Introducing the 'See You Next Year' Class of 2022

When we started planning See You Next Year, we had no idea what was possible. This was Pigeons & Planes’ first attempt at making a proper compilation album. It’s something we’ve always wanted to do, but requesting original songs from rising artists is a big ask, especially for a project with no track record.

From the beginning, we knew we wanted See You Next Year to be all about the future. That’s what Pigeons & Planes has been interested in since day one: thinking forward, looking for what’s next in music, and championing artists who are taking risks and acts we believe have the chance to shape the culture of tomorrow. This isn’t a lineup of the hottest acts out right now, or the biggest names we could get. This is a reflection of where we believe music is heading, and only time will tell.

The second thing we knew is that we needed a roster of artists who showcased the genreless mindset that we and so many other music fans hold sacred. This isn’t a rap album, or an indie album, or a pop album. It’s a little bit of everything, sometimes all at once.

Putting together this project took months of behind-the-scenes work, and a lot of challenges that we’ll get into another time. But as far as getting the artists we wanted, that part was surprisingly easy. Keep in mind: these artists agreed to be a part of this project before we even had Mike Dean on board as executive producer. We appreciate it. Thank you to each and every one of these artists for their trust and for being open to a project that means so much to us. The inaugural See You Next Year class is a group of artists that we’ve been huge fans of since we first discovered them, and that we know are just getting started.

And thank you to Big.Ass.Kids. for helping bring this to life, the ADA team for their support, plus all the managers, creatives, and even the lawyers for making this project possible. We can’t wait to share this album, but to kick it off, here’s an introduction to the lineup of artists featured on the first ever installation of See You Next Year. See you soon.

Pre-save See You Next Year here, and check out Mike Dean’s new album intro track below.

Teezo Touchdown emerged in 2020 with metal nails poking out of his hair, a playfully surreal universe created through music and videos, and songs that included uplifting ballads, power pop anthems, and performance art-meets-rap. Tracks like “Sucka” and “Strong Friend” had us interested, but when we interviewed him for the first time we realized how unique Teezo Touchdown really is.

That first Q&A was unlike anything we’d ever done. The ​​Beaumont, Texas artist insisted that instead of typical responses to each question, he’d record a video performance of his answers in the form of songs. Best first interview with an artist ever.

Teezo’s larger-than-life persona (along with his fast success) stirred up some confusion among critics, but it also won him over plenty of new fans. One of those fans was Tyler, The Creator, who reportedly discovered the music video for “Sucka” in a group chat and was immediately impressed. Tyler eventually invited Teezo to appear on his album Call Me If You Get Lost, and to join him on the accompanying tour.

For his See You Next Year contribution, Teezo delivers another fantastic plot twist: his track is a full version of one of the songs he made to answer a question in that first video interview we filmed with him in 2020. Only this time, Mike Dean added some punch. It’s the perfect album opener (and the perfect intro music if we ever do a See You Next Year stadium tour), and another reason why we’ll forever be Teezo Touchdown believers. For now, check out his “Sucka” video below.

We first heard EKKSTACY in 2021, thanks to “i walk this earth all by myself,” a song that has remained embedded in our heads to this day. Since then, Vancouver-raised, LA-based artist has been steadily ascending. When we interviewed him toward the end of 2021, he was still developing his sound and figuring out his live shows. Less than a year later, he’s touring Europe, playing with a full band, and reaching millions of new listeners.

What initially drew us to EKKSTACY is his DIY approach to indie music—big hooks and classic melodies weaved together with a somber, handmade touch. But he’s capable of much more than that. The 20-year-old grew up listening to everything from Lil Peep and XXX to Mac Demarco and Elliott Smith, and more recently he’s been getting into post punk and electronic. On songs like “in love,” “it only gets worse, i promise,” and “then i met her” he proves that his deeply personal songwriting connects even as the style of music morphs and evolves, and that will certainly keep developing. “I don’t feel satisfied with my sound yet,” he told us last year. “I’ll take it way further.”

EKKSTACY has been through a lot for someone who just turned 20. Broken relationships, coming up as an outcast, and a near-death experience shape the gloomy perspective that seems to consume him at times. But when he puts that negative perspective into songs and visuals, it creates something powerfully relatable and moving. 

The song EKKSTACY delivered for See You Next Year was one of Mike Dean’s favorites, and hearing a Mike Dean outro on an EKKSTACY song is one of the highlights of our year so far. For now, check out “it only gets worse, i promise” from 2021’s NEGATIVE EP.

