Following the release of her third solo album, Beard, and hot off the heels of her European tour, we caught up with Syd to discuss growing out her facial hair, finding freedom in her 30s, and the long-awaited return of The Internet.
Photography by Nabil
For almost a decade, Syd has been the soft masc soundtrack of our times.
Since The Internet’s Ego Death first introduced her to a wider audience, Syd – born Sydney Loren Bennett – has carved out a space in R&B that is distinctly her own. Across her work as a singer, songwriter and producer, she has become one of the genre’s most recognisable queer voices, seamlessly weaving her love for women into her music.
With her latest album, Beard, the 34-year-old is stepping into a new chapter, no longer defined by heartbreak and with a newfound sense of security. The music mirrors this ease, moving between bouncy feel-good grooves and soft, sensual love songs – plus an adorable music video starring her wife! After buying her first home in Los Angeles three years ago, she found new inspiration in her surroundings, with her sapphic lyrics spilling onto the page and into our ears. “I am very inspired by where I am. I love new environments,” she tells Gay Times.
The title Beard is both a metaphor for maturing and a literal embrace of her own facial hair. While making the album, Syd began letting her moustache and chin hair grow, realising she preferred the way she looked with a little peach fuzz. “I realised I didn’t like having a bald upper lip, like I used to,” she says. “Things change.”
“I’ve found some peace, and acceptance of who I’ve always been."
It is a small act of self-acceptance that speaks to something much bigger. Whether it is growing older, buying a home, getting married to model Simone Clay, or simply becoming more comfortable with the person she has always been, Syd seems less interested in reinventing herself than in releasing herself from the expectations that once shaped how she existed. “I’ve found some peace, and acceptance of who I’ve always been,” she says.
As one of R&B’s most visible queer women, Syd has also witnessed first-hand how much space has opened up for sapphic artists in the genre. Yet while the rise of queer R&B has brought new visibility, it has also brought new labels, from Les&B to Strap&B, and questions about whether categorising queer music creates community or simply another box for artists to fit inside. Syd, for one, sees the labels as something to have fun with, rather than take too seriously. “If the Grammys creates a Les&B category, then we’re gonna have to have a conversation,” she jokes.
Following the European leg of her latest tour, we caught up with Syd over Zoom to talk about finding freedom in her 30s, getting married in what she calls a “radical safety precaution” and what comes next for The Internet.
It's been pretty chill here at home – not chill, it's been hot as hell, actually in LA. And I've been working on the next tour. I've been designing the stage and the lighting. My time at home is usually spent [outside] or in my garage.
Thanks! Shout out to Nova Wav, I did both of those with them.
For one, not being in a broken-hearted state and not feeling like I have to put that on wax. Also I wrote this album from a different environment, physically. I had this house. I've been here for three years, which is about when I started making the album. And so, that was really important to me because just having my own house was a huge goal for me for a long time. I am very inspired by where I am. I love new environments.
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