation. That ethos is all over Beloved. The production avoids excess polish. The emotions aren’t filtered. Even when the album occasionally drifts—some songs don’t quite land or feel too similar in tone—its commitment to staying raw gives it a quiet strength.

Beloved won’t shift the genre overnight, nor does it seem like it’s trying to. But it’s a meaningful step forward for an artist who clearly values patience—his own and his listeners’. In an R&B landscape increasingly shaped by fast content and borrowed aesthetics, Giveon’s decision to stay in his lane feels less like nostalgia and more like resistance. And maybe that’s what makes this album resonate the most.