“Jazz school dropout at 21 / Disappointed my dad, did it just for fun / Had to choose between being broke and bored / So I cut my losses and I left New York,” Wallice sings on “23,” from her 2021 debut EP Off The Rails. She’s reminiscing about her path—Wallice attended the New School’s Jazz Vocal Performance program in New York but dropped out after a year and moved back to California, living at home with her parents and working on music with childhood friend and producer marinelli. It may have been hard at the time, but that decision is working out.

In 2021, Wallice signed with Dirty Hit (home of The 1975, Beabadoobee, Rina Sawayama), played her first festivals, and had a Spotify billboard in Times Square. She has emerged as a vital new voice in the indie pop and rock space and it feels as if the sky is the limit for this young singer. Wallice has an understated star power and writes lyrics that cut to the core of the uncertainties of life in your early twenties with a self-deprecating poetry and a wry smile.

Wallice’s singing style is low-key but impactful, especially when it comes to the hooks that burst forth from every song. From the excellent introduction of “Punching Bag” to the more intense “Rich Wallice” on her conceptual new EP 90s American Superstar, Wallice is yet to make a misstep as she builds towards an eventual debut album.

The iteration of Wallice that turns up on See You Next Year is not someone you want to mess with. She’s a high school bitch dispensing cruel put downs and knifelike one-liners towards anyone who crosses her path, while turning the microscope on herself at times, too. As you can see, Wallice came to the photoshoot dressed the part too, signature cowboy boots fully in effect. You’ll hear Wallice’s SYNY song soon, and can listen to her recent release “Funeral” below.

Terry Presume is a contortionist. He’s got the kind of tinny voice that slices through beats like André 3000 and bends around melodies like Young Thug, and there’s athleticism in the way he jumps across genres, tempos, and styles. 

The Florida-raised, Nashville-based artist declared his refusal to get too comfortable with the 2021 EP What Box? There’s old soul wisdom in Presume’s lyricism (and within his TikTok commentary) but it’s hard to imagine his music coming from any earlier era. He’ll sit rap verses next to country-ish hooks (“Did Me Wrong”), splice funk and hip-hop into one of the catchiest pop songs in recent memory (“Act Up”), and then deconstruct that funk and piece it back together for a disorienting but oddly satisfying stomper like “Zaza and Some Runtz.”

Despite the “anything goes” mentality of most artists who grew up with the internet, there’s still a stubbornness that so many musicians adopt once they’ve found their rhythm. If something is working, why change it? Why go through the sometimes painful exercise of trial and error or aimless experimentation? But Terry Presume thinks differently—“I never approach music with a preconceived idea,” he told us in 2021. “In fact, I’m not sure if I know how to.”

For his See You Next Year track, Terry surprised us once again with one of the most immediate earworms on the whole project. Until that’s ready for release, check out 2021’s “Act Up” below.

“I’m trying to blur the boundaries between artist and producer, between genres,” Baird told us in 2021. “All these arbitrary lines made up by the music industry. I think there’s something fun about trying things for the first time, so I just try a bunch of shit. I might write a rap in the morning, learn some Roy Orbison in the afternoon, and make a disco track that night. I’m really not an expert at anything.”

He may not consider himself an expert, but as a vocalist, producer, and multi-instrumentalist, trying a little of everything has paid off well. In 2021, while splitting time between Mexico City, Los Angeles, and his hometown of Baltimore, Baird released a project called BIRDSONGS, Vol. 2. It caught the attention of Brockhampton, who invited him to join the electric creative process that led to ROADRUNNER. He’s credited on multiple songs from that project, and soon after he released his best solo work yet with BIRDSONGS Vol. 3.

Although Baird plays with different genres and is always down to try something totally left-field, there are a couple of common threads through everything he touches: rich musicality and a human feel. Nothing sounds manufactured, and every decision conveys his curious and free-spirited process. On his See You Next Year song, this comes out in the form of a summer bounce and possibly our favorite Baird song yet. We’re obviously biased, but you’ll hear it soon enough. Below, check out “Lightning Of July” from the third BIRDSONGS installation.

Fana Hues emerged in 2020 with debut project Hues, an immersive collection of dreamy R&B songs that introduced an artist with a silky smooth voice and melodies for days. Growing up in a large, artistic family, Fana has been around music her whole life. Her father plays bass, guitar, and piano; her mother is a dancer, healer, and midwife; her brother raps; and her seven sisters grew up singing, some of them singing backup with her even today. The strong feminine energy in her family has profoundly shaped Fana’s upbringing: “It’s influenced how I move through the world,” she told us in 2020. As she released each new song, Fana built the world around her music with videos like “Icarus” and “Notice Me,” filled with lush nature shots and lovingly including her own family.

