From Radio Disney to BROCKHAMPTON, Ryan Beatty has had a storied journey in the music industry. With the release of his third studio album, Calico, on the horizon, I thought it would be fitting to explore Beatty’s debut album. This body of work, Boy in Jeans, sees Beatty truly express himself for the first time. With its beautiful idiosyncratic sound and openly, honest lyrics, Boy in Jeans conceptualizes the feelings of desire, curiosity, and bliss in a queer context. It is a stunning work of art that still holds up years after its release.
Living in his “farm driven and very conservative” hometown of Fresno, California, Beatty first entered the industry at a young age through YouTube as a sort of Bieber-esque pop star. With flowery songs reminiscent of Febreeze commercials and an AT&T “It Can Wait” collaboration, Beatty was all set for pop star status, but something wasn’t right; he felt like he was living a lie. In a 2018 interview with New Musical Express (NME), Beatty reflected on that time saying that “I felt like my identity wasn’t my own” (2). He continues and says that “I felt like I had to do what everybody wanted from me, and not what I wanted to do myself” (2). This disconnect between his public and personal identity eventually led to his departure from his record label and his coming out as a “raging homosexual” in 2016 (3). In his Instagram post caption, he wrote that, now, he “can finally breathe” which is a theme that can be felt in his debut album (3).
However, it wasn’t until a chance encounter with producer Calvin Valentine that this album truly came to life. While he was playing a small, intimate show in Venice singing a cover of Amy Winehouse’s “Valerie”, Beatty ran into Valentine who offered to work on some songs together (6). In their first session together the following week, Beatty said that he felt “so tapped into something that [he] had been yearning for and searching for” which resulted in the second track on the album “Euro” (6). Speaking of their first session together with NME, Beatty professed that “For the first time I felt comfortable in the studio. I was honest, and could write about what I wanted to write about” (2). This newfound freedom sparked a renaissance of music creation for Beatty which resulted in the album Boy in Jeans.
I loved the sound of this album. It has this dreamy, summertime feeling that truly captures the aura of desire and discovery. Though I had listened to a couple of songs from the album (“Cupid”, “Pink Floyd”, etcetera) already, when I finally listened to the album all the way through for the first time, I felt reborn. Beatty’s sharp, candid lyrics– reminiscent of Frank Ocean– paired with this beautiful, alluring production create this cohesive aura as he tells you stories of love, desire, and his own intimate experiences. Like what he said of his studio session with Valentine, this album feels like Beatty exhaling for the first time. There is freedom infused in every beat as he finally gets to share his personal stories with the right words, the right melodies, and the right pronouns.
He brings out this fresh, freeing emotion from the start on the first track “Haircut” as he happily exclaims “It starts right now” (4). On this first track, you can hear a short synopsis of how he arrived at the person he is now. From telling “another lie, another lie” to sacrificing the “sweet attention”, he tells his listeners and fans why he left the path he was on and how he finally feels like himself again (4). Even the title of the track– “Haircut”– serves as a metaphor for his rebirth as his true self. This first track truly sets the tone of the album as a sort of blissful recantation of his true experiences with love and life. Some of the other tracks (and lyrics) that I really enjoy from this album include “Cupid”, “God in Jeans” (“God is real/ He was sleeping in my bed last night”), “Powerslide”, and “Pink Floyd” (5).
This first album from Beatty truly set his status as a queer pop star, but I long for the day when albums describing an artist’s experiences– that happen to be queer– aren’t so rare that we find the necessity to characterize each one as “queer”. Like Beatty said in an interview with Notion, “I’m just trying to be myself” (1). For now, though, I believe there is still a need to do so to remind others that we’re here and we exist, but I hope someday in the future, songs and stories about love are just that. All that being said, I think that Boy in Jeans is truly a beautiful album that is definitely worth a listen.
- https://notion.online/ryan-beatty/
- https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-radar/ryan-beatty-queer-pop-brockhampton-boy-jeans-2361027
- https://www.teenvogue.com/story/ryan-beaty-comes-out-gay-instagram-twitter
- https://genius.com/Ryan-beatty-haircut-lyrics
- https://genius.com/Ryan-beatty-god-in-jeans-lyrics
- https://www.thefader.com/2018/07/24/ryan-beatty-boy-jeans-interview
- https://genius.com/albums/Ryan-beatty/Boy-in-jeans
I loved your blog post Kevin! I find it so interesting to learn more about Ryan Beatty I will definitely have to get around to listening to both of the albums you have written about thus far in your passion blogs. I also really liked how you talked about how Ryan Beatty said he was dealing with an indentity crises of trying to figure out who he is. I feel like this could really resonate with a lot of people feeling a similar way. Great blog post!
I definitely have to give this album a listen! It sounds very eye opening and like such a sigh of relief for Beatty, inspiring so many others who listen to his music. I think it’s amazing that he was able to find himself and discover freedom, translating this feeling into his songs and an album. Nice job!