tRACK LISTING

1. Lights Glamour Action (single released 7th October 2024)
2. The Way that I Feel
3. Spin My Record (single released 21st October 2024)
4. Rope Burn (single released 28th October 2024)
5. Guilty
6. Cameraflage
7. Piece of Me
8. Beautiful
9. Monsoon
10. R. Obscene
11. Filthy Cute (single released 27th January 2025)

Credits
All Tracks recorded at Planet Uche, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire
All lyrics by RoB Ward
All music by RoB Ward and Uche Eke
Backing Vocals - Tracks 1, 7 & 11 Uche Eke
Clerk of the Court : Track 5 Wayne Jarvis

Album streaming release date: 4th November 2024.

STREAMING LINKS

Luxury Boyfriend is available to listen to on all streaming channels:

VIDEO VAULT

Here is the video to RoB's single Lights Glamour Action.

Released December 2024

Filmed and produced by Reuben Hyam Media.

Here is the video to RoB's single Rope Burn.

Released March 2025.

Filmed and produced by Reuben Hyam Media.

REVIEW

In this new bold album, RoB takes us to new scenarios - the world of glamour and public exposure. Accompanied by an eclectic mix of exotic harmonies - ranging from the comfortable 30's swing style in Rope Burn to the Arabian tones of Monsoon, to the rhythmic dance tune of R, Obscene, we venture into the risqué world of alternative experiences.

This is RoB affirming himself as in control of himself and those around him. It is he who instructs the DJ in Spin my Record to "Spin, spin, spin my record DJ" - we will dance to his music which has "Got inside of me". The positive, strong beat of the song reflects a RoB at ease with himself. Image in this album is absolute. In Lights, Glamour, Action, we hear determined, accentuated and insistent rhythms which complement the self-assertive sentiments - "Let my inhibitions go", "I'm ready for the ultimate game, I'll take the pleasure, I'll conquer the pain". He is blatant in his demands "Money, Fortune, Fame". There are no boundaries as in Filthy Cute we enter unashamedly into a seedy world in which there are no boundaries "'Cos we're filthy cute and we know it". "Do you dare?" asks RoB and the answer is found throughout the album as in Rope Burn where only extreme experiences count - "I want that burn, burn, burn... 'til I start to bleed".​

Is RoB out to shock? Or is it just that true love should push itself as far as it can? In Cameraflage, the exotic, eastern tones take us to new worlds "I can help you with your pleasures, I can help you with your dreams". There is a need for public acclamation "I have no need to look over my shoulder, who's watching me? Whose camera?".

​And yet... there is an underlying unease belying this outward confidence. The painful and rather discordant sounds of Guilty complement the sentiments of guilt and insecurity "Never knew who I was", "I never had the discipline". He admits that the public persona is hiding more genuine, inner feelings "I'm guilty of loving you". We get a sense that it is not the brazen public images which will ultimately define RoB but the desperately wanted feelings of belonging to someone. In Beautiful, we have melodic, pleading tones acknowledging unrequitedly the beauty of his beloved. In the frenzied rhythms of Monsoon, we see the vulnerable inner self "Can't hide how I feel, I mustn't lose control, but I know that I will". Through many of the songs we see a leit-motif of denial, lying, hiding "I've got nothing left to hide" in Rope Burn and "I no longer need to hide my love - it's the way that I feel", "I'm still denying I need you so much, I'm only lying".

​In Piece of Me, we find a self-assured RoB: not because of superficial public celebrity or extreme and painful pleasure, but through two beings happily at one with each other. The bouncy, confident and joyful melody reinforces the message "I need only you". "Makes my whole world go around", "When I'm with you my life is so complete". Their joint heartbeat is true love not the transient, shallow pleasures explored elsewhere in the album.

​Outward confidence juxtaposes inner insecurity, bouncy rhythms alternate with haunting melodies, shocking images jostle against deep-felt sentiments. This is RoB showing his extremes - he will try everything and reject nothing all in the quest to affirm himself - "I just want to be somebody, anybody, not nobody".

LORENZO FARINA