It was quickly clear that Fana was a talented storyteller and an artist with a clear vision, and the reaction to her debut project was resoundingly positive, not just from fans and press, but from fellow artists like Tyler, The Creator and Earl Sweatshirt. After Tweeting his support of her music, Tyler later tapped Fana to feature on “SWEET / I THOUGHT YOU WANTED TO DANCE” from his album Call Me If You Get Lost.

Momentum was high for Fana Hues leading into 2022 as she prepared to release her second project, flora + fana, and the March release delivered. The vocals and songwriting are compelling as ever, as Fana looks inwards and reflects on, “growth, love, heartaches, and breaks.” She adds: “The project is also representative of how I cope with the state of the world. No matter what's happening outside, my ecosystem is flourishing."

We always knew See You Next Year needed a smooth R&B moment, and Fana was the perfect fit. Her track is laid back and nostalgia-tinged, and listening feels like you’re in the passenger seat beside Fana, cruising with the windows down in the warm West coast weather. When we met up in New York, we also learned that Fana has been reading Pigeons & Planes for years, waking up and checking the blog to discover new artists before heading to high school. And as if we couldn’t like her anymore after learning that, Fana was also the first artist to get her demo for SYNY finished and sent to us, so thank you, Fana and team!

If you’re not familiar, catch up with Fana’s “bad BAD” from flora + fana below and get ready to enjoy for her See You Next Year contribution soon.

Before hyperpop was even a term that the average music fan understood, Brevin Kim was pitching up auto-tuned vocals, jamming together piercing synths with skull-rattling bass, and sprinkling hi-hats over piano ballads. The duo was always ahead of the curve, combining jarring experimentation with classic rock, pop, alternative, and hip-hop sensibilities that we’re just now starting to hear bleed into mainstream music.

Brothers Cal and Bren spent the first couple years of their music career as Brevin Kim residing in their hometown in Massachusetts, thriving mostly in the underground SoundCloud world and unconcerned with reaching a larger audience. Those early songs were promising, but niche.

That started to change in 2019. Their four-song EP cliff still had some of that “what is this?” factor, like the Dylan Brady-produced project closer “the wedding!” But tracks like “somebody, some body” showcased the pair cutting back on bells and whistles and revealing the raw talent that some saw all along. Since then, they’ve moved to Los Angeles and released music that makes their future even more clear—still plenty of forward-thinking production, but tracks like “Naples” and “COME TO GOD” hint at their alternative/pop potential (even though the Brevin Kim guys have mixed feelings about that “pop” label.) Whether they like that term or not, pop music could use some disruption, and Brevin Kim is perfectly positioned to bring it.

For their See You Next Year contribution, Brevin Kim delivered one of their hardest tracks to date, another Mike Dean favorite from the project that warranted a brain-melting outro from the synth god himself. Check out their new album PAIN MUSEUM in the meantime, and hear 2021 single “Naples” below.

When we reached out to see if redveil was interested in getting on See You Next Year, we didn’t know he was about to drop one of the most impressive hip-hop albums of 2022. The Maryland teenager even produced every song on the recently released learn 2 swim. That’s mind-boggling on the surface, but makes sense when you know that redveil has been working on his production skills since he was 11 years old.

redveil was just 16 when he popped up on our radar with niagara in 2020, an impressively consistent body of work from a wise-beyond-his-years artist with a lot on his mind. He rapped with clarity about everything he saw around him—the good, the bad, and the ugly—painting a vivid picture of growing up as a young Black man in testing times. Digging into his catalog revealed a technically gifted rapper who was comfortable over lo-fi, sample-heavy beats but also introduced a versatile artist who was experimenting with singing, producing his own beats, and was as in-tune with the latest wave of SoundCloud rap as he was with Earl Sweatshirt.

Gaining support from his contemporaries who grew up on the internet as well as artists and rap fans many years his senior, redveil has made smart moves and built a solid foundation for his burgeoning career. A string of interesting collaborations and loosies in 2021 led to a new album in April, learn 2 swim, released on his 18th birthday. On this album, the beats are multi-layered and richly textured, and redveil introduces more melody into his music, singing with confidence. Of course, he’s rapping with purpose and clarity as well, growing and evolving in front of our eyes to cement his place as one the most exciting new faces in rap.

