Key Takeaways

• Solace is the second half of Bryson Tiller’s double album, Solace & The Vices.
• “Whatever She Wants” from Slum Tiller Vol. 2 helped Tiller embrace a more honest, unfiltered sound.
• Tiller says the new project reflects his mindset without pressure from the industry or outside expectations.

On Thursday (Oct. 2), Bryson Tiller dropped off Solace, the second installment of his double album Solace & The Vices. If the new body of work feels like a glimpse of the vulnerable man behind radio hits, it’s because it is.

The LP lists 12 tracks with productions to soundtrack the autumn months. Tiller leans into his trap-soul roots without guest appearances. Where The Vices boasted bravado and lyricism and featured Bossman Dlow, Rick Ross, Plies, and others, Solace delves into stories about love and settling down.

His daughter, Harley, adds a personal touch to the reflective project on the outro. She affirms his talents by saying, “Daddy, you are a superstar at singing. You make me happy right now. You sing really, really, really, awesome.” In a new Apple Music interview with Zane Lowe, the Kentucky native credited his SoundCloud mixtape series Slum Tiller for laying the foundation for his craft to become tactfully entangled with the man behind the artist persona.

The catalyst for a shift presented itself as he was working on his self-titled album, released last April. Bogged down by the process, he took a break to create more freely. “I ended up having one of the biggest rap songs of last year, which is ‘Whatever She Wants,’” he said. The hit was made in Miami during a time when Tiller was “just having fun and releasing the restraints, you know, freeing myself of the restraints that they were giving me.”

“Whatever She Wants” gave Bryson Tiller permission to unleash his truths

“I was really uncomfortable, actually, when that song came out because I was like, ‘Ah man, this is like, I’m talking kind of reckless on here… I’m rapping too,'” he told Lowe. He added, “It took off, and it ended up being the most successful song on that album [Slum Tiller Vol. 2]… It’s the only reason why I would say RCA is happy with the album. Because it has all these numbers.”

The “Don’t” crooner remarked, “That was my breakthrough of like, okay, you know what, maybe being uncomfortable is good.” That freedom of expression carried over into Solace. He confessed, “I was just like... ‘I’m just going to say what’s on my mind, things that might make me uncomfortable. I’m gonna start doing things I wouldn’t normally do…’ Like showing my personality without caring about how people are going to perceive it or feel about me. I just don’t even care.”

Check out the full Apple Music interview below, where Tiller talks about needing a mentor to transition into the industry and how he’s coping with fame a decade after his debut album, T R A P S O U L.