Chicago singer, songwriter, and guitarist Joey P. returns with playboy, his first new music in a year and a project that signals a deliberate shift without abandoning the vocal identity that has defined his work. Following 2024’s DYING TO LIVE and the success of “Only One,” Joey is stepping back into the spotlight with something less interested in proving a point than expanding the world he has already built.
That distinction matters. The underground R&B space is crowded with artists who can manufacture atmosphere, but Joey’s appeal has always depended on the tension between atmosphere and personality. His airy croon gives his music its recognizable center, while the production leaves enough space for that voice to feel intimate rather than buried beneath aesthetic choices. playboy, created with Sanato and Sandro Carr, appears to push that balance into a more mature direction.
The project’s own description of Joey’s sound as “astral R&B” is unusually fitting. There is a sense of distance and suspension to the aesthetic, but the emotional core remains grounded in desire, self-belief, and personal growth. The teaser for “right there,” which drew more than 2,000 listens on its first day, offers an early indication of that approach. Rather than relying solely on immediacy, Joey seems increasingly interested in building a mood that lingers.
Still, playboy is not without a potential weakness. A sound built heavily around atmosphere can sometimes become too comfortable with its own haze. Joey’s strongest opportunity here is to keep pushing the songwriting and lyrical specificity alongside the sonic evolution. The crooning remains a strength, but the next stage of his development will depend on how much emotional detail he can place inside that increasingly polished framework.
What makes playboy significant is that Joey P. is not treating growth as a complete break from his past. He is refining a language that already belongs to him while testing how far it can stretch. For an artist emerging from Chicago’s independent scene with an increasingly international audience, that kind of progression may prove more valuable than reinvention for its own sake.
Featured Image: Artist Supplied
