After six long years of no new albums, Devonté Hynes, also known as Blood Orange came out of hiding on August 29th of 2025 to release a new alternative R&B summer album named Essex Honey. This album consists of fourteen tracks and has many features from popular artists like Daniel Caesar, Mustafa and Coraline Polachek. The artist has recently regained his popularity on social media and many users have used his most popular song “Champagne Coast” to share bits of their summer fun. That song itself has over 397 million plays, and with over 11.2 million monthly listeners, Blood Orange is nowhere near being forgotten.

From what I know about the city of Essex, I believe that the album cover represents the moodiness that the location is known for in a hopeful, yet expected way. The boy pictured strolling down the sidewalk with his head down in his school uniform shows the listener that he is not excited for the day; the heavily used basketball and the backpack hanging so low on his back may represent the tiredness he feels. As for the environment, we know that it is a windy and gloomy day as we see the boy’s tie flowing in the air and the sun nowhere to be seen.

When I first saw the cover, I believed the album would be filled with long ballads, but after hearing the second track “Thinking Clean,” I was surprised by the fast tempo and playful piano in the background. The first track on the album is “Look At You” which is a little bit slower than the second, the lyrics express ideas of growing up and how your mind changes. I like the difference between the first two tracks on the album because it gives you a hint of how much diversity is expressed in the album.

My absolute favorite song on the album is “The Field” that has features from Tariq Al-Sabir, Daniel Caesar, Coraline Polachek and The Durutti Column. The songs on this album aren’t filled with voices, but instead unique sounds with many layers. 

Lyrics like, “Hard to let you go (Oh) / Healthy as we pray (Yeah) for a journey home (For a journey home)”, remind me of taking a trip and developing a new perspective on life after. To me, this song represents hopefulness and the feeling of not knowing what tomorrow will bring because of its positive beat and uplifting lyrics. 

I recommend this album to everyone reading because the variety of songs inside can relate to anyone no matter their mood, where they are in the world, or their age.