Afro-Colombian artist Matthew Beachy, known professionally as Lil Crush, shared his highly anticipated new album, Reel Music. A bold, immersive project, this 30-track, 91-minute album is a genre-defying odyssey through emotion, sound, and culture. Lil Crush seamlessly blends hip-hop, R&B, alt-country, and experimental pop into an epic record that channels and embraces his Afro-Colombian identity.
Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and raised between Bogotá, Colombia, and the United States, Lil Crush has been a lifelong performer. At just 25 years old, Reel Music marks two decades of performance for Beachy since he first took the stage as a five-year old in Bogotá. Beachy gained notoriety in 2021 with the release of “Suni Lee,” an anthem inspired by the titular Olympian that led to a mural of the two of them being painted in St. Paul, Minnesota. Beyond Lil Crush, Beachy also performs under the persona The Latin Prince, and is a producer for his own work and Minneapolis’s THR333 (The Hardship Reveal 333). Lil Crush was signed to Minneapolis’s WEON Records from 2019 to 2022, which he left to form his own creative label/brand, Planet Crush. The ethos of Planet Crush is reflective of Beachy’s own, rooted in fearless creativity and emotional truth.
Reel Music is a celebration of the artistic identity Beachy has built for himself, and brings together the full range of his artistic personas. Each of the project’s 30 songs lists collaborators (Lil Crush’s own alter egos among them) and credits include Colombian Crush, THR333, The Latin Prince, Fa’id, BRIZO, and Beachy. These inclusions serve as an expansion of Lil Crush’s musical universe, all while remaining grounded in emotional authenticity.
Across the album’s 30 songs, several stand out as highlights. Opener “Meta gURL” is a pop punk anthem built to get a stadium moving. Lil Crush’s pre-chorus boast of “Comment section full of fellas thinking they can rescue her/But she gon’ go with me cuz she know that I ain’t regular” reflects the audacity of the ensuing project and the creative force behind it. Alt-rock track “Want U” starts quietly before soaring guitars and busy cymbals propel an explosion into a fast-paced banger.
Of course, Reel Music makes space for quiet moments; the acoustic “Solo” features Beachy playing harmonica and features Spanish lyrics. The lyrical hook of “el dolor te pasa” (“the pain passes you”) anchors an emotionally resonant track. Reel Music also features several tracks featuring piano, including the R&B-infused “Turkey” over which Beachy espouses lyrics depicting a failed relationship. In the more intimate, emotional moments of Reel Music, Beachy’s lyricism shines, and these songs evoke sentiments that listeners will find easy to latch onto.
Reel Music is a triumph in Lil Crush’s versatility, a boundary-breaking multicultural effort whose cohesion is grounded in its humanity. This album is a reflection of the world Beachy has built across multiple personas, artistic endeavors, and cultural backgrounds. Beachy pushes every corner of his artistry to its limit, and what emerges is an emotionally resonant, breathtaking LP as dynamic as the creative mind behind it.
“With Reel Music, Lil Crush isn’t just releasing an album, he’s unveiling a universe,” says music publicist Danielle Holian, Decent Music PR. “Thirty tracks, zero boundaries. He moves effortlessly between cultures, genres, and identities, and somehow makes it all feel cohesive, intentional, and deeply human. This project doesn’t chase trends; it sets its own frequency. Lil Crush is proving that evolution isn’t a phase for him, it’s the foundation.”
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