Indonesian rapper, singer, and producer Rich Brian has released a surprise new EP titled Brightside. The four-track project is out now HERE via 88rising / Warner Records. Listen to it now below.
On the EP, Brian said, “this project started from me making New Tooth and realizing how much I missed rapping, while doing melodies are fun, I wanted to remind people that I still love to rap. It’s short, it’s not an album, but I see it like a mental note of how the past year has accelerated my growing-up process as an artist & a person.”
Directed by the reggies (bbno$ & Rich Brian, Zack Fox, Kenny Beats, Aluna, Kaytranada), Brian also releases a new music video for the project’s high-energy focus track “Getcho Mans,” which features 88rising labelmate Warren Hue, and was entirely shot on film. The fast-paced music video captures the Indonesian rappers trading bars in a surreal visual that intensifies as clones of Rich Brian and Warren Hue invade the scenes and culminate into an all-out brawl.
On focus track, “Getcho Mans,” Brian said, “I remember hearing this beat for the first time and immediately astral projecting, me and Warren were very caffeinated in the studio that day and decided to Dragon Ball fusion on this track, this song has a lot of words in it, but it’s okay because it makes me feel invincible & I hope it makes you feel the same.”
The 22-year-old paved the way for Brightside with the November release of “New Tooth.” The track has already amassed 7.5M+ streams across platforms and over 2.7 million YouTube views on the theatrical self-directed music video. HYPEBEAST described how he takes “an introspective look at himself and encounters his feelings of self-doubt head-on, dropping bars at a rapid-fire pace.” Meanwhile, HipHopDX dubbed it “his best song yet,” writing that “‘New Tooth’ makes the most out of its nearly 4-minute runtime, ending with an outro that makes for a solid cliffhanger.” Not to mention, Bandwagon Asia hailed it as “hard-hitting, introspective, and thrilling.”
Head In The Clouds Festival at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA. MTV praised the experience as “pure jubilance” and wrote, “During headliner and early label-signee Rich Brian’s performance of flamboyant track ‘Edamame,’ backup dancers popped and locked while dressed up as the titular soybean.” Brian will also make his debut performance at Coachella this April.
Brian recently made history by becoming the first Indonesian artist to attract 10 million monthly listeners on Spotify. Stay tuned for more soon.