W hen he logged into our Zoom call earlier this week, Ferg was sure to offer a view from his sunny Miami hotel room. He was in town for Art Basel , where he was celebrating his burgeoning art career as well as the release of his 7 th studio album Flip Phone Shorty, which dropped on Black Friday. “The reception is going crazy,” Ferg says of the album. “It’s liberating because my last album was so heavy. It was so personal that it just felt fun to just have fun again with music.”

On last year’s Darold, named after his late father, Ferg went deep on introspection, excavating his own emotions and traumas to uncover a clearer picture of himself. Sonically, the album leaned into gospel chords and orchestral arrangements, landing on a register that was decidedly more serious. So much

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