Ryan Beatty - Sweet Fortune
An enthrallingly heartfelt statement from an artist due a major breakthrough.
Ryan Beatty has been quite a unique figure in the indie pop and singer-songwriter spaces for the last few years, with his recognizable gently confessional writing style and silky vocals. Following on from his well-acclaimed 2023 album Calico, Beatty seeks to establish some consistency with his follow-up fourth LP, Sweet Fortune. And that is exactly what he does, delivering something of a hidden gem in the conversation about the best albums of 2026 so far.
Sweet Fortune is concise and very well put together, with the ten tracks totaling just under 40 minutes. In that time, Beatty builds a mesmerizingly beautiful musical world that you don’t ever want to step out of. This is largely down to the stellar instrumentation and production on the record, which is light and flowing in a way that gives the album a deeply nostalgic quality. The country and folk influences give the album a singular charm, particularly shining through on highlight tracks like “Virtuoso” or “Dust”, as well as the brilliant lead single “Secret Language”. That track is arguably the best-produced on the record, with the prominent, steady percussion and horns really making it stand out.
Ryan Beatty’s vocal performances also perfectly match the record’s ambience. He is smooth and gentle as ever for the majority of the project, with some really engaging moments where he puts more emotional emphasis into his deliveries in the culminations of certain songs, making them connect even harder with the listener. He’s a very charming and compelling narrator who is very easy to empathize with, in large part because of his pleasant, enchanting vocals. The occasional contributions from fellow singer-songwriter Clairo on backing vocals sprinkled throughout the tracklist also add to this, with her similarly soft voice combining perfectly with Beatty’s.
The writing is what truly brings the record together, however. Many of the instrumentals on the album are slower and feel contemplative and thoughtful — and that is exactly the kind of lyricism that Beatty delivers over them. He’s open, vulnerable and sincere about his feelings, poetic in a way that is very tasteful, with no unnecessary exaggeration or dramatization. The expression of his yearning throughout the album feels profoundly human, giving it deep emotional resonance. The opener “Phantom” and “Too Many Ways” are among the best examples of this, but the lyrics throughout the entire album stay consistently fantastic.
Overall, Sweet Fortune is a beautifully produced, very skillfully written and sincerely delivered album; it’s a project that shows that Ryan Beatty is one of the best current-day representatives of his genre. It’s more than a worthy follow-up to Calico, and showcases a great deal of potential to become a genuine household name — something which Beatty more than deserves if he maintains the standard of quality set on his last two records, particularly on this one.
8.4/10
