The revolution will not be televised, but you can listen to it. This think piece today walks us through Black American lifestyles and experiences. Introducing Eric Penn’s “The American Fairytale” Deluxe. When we think of modern day “revolution” music, we may gravitate towards rap or rock, but don’t be fooled. This album is revolutionary music expressed through smooth beats and strong vocals that really takes us back to our roots of jazz and soul. Revolutionary music has been created out of pain, sorrow, and resistance. Prime example, “Strange Fruit” by Billie Holiday, released in 1939 protesting the lynching of Black people in the United States. “American Fairytale” Deluxe is an album that first wakes you up to the issues (if you’re not already aware) then empowers you to take action, the most important but underused step.
Being an artist with the capabilities to express these heavy topics requires a musical journey like no other. Eric Penn, born and raised in Virginia Beach and currently residing in Harlem, New York, is a vocalist of true talent and substance. While his professional musical career has spanned several years now, his musical journey spans back even further into childhood.
“I’m a church boy.”
Eric says he was blessed enough to be “forced” to have an eclectic musical ear. He grew up in the church where his mother was both his music teacher and choir director. This led to him being exposed to varying genres of music ranging from Bach and Mozart, to Fred Hammond and Kirk Franklin. Some may assume that as a churchgoer his music choices were limited to the more “clean” genres, but this was not the case for Eric. As he got older, hip-hop became a more prevalent genre for him. His mom would let him play Nas’ “Illmatic” in the car (the unedited version at that).
“When it came to music, she let me have an open door policy.”
Speaking of the church, there’s current discourse about how a lot of modern r&b is “stale” because the music is missing those church roots and elements. With the greater accessibility to music production resources and trends of fewer and fewer people attending church, we see more r&b music being put out there without the church “feel” attached”. With his upbringing and career, Eric is the perfect candidate to speak on this. And he totally agrees with the sentiment.
“It’s the feeling that’s missing. You watch videos and practice runs… but what got the message across was the feeling. Modern r&b is currently at its best sonically but it’s missing the feeling. It’s the conviction. Sisqo didn’t have the greatest voice but he had the spirit. It’s tearjerking; you can tell they felt it. Majority of those singers made their chops at church.”
On top of the church upbringing, Eric grew up in Virginia Beach at a time when other Virginia artists like Timbaland, Missy Elliott, and Pharrell were thriving. According to Eric, Virginia developed the sound of the next generation of commercial music. He admires Pharrell’s versatility with diving into the alt pop rock scene. Eric also had to take a moment to give Missy Elliott her flowers. Many people look up to Missy for her creative visuals, but Eric says she doesn’t receive enough credit for her songwriting abilities, even going as far as saying that she set the standard for cadence. The talent of the Virginia music scene combined with his church roots have culminated together to give Eric the ability to go out and make good music.
This versatility and years of musical education can be heard throughout his music. In his songwriting process, he’s always looking for ways to tailor his songs into a story to move the listeners. He says strong vocalists can use their voice as a shortcut to reach this goal. But even though he has those melodic components, he still seeks to use literary devices to challenge himself. And in regards to songwriting, some advice people may give to artists is to “write music for your audience”. But Eric says he writes music because he’s trying to better his skills.
“I’m trynna get better at this s*** every time I push the pen down.”
You see, Eric Penn loves a challenge. When coming to the end of creating “American Fairytale”, as well as other projects, the process of putting the finishing touches on everything can be tiresome, but to Eric, it’s also rewarding. He has the kind of mindset where he’s always asking himself what it is that he thinks he can’t do, to prove to himself that he can. He also loves the craft. Making music is what he’s supposed to be doing and he’ll continue even if there’s no profit in it. I have to admire this passion, as this is something we’ve lost in modern day music. Everything is about a dollar. We have hollow, shelled out music that’s created to go viral on social media or to make a quick buck. So we (music listeners as a collective) need to put more effort into amplifying artists who truly have a passion for the craft like Eric.
Now, let’s dive a little deeper into Eric Penn’s latest project and the very real, very important commentary around it. Eric released the deluxe version of his EP “American Fairytale” in September of 2025. Before we get into the deluxe release, let’s take a moment to reflect on the original EP released in September of 2024. While the cover art for the newer version features a somber view of Eric sitting in church pews, the original EP cover art paints a very different vibe.
