Blood Orange – aka Dev Hynes – will release his first album in six years – entitled Essex Honey – on August 29th, 2025 (pre-order) via RCA Records. Written, produced, and recorded by Hynes, Essex Honey is a soundtrack created from a dreamscape of his journey working through grief. It is also an album about growing up in Essex (outside London) and the way music has inspired, healed, and interwoven itself through Hynes’ life.
Like all Blood Orange albums, Essex Honey comes with an incredible list of collaborators, some who have created with Hynes multiple times, and others who are new to his sonic fold. These include Canadians Daniel Caesar and Mustafa, as well as Lorde, Caroline Polachek, Turnstile’s Brendan Yates, Tariq Al-Sabir, author Zadie Smith – singing on an album for the first time – Ian Isiah, Tirzah, Eva Tolkin, The Durutti Column, Wet’s Kelly Zutrau, actors Naomi Scott and Amandala Stenberg, and Liam Benzvi.
Today, three brilliant songs from the album are available to hear – “Mind Loaded” (with Mustafa, Lorde and Carline Polachek), “The Field” (with Daniel Caeser, The Durutti Column, Tariq Al-Sabir, and Caroline Polachek), and the solo gem, Somewhere In Between.”
There are very few artists that have contributed to music in the way that Dev Hynes has done to date. The Grammy-winning, multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter, producer, composer, has paved a path unlike any other artist since he started out over two decades ago, beginning with his nascent punk roots in Test Icicles in the early 2000’s to having a song – “Champagne Coast” – go gold in 2024 courtesy of TikTok.
Indeed, it’s tough to imagine any other artist who has been nominated for a Grammy in a Classical category while winning a Latin Grammy – Best Alternative Song with Nathy Peluso – while ALSO releasing albums in neither genre: Blood Orange is firmly rooted in future nostalgic, leftfield pop/R&B.
Hynes’ influence continues to reverberate throughout culture. Since 2012, he has been an in-demand producer for everyone from Mariah Carey and A$AP Rocky to Carly Rae Jepsen and Lorde.
In 2022, Hynes opened 15 shows at Madison Square Garden for the one and only Harry Styles, in addition to music directing Styles’ Grammy performance of “Watermelon Sugar” (in which he also played bass). He has spent the last three years selling out shows internationally performing his own classical compositions in London, Sydney, Toronto, and more, while also scoring things like Luca Guadagnino’s HBO show We Are Who We Are, Rebecca Hall’s Passing, Paul Schrader’s Master Gardener and shows for acclaimed fashion house Marni twice a season.
Essex Honey is everything Hynes does best and then some. Lyrically, he taps into the experiences of himself and his close Friday, creating a love letter to his musical inspirations, including himself, wrapped in honesty. Close listens reveal refrains from some of Hynes’ influences growing up, including Elliott Smith, The Replacements, and more, allowing Hynes to lean backwards to his comfort listens while moving his own sound forward.
Essex Honey is an album tinted with grief and loss, working towards acceptance and resolution, at a time when the culture is collectively feeling grief and loss, collectively trying to work towards resolution and acceptance. It is a beautiful swirl, an elegantly-crafted pastiche of melodies and sounds, assembled in the way only Hynes knows how, crafting an intimate, scintillating whole and one of the best albums of 2025.
Blood Orange Tour Dates
Sunday, September 21 – San Francisco – Portola Music Festival
Tuesday, September 23 – Columbus – KEMBA LIVE! w/ Turnstile
Wednesday, September 24 – Richmond – Brown’s Island w/ Turnstile
Friday, September 26 – Boston – TD Garden w/ Lorde
Saturday, September 27 – Montreal – Bell Centre w/ Lorde
Tuesday, September 30 – Philadelphia – Wells Fargo Center w/ Lorde
Tuesday, October 14 – Morrison – Red Rocks Amphitheatre w/ Lorde
Friday, October 17 – Las Vegas – MGM Grand Garden w/ Lorde
Saturday, October 18 – Inglewood – Kia Forum w/ Lorde
Wednesday, October 29 – Berlin, Germany – Columbiahalle
Friday, October 31 – Torino – C2C Festival @ Lingotto Fiere Torino
Monday, November 3 – Paris – Pitchfork Festival @ L’Olympia
Tuesday, November 4 – Utrecht, Netherlands – TivoliVredenburg
Friday, November 7 – London, UK – Alexandra Palace Theater
Saturday, November 8 – London, UK – Alexandra Palace Theatre
Sunday, November 9 – London, UK – Alexandra Palace Theatre
Monday, November 10 – London, UK – Alexandra Palace Theatre
Thursday, November 13 – Bristol, UK – Electric Bristol
Saturday, November 15 – Manchester – AO Arena w/ Lorde
Wednesday, November 19 – Toronto, ON – History
Thursday, November 20 – Toronto, ON – History
Saturday, November 29 – Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Steel
Sunday, November 30 – Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Steel
Tuesday, December 2 – Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Steel
Wednesday, December 3 – Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Steel
Thursday, December 4 – Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Steel
Friday, December 5 – Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Steel
