There is an irreplaceable, irreplicable energy and all-encompassing identity orbiting the creative space of soul-infused Los Angelino by way of Miami, yet almost entirely indefinable enigma, Kyle Dion. His second career album and third project over the course of a half-decade, SASSY, speaks on a new moment for himself and for his music, all the while detailing what that moment says about our broad-strokes human now. Maybe it’s because his 2019 debut album, SUGA wallowed in the salaciously emotive and sensually explosive kind of material blurring Golden Era R&B with the debauchery of the Pornhub generation. Maybe it’s because one of his friends told him that his music wasn’t worthy of the kickback vibe. And maybe still, it’s as simple as his impulsive, addicting energy reflecting off of the cold, stale pandemic-era placidity that brought his new music into a new space. But most likely of all, Kyle Dion is – like most humans – complex. As a person and as an artist, he aims to push his boundaries, and with a voice like his, he also has the ingrained opportunity to push the boundaries of music and expectation altogether. At the end of the day, it seems that during the curation of his new chapter, his complexities leaned more toward the rooftop than the bedroom, and the outcome flies in the face of expectations on R&B music today; defying, too, that one can even label Kyle Dion as an R&B artist without completely undermining what is it that he’s building. With a whole lot of range, talent, and courage to be so expressly himself, Kyle Dion’s choice to be SASSY should be subsequently soundtracking more than the kickback, but also the evolution of self in all of his listeners searching for a little inspiration to be boldly, inwardly true.

 

No Rules. It’s an opening track title that serves, too, as pacesetter and mantra for the rest of the album to come.  High-energy, defiant, and fun-as-hell, the only way to know that this is the same soulful genius that put forth SUGA is through the crystalline spectrum of his incomparable vocal register. For 45 minutes, he takes that same spectrum, flips his demeanor – one pointedly more in line with who he really is as a person – and put forth his second gem in as many trips to the Neo-Soul bodega. But like the term R&B, Neo-Soul also falls short in its oversimplification of the auditory aesthetics at work.

 

For a small-scale focus on the range of just those aesthetics, one must simply take a look at the short list of features blessing SASSY with their own sounds. House and hip-hop transcendentalist, Channel Tres brings his deep-vocal, high-key immersive flow to the up-tempo, anthemic party anthem, Fix Vision; Silky soulstress, Kari Faux brings he unmissable texture to Purr; Mellow beach hook, Placebo folds in what has to be the most randomly perfect guest appearance of the year with Ja Rule; and Duckwrth’s quick tempo and lyrical prowess brings Drip into the most dizzying of party-fueled energies. It’s all over the place, but it’s all good vibes all the way through. And of course, SASSY is sassy, too.

 

Kyle Dion thrives in his innate ability to infuse his music with the antic-fueled layers of what must be an intimidatingly cool and confident personality to confront in person. In his fashion, and in the music videos that have so far been released to accompany the expanse of SASSY, Kyle Dion details himself as a uniquely artistic fashionista with a voice cut from stained glass and a vision unremovable from his sense of humor. Case and point: Parmesan where that hilarity is exaggeratedly on point. When it’s all said and done, the track may come to define the SASSY moment of Dion’s career. Exploding with one of the most addicting hooks in recent memory, bleeding with the inescapable energy on which this album was built, and coupled with an absurdist music video to boot that sees our Prince-reminiscent firecracker stuffing his face with spaghetti, stuffing his face between a costar’s legs, and subsequently having his head amputated with a guillotine all the while continuing on with his chorus, the entire creative sphere of Parmesan is a microcosmic glimpse into one of this generation’s most important up-and-coming stars exploring his talent without a sign of seriousness in sight. There’s something to admire about it, because the music is still so seriously good.