Grizz
Black is Beautiful
self-released
Los Angeles’ Grizz is bookending 2026 with another LP length release, the recently released Black is Beautiful following on from January’s Nocturnal. And while both albums feature a mix of modern darkwave style tracks and collaborations, there’s an interesting trade-off when comparing them; Nocturnal was a rawer and often less developed set of songs that accurately captured Grizz’s charisma and creativity, Black is Beautiful feels more disciplined and stylistically focused sanding off some of the rougher edges that contributed to the charm and power of his music.
Positively, there are plenty of cuts that feels like a proper evolution of the club-ready sound Grizz has been working towards, building out more complete melodies and atmospheres. Where some of his earlier numbers could often feel musically minimal and totally reliant on his vocal charm to carry them, most of the numbers here sound more developed, with fully built-out arrangements. Cuts like “Exit Plan” feature a nice balance of synth strings, arps and basses that have both a classic darkwave appeal and emphasis on melody, but could also work in a modern dancefloor context without falling into the repetitive traps common for generic electro version of the genre. And there are some subtle variations to keep things from getting samey, such as “Dark Witch” with frequent collaborator Vick Vapors, which brings in hazy 2010s atmospherics common to witchhouse, and “Damnation” which allows Grizz to sing in a quavering tenor conveying wounded emotion. It’s all very dialed in, and cuts like the melancholic “80’s Dead” show the artist’s versatility and capacity for emotional delivery where required.
Then again, the general consistency of the record does exclude some of Grizz’s most interesting stylistic endeavours. The inclusion of older single “Dead Disco Dancer” brings this home, its awkward vocoded synthpop standing in contrast to the smoothness of the songs surrounding it. It’s not like it’s a better song (and in fact it sounds a lot rougher vocally and in terms of production), more that Grizz’s catalogue up ‘til this point has been defined heavily by his willingness to try all kinds of different styles on for size, from the pulsing minimal EBM a la “Club Flesh” and deconstructed to the edgy synthwave of Male Tears collab “Sioux So Pretty”, which does make an appearance here in its Qual remix version. Those sounds weren’t just welcome, but really did help define Grizz’s persona as a performer, capable of applying himself to dark music of many stripes. The trade-off is undoubtedly worthwhile in terms of making a record that feels unified, and Black is Beautiful should act as a calling card for Grizz as he continues to garner attention and fans. With any luck his refined approach here will lead to him bringing some of his more experimentalist tendencies back into the fold in future.
