If I had to list my top five favorite artists of all time, Brent Faiyaz would certainly make the cut. I just started getting into Faiyaz very recently by listening to his last studio album “Wastleland” which was around the same time the artist began teasing his next studio album, “Icon.”

Following the release of “Larger Than Life” (all apologies to The Backstreet Boys), a mixtape Faiyaz released in 2023, Faiyaz went on a hiatus. After time away, he revealed he was working on “Icon” in 2025 and was expected to release it on September 19th, 2025. However, before dropping “Icon,” he stopped the drop in order to revise certain aspects of the album. As a result, the revised album reached the public on February 13th, 2026, with 10 songs listed on the album itself.

Before the release of the album, Faiyaz dropped two singles. The first was “Full Moon (fall in Tokyo), which Faiyaz released on August 8th, 2025. The song is just fantastic, with such a fantastic vibe. However, the song ended up being shifted to the director’s cut of the album, as well as being turned into “Stay Here 4 Life” by A$AP Rocky for ASAP’s 2026 album, “Don’t Be Dumb”, which still featured Faiyaz. The other single is “Have To,” which was released on Halloween 2025, an absolutely amazing song. Before the release of both “Have To” and “Full Moon,” Faiyaz also released two singles beforehand, titled “Tony Soprano” and “Peter Pan” on July 4, 2025, which both were also just amazing songs.

Now onto the main album itself. While it is not as good as “Wasteland” and “Larger Than Life,” the album is still solid in its own right. Besides “Full Moon”, the best song off of this album was “wrong faces,” which ranks as one of his best songs. I, like many of Faiyaz fans, believe that postponing the album’s release was the right decision, as it allowed for a far more emotional final product. Unlike the Don Toliver album “Octane,” I said the early portion of the album was fantastic, and while the first half was amazing, which does include “wrong faces,” the latter half of this album is definitely better and really reminded me of listening to “Wasteland” with songs like “four seasons” and “pure fantasy.”

Before getting into my final thoughts, I want to give such a huge shoutout to my friends from WCC (Westchester Community College) as not only as family to me, but for introducing me to Faiyaz. Had it not been for them, I don’t think I would have liked Brent this much, so this article is dedicated to all of them. “Icon” is a pretty good album, with some amazing music by Brent. If you are trying to get into Faiyaz and want something recent, this is a pretty good start.