The Chicago Singer-Songwriter Leans Into Growth, Glow, And Underground Momentum
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Joey P. has spent the last few years building a world that feels half-lit and magnetic, a place where late-night R&B, street-level grit, and a little cosmic haze can all live in the same breath. On playboy, the Chicago singer-songwriter and guitarist opens a new door without abandoning the croon that made listeners lean in the first time. The result feels polished but still personal, like a voice cutting through fog with a steady hand on the wheel.
For anyone following Joey’s run, the momentum is hard to miss. He has carved out a lane in Chicago’s underground scene with a catalogue that already carries real weight, and the response has travelled far beyond the city. That reach matters, but what makes playboy click is the way it sounds like an artist refusing to coast on attention. This is Joey stretching, testing the edges of his own signature. The project arrives with a mature, evolved sound that keeps the trademark crooning intact while letting in fresher textures and a little more room to breathe.
There’s a reason his style has started to be called “astral RnB”. It fits. His music often feels suspended between worlds: smooth, nocturnal, and faintly celestial, but grounded by the kind of emotional detail that keeps it from floating away. On playboy, that balance is sharper. The collaboration with Sanato and Sandro Carr gives the EP a clean, modern frame, and the two new listening experiences are designed to reward both longtime followers and newcomers stepping in at the door.
The teaser for right there
landed with immediate pull, hinting at the kind of detail Joey knows how to make linger. Even without over-explaining itself, the track suggests a project built on atmosphere and instinct, where every melodic turn feels considered. Joey has always had a knack for making vulnerability sound cool without sanding off its edges, and that instinct seems alive here. The songs don’t beg for attention; they hold it.
That confidence feels earned. After the success of DYING TO LIVE
and the reach of Only One
, Joey had a lot to deliver, and playboy sounds like a measured answer rather than a victory lap. It’s the sound of an artist who understands that growth isn’t always loud. Sometimes it arrives in the grain of a vocal, the shape of a hook, the way a beat settles under the skin.
Joey puts it plainly: “Life is good, I’m a version of myself I used to dream of. It’s possible, anything and everything that you want…it’s possible.” That line hangs over playboy like a quiet thesis. The EP doesn’t chase reinvention for its own sake. It feels like a confident step forward from someone who knows exactly where he stands, and has the songs to prove it.
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