ARTIST OF THE MONTH - UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL
Honey Bxby is reinventing R&B on her own terms. With unabashedly intimate lyrics and a bold personality to match, the singer injects a refreshing dose of rugged realness into the genre. “I’m like a rapper in a singer's body,” says the New Jersey songstress, who’s brought her propulsive, provocative songs to spaces typically held for rap artists, like On the Radar. “You’re not gonna expect what comes out of my mouth, and I live what I speak. I'm unapologetically myself; sweet, sticky, and raw.” Honey continues on that assertive journey with her Warner Records debut EP, Raw Honey.
The diaristic set embodies its title as the singer invites listeners to flip through the deeper and more vulnerable pages of her story. “I took time to rediscover myself and figure out what direction I wanted to take,” Honey explains. “I wasn’t worried about what other people wanted. I just recorded this EP feeling more open, confident, and definitely more selfish in the best way.”
That intentionality is woven throughout Raw Honey, as she dives into new realms of R&B that showcase her versatility. The boss chick that audiences met on 2023’s 3 Words, 8 Letters EP is still there, holding down the music’s core, but rounded out by experience and growth with tender ballads, dancefloor anthems, and moments of modern lush musicality — as heard on “Right on Time.” The single’s lilting, subtly psychedelic guitar envelopes you in sweetness before jolting you back to reality as Honey kicks her lover to the curb: “Half of you but wanting all of me / Boy I just wish you just let me be / Cause Tyrone is outside and he’s calling me … and he’s right on time.”
“The message is: ‘What you won’t do, another man will.’ Everybody needs to be reminded when somebody screws you over, don't be so caught up about it because somebody else will treat you better,” Honey says, laying out a core tenet of the philosophy that carries her through this world. “There are 8 billion people in the world. I'm not about to sit here and stress about you.”
“Laying in His Bed” shows Honey’s cheeky side as she details a soap opera-worthy love triangle too fun to care about getting caught in. “You up in my head / I’m up in his bed / I’m thinking ’bout you,” she coyly sings atop a funky percussive beat that calls back to Prince’s ’80s glory days. “If my personality had a sound this would be it,” Honey says. “Very bubbly, very carefree, but still very R&B. This song is giving 24-inch extensions in a pink drop-top with my girls, talking shit!”
Other EP highlights include the delightfully vengeful (and already viral) “Left Eye,” anchored by a smart sample of Mobb Deep’s “Quiet Storm” and Honey’s slick lyrical homage to the legacy of TLC’s late, great Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes. But when she’s not busy pouring salt in her ex-lovers’ wounds, the singer admits to having feelings for a new prospect on the confessional “TIML.”
Honey’s unfiltered approach to music started at an early age — she’d spend hours studying the work of introspective storytellers like Drake and Kehlani, and her producer father helped unlock her songwriting gift as they began making music together. She performed privately for friends before uploading covers online, but in 2023, she burst onto the scene with her viral “Touchin’,” which earned praise from Mary J. Blige and an official remix from Busta Rhymes — a full-circle moment since her song samples his 1997 classic, “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See.”
With support from Karriem “KMack” Mack and Jameila Grant’s Rebirth Entertainment and James McMillan’s Art@War Entertainment, Honey subsequently dropped 3 Words, 8 Letters, opened tours for Sexyy Red and Flyana Boss, and graced stages (and screens) from BET’s Soul Train Awards to HOT 97 Summer Jam to Netflix's Rhythm + Flow. This spring, she’ll join SAINt JHN in support of his Festival Season Tour. But as her star continues to rise, Honey Bxby assures that her raw, Asbury Park-bred authenticity will remain at the forefront of her music. Of course, the fans already knew that.