Eric discussed the deep rooted issue of his home state of Virginia being the capital of the confederacy. The cover art includes 3 Sambo characters. Sambo is both a derogatory term and racist caricature historically used to describe Black people. Eric used the Sambo characters to provide a juxtaposition. The character has been used to make a joke of Black people, so Eric turned them into angels with the goal of reclaiming the negativity put onto this group of people. The duality of Black Americans is expressed with 1 character having a gun, and the other holding a bible. The bible represents the huge influence the church has on Black culture. The gun represents the preconceived notions of violence people will have of Black culture. Eric said he doesn’t like when messages are directly in your face so he wanted to provide conceptual innuendos. “If you get it you get it, if you don’t you don’t”.
“American Fairytale” Deluxe is a powerful project that gracefully paints the deep, personal picture of Eric Penn’s reality. A truly well fleshed out project that covers so many areas. “Disillusioned” touches on the facade of the American Dream and the hefty sacrifices people will make to gain riches. “Lighten Up”’s haunting sound hits on how Black people are expected to play a peaceful role all while violence and atrocities have continued to happen to them. One song in particular that deserves some extra attention is “Compartmentalize”.
“Grandma told me wait on the Lord, but how long I’m supposed to wait if I’m gon still get ignored? This the perfect time to galvanize, rebuild, and destroy anything and everything that we know can’t push us forward”
-Compartmentalize
Eric declared this to be the best song from the entire project, and it’s definitely underrated in my book. “Compartmentalize” touches on the struggles of carrying the weight of one’s burdens, particularly the heavy burdens of systemic racism. This particular line focuses on the juxtaposition of older generations finding solutions to these heavy burdens through religion, and the need to take action, a sentiment Eric describes as “galvanizing, rebuilding, and destroying”. Eric says that we need to rebuild and destroy our mindsets, particularly Black Southerners, whom he says have been conditioned to just accept what’s given and not strive for more. He blames this on the status quo, which has scared Black people into believing that we need to stay within the boundaries set by racist American society.
“We have every fu***** ability to do what we want to do; we are living superheroes.”
The singer also spoke on the power of unity. There is so much power we can hold if both the diaspora abroad and Africans all came together. This mindset change can lead to greatness, instead of people killing each other over blocks and neighborhoods they don’t even own. Eric describes being able to compartmentalize as both harmful and a superpower. The trials and tribulations of Black Americans disguises who we truly are but also have allowed us to be aware of so much. Eric also says the need to rebuild and destroy our attitudes is sometimes clouded by the lack of leadership in the community. Eric paid homage to great Black American leaders, gone before they were able to reach their full potential, such as MLK Jr, Fred Hampton, Tupac, and Malcolm X. Although in today’s age we’re missing those types of leaders who are going to speak their piece no matter what, Eric remains optimistic by recognizing the many opportunities we have to galvanize and build community.
“American Fairytale” Deluxe’s heavy and relevant themes aren’t expressed by Eric Penn alone. The album is accompanied by some very talented features from strictly Virginia only artists: Michael Millions, Al-Doms, Mark Ferg, Jesse Boone, London Mckoy & SMYTH. Eric said because Virginia doesn’t have a specific sound, none of these artists are tailored to be in 1 box. Whatever is needed, they’re able to bring it to the table and Eric never doubts that the people he’s connected to are talented.
“I have the top 1% of talent around me.”
What Do You Wish People Cared More About?
My favorite question that I love to ask every artist that sits down with us at FireflySounds. Every artist has a particular experience and way they view the world as they move through life. And while the question is so simple, it really opens the door for both introspection and compassion. So what does Eric Penn wish people cared more about? Hardwork.
The singer wants to bring working hard back. He pointed out how many times a challenge deserves a rebuttal and pushback, but he also acknowledged that there are many times where you simply have to buckle down and not make any excuses. Even the simple acknowledgement that things are hard is too much according to Eric. In the age of social media and advanced technology, everything is moving very fast, but that doesn’t guarantee that the reward for your work will come fast. Eric attributes these factors to people’’s expectations to have their rewards handed to them quickly. You know the old saying, “it’s about the journey not the destination”? Eric expresses this through the visual metaphor of climbing a mountain. There are no shortcuts to achieving what you want in life. “People want to take the elevator but what if it breaks down?”. The singer wants people to understand that it’s ok to climb the mountain, recognize you’re tired, and rely on God to make it through.
Final Thoughts
As you navigate different music spaces, FireflySounds highly encourages you to take a peak into the world of Eric Penn’s “American Fairytale” Deluxe. You may very well find themes that hit close to home for you. With its deeply personal narratives and rich, soulful soundscapes, this project is a cohesive and compelling body of work that reinforces Eric Penn’s status as a formidable voice in R&B.
The 3 songs I encourage you to listen to first: Disillusioned, Lighten Up, & Compartmentalize.
