eVANN MCINTOSH - FANTASY FUEL - DVLPMNT

Evann McIntosh releases their sophomore album Fantasy Fuel, a ten-track record about desire, projection, miscommunication, and the choice to move forward instead