walking upstream…
Bazzi
sourcesWikipedia · AllMusic · Capital FM
Andrew Bazzi grew up between Canton and Dearborn, Michigan, the son of a Lebanese immigrant father and an American mother, picking up kazoo, oud, and guitar before he was a teenager. He built an audience the platform-native way — YouTube covers starting in 2012, then a run as one of Vine's most-followed musicians, becoming the app's first artist to release a 'Featured Track.' A move to Los Angeles in 2014 led to a run of self-released singles, and in October 2017 the plinking synth hook of 'Mine' turned into a slow-building phenomenon through Snapchat filters and Musical.ly edits, eventually climbing into the Billboard Hot 100's top twenty. His 2018 debut album 'Cosmic' cemented a sound built on featherweight falsetto and turn-of-the-millennium pop-R&B songcraft, a frontman's instincts he has credited in part to time spent on the road with one of his idols, Justin Timberlake.
the sound in question
2017
MineBazzi
walk the tributaries ↓
Justin Timberlake2000s · Pop / R&B / Dance-pop
Bazzi has called Justin Timberlake one of his biggest inspirations and, in a 2018 Variety interview, described learning how to command a stage from a month spent opening for him in Europe. That mentorship surfaces as a specific vocal texture: a smooth, close-mic'd falsetto laid over spacious, mid-tempo pop-R&B production rather than belted or shouted.
listen: upstream & heresource: Variety ↗
2013
MirrorsJustin Timberlake
2018
BeautifulBazzi
listen forPlay 'Mirrors' next to 'Beautiful' — both hover in a breathy upper register over an unhurried, synth-and-drum-machine bed, the vocal floating on top of the beat instead of driving hard against it.
Michael Jackson1980s · Pop / R&B / Dance
Bazzi has repeatedly named Michael Jackson among his biggest musical touchstones, and the imprint sits less in any single lyric than in vocal habit: airy, ad-libbed falsetto flourishes dropped into an otherwise plainspoken pop verse, plus a hook built to move a body rather than just occupy a chorus.
listen: upstream & here
1979
Don't Stop 'Til You Get EnoughMichael Jackson
2017
MineBazzi
listen forSet 'Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough' beside 'Mine' — both ride a springy, syncopated groove while the lead vocal keeps breaking into loose, breathy falsetto asides around the main melody, treating the voice as another percussive layer.
Bryson Tiller2010s · Contemporary R&B / Trap / Hip Hop
Bazzi is cited alongside Bryson Tiller's trap-soul catalogue among his influences, and that lineage shows up as mood: a hushed, half-sung vocal delivered in a low, conversational register over a minor-key, trap-inflected beat, favoring atmosphere and restraint over a big pop chorus.
listen: upstream & here
2015
Don'tBryson Tiller
2019
I.F.L.Y.Bazzi
listen forCompare 'Don't' with 'I.F.L.Y.' — both keep the vocal murmured and intimate against a sparse, bass-heavy trap-soul groove, the emotional weight carried by empty space in the mix rather than vocal power.