With opening slots for Freddie Gibbs and then Denzel Curry on tour this summer, redveil is bringing his music to the masses, and we’re excited to have a new redveil song on See You Next Year, too. Continuing his growth as a vocalist as well as a producer, redveil does it all on his contribution to the album, which will be yours to enjoy very soon. In the meantime, “pg baby” from learn 2 swim is a good place to start.

Dreamer Isioma is doing things the right way, building a sustainable career as an artist by making deep connections with listeners through honest music, events that put the focus on community, and a message of empowerment for all. Whether the first generation Nigerian-American artist is blending indie pop, R&B, soul, hip-hop, or rock, their personality shines through, a little quirky but always thoughtful and self-assured.

The nonbinary rockstar is providing the representation they didn’t see in music growing up, and the music is resonating, with Dreamer’s 2020 single “Sensitive” (released under their former name Serena Isioma) achieving viral success months after it was first released and racking up over 100 million streams to date. That year, they released two EPs, Sensitive and The Leo Sun Sets, building a genre-agnostic catalog and showing growth with each new offering.

By the time 2022 came around, Dreamer was ready to release their new album Goodnight Dreamer and embark on their first North American headline tour. Everything is in the right place for Dreamer, and it’s been a pleasure to follow the journey from early SoundCloud releases and swelling buzz to a successful artist with so much opportunity in front of them.

“I put my soul into everything I release. No matter what it sounds like, it will make you feel something beautiful,” Dreamer told us last year. Their See You Next Year contribution is no different—a woozy track with thought-provoking lyrics and an introspective air. Not only did Dreamer deliver a brilliant song for us, they totally altered their travel schedule to make the group shoot day, coming straight from a show upstate the night before for an 8 a.m. call time and knocking everything out before flying out to LA for another show that evening. Rockstar shit. You’ll get to hear Dreamer’s SYNY song, but for now listen to their February release “Sunset Drive.”

Atlanta-based rapper Ben Reilly has a way of making every other line sound like a hook. He’s been working on new ways to perfect his voice and delivery for years, and he’s a master of dishing out verses that are packed with unforgettable moments. That skill alone is enough to set the foundation for a solid career, and many rappers have done just that. But that’s not what makes Ben Reilly so great.

A good one-liner yields diminishing returns, but Ben Reilly grew up on comic books and films packed with easter eggs, and he applies that conceptual storytelling and depth to everything he records. 

“I love when I read a story and there’s something that was all the way in the beginning that comes back at the end,” he told us earlier this year. “It’s like, damn, if you really paid attention, you would’ve caught that. I like shit like that, so I apply that to my music.”

That attention to detail is evident on Reilly’s latest project FREELANCE. Every choice he makes is deliberate, every word and musical element is chosen with care, and once the excitement about a great hook starts to fade, the challenge of trying to figure out what it really means keeps you coming back.

The other thing we love about Ben Reilly is that every song involves a twist—whether it’s a beat switch-up, a new flow, or a second level that you didn’t see coming, nothing is basic. Reilly’s song for See You Next Year is the perfect example, and that “oh shit” moment had us hooked on first listen. You’ll hear what we’re talking about soon enough, but for now you can dive into FREELANCE and hear “Maytag (Tax Free)” below.

SASH was the final artist to be added to the See You Next Year project. When Mike Dean got involved with this album, we reserved some space on the project for any of his selections, and SASH was hand-picked by Dean himself.

The 21-year-old New York City artist tells us that his goal is to bridge the two sides of what it’s like growing up: both the fun and the challenges. He starts most songs on guitar and cites artists like Bob Dylan and The Beatles as influences, but he also came up on Kanye, Prince, and Daft Punk, and he’s just as passionate about producers like The Neptunes, Dilla, and Dr. Dre. The result is a timeless foundation with a modern, youthful soul.

“I was introduced to Mike Dean through Apex Martin, who I’ve been working with for years,” SASH explains. “Apex had been showing things we worked on to Mike from the beginning. Mike immediately started working on what Apex showed him, which was crazy to me because I grew up listening to Mike’s work. I remember Apex had FaceTimed me and turned the camera to Mike playing a solo on a song we had just cut—he sent me the bounce and I probably listened to it back 100 times, appreciating how crazy of a moment it was.”

For See You Next Year, SASH turned in a song that he created with Mike Dean while they were working on another big project that he wants to keep close until it’s done. “Not sure if I can really get into everything that’s happening, but [Mike Dean and I] have a lot coming out together,” he says. Below is SASH’s most recent music video for “back again.”