Rhythm Review: Syd Returns With Beard
Coming Into Her Own
Syd has spent most of her career sounding like someone who already knew exactly what she was doing. From her teenage years as a producer, engineer and DJ in Odd Future to co-founding The Internet and eventually establishing herself as a solo artist, she has rarely lacked direction. With Beard, her third solo album, Syd brings her most mature and developed sound to date.
Inspired by the facial hair she has learned to embrace, Beard uses a mustache as a metaphor for a much larger process of self-acceptance. Syd has described herself as a late bloomer, and the album reflects that perspective. At 34, married and settled into a life she feels grateful for, she approaches love, desire, mistakes and insecurity with a perspective that could only come from time. Instead of an album about self-discovery, Syd grows comfortable with who she is now.
Strength in Simplicity
Musically, Beard doesn't attempt to radically reinvent Syd's sound. Instead, it refines the alternative R&B and neo-soul influences throughout her solo career. Syd produced or co-produced 10 of the album's 12 tracks, marking the record’s consistency. Nothing feels overproduced, and the arrangements leave plenty of room for her voice, which works perfectly for an album centered around maturity.
Beard also contains some of Syd's catchiest material to date. "Callin", featuring Blu june, is the clearest example. Built around an instantly memorable hook, the track captures much of what makes Syd's music work at its best.
"Callin" stands out not only within Beard, but among Syd's catalogue as a whole. It’s simple, yet that gives it that instant replay value.
Other standout moments like "My Love" turns devotion into something cinematic, with its bossa nova-inspired instrumentation supporting her exaggerated promises of protection. On "Closet," she approaches intimacy more playfully, making space for someone in a life that she once might have preferred to keep private.
These songs demonstrate that Syd doesn't need complicated production or dense writing to make her music compelling. When the melodies are strong enough, her restraint becomes an advantage.
Love, Mistakes and the Life In Between
While Beard may represent self-acceptance, it isn't a record about having everything figured out. "Always Be Mine" confronts her history with alcohol and self-destructive behavior, with Jordan Ward joining her to describe the kind of relationship that keeps pulling both people back in. "Do Better" is more direct, with Syd acknowledging depression, anxiety and her own difficulty expressing affection.
That honesty continues through "GMFU," where Big Sean joins Syd to examine the strange dynamic of wanting someone who is simultaneously capable of hurting and healing you. "Any Time" takes a similarly complicated approach to romance, portraying two people who understand that a relationship is probably bad for them but continue returning to it anyway.
These moments prevent Beard from becoming a mere celebration of Syd's newfound stability. She may have reached a more comfortable point in her life, but comfort doesn't mean perfection. Instead, the album suggests that maturity comes from recognizing your patterns rather than pretending you have escaped them.
When the Calm Becomes Too Calm
The album's biggest weakness is also closely connected to its greatest strength. Beard is incredibly consistent, but that consistency occasionally works against it. Certain tracks sound quite similar, especially in the early run, and is more noticeable when the songwriting doesn't offer a strong enough hook to distinguish them.
"Any Time," for instance, is pleasant without being especially memorable, while parts of the second half can feel like variations on the same idea. This is particularly noticeable because "Callin" demonstrates how effective Syd can be when she combines that relaxed production with a genuinely infectious song. The contrast makes some of the quieter tracks feel less essential. Still, Beard doesn't need to be packed with huge moments to succeed. Its appeal comes from the way everything fits together.
Comfortable in Her Own Skin
By the time Beard reaches "2 Many Days," Syd sounds less interested in proving anything than she has at almost any other point in her career. The album's themes of love, sobriety, insecurity and self-acceptance simply become part of who she is now.
Beard isn't here to reinvent Syd. It is interested in what happens when an artist stops fighting the person she has already become. There are certainly moments when that calm could use more variation, but the record's confidence is difficult to ignore. Beard sounds like Syd at peace with her contradictions, her history and her place in the world. More than a coming-of-age album, it feels like the sound of finally realizing that growing up doesn't necessarily mean becoming someone new.