There’s an adage that’s true for many things, but especially applicable to high-caliber collaborations; “you can’t rush greatness.” In the case of queer, second generation Vietnamese-American songwriter Casie Luong and Cambodian-born producer Wil Brookhart (who recently rebranded himself as waverly), they’ve actually known each other for quite some time, thanks to the Mother Falcon Music Lab, of which both are faculty members. Their mutual interest in the modern pop-R&B sound has overlapped their personal friendship for awhile, but it’s only been within the past year or two that they’ve actually made music together.

Inspired by the flirty, mischievous tones of Ariana Grande’s 2020 LP Positions, Casie Luong crafted the first draft of “blessing” at home over pastries and coffee last Fall. And while we’re sure that initial version was more than just a morsel, with the implementation of slick drum programming, vocal effects, and synthetically plucked strings (almost a call back to Mother Falcon), waverly has helped turn “blessing” into an absolute trap-R&B treat. Fingers crossed that this the first of many collaborations between waverly and Luong, and the best of luck to them on their journey to increase Southeast Asian representation down here in the Lone Star State and impact the demographics of mainstream music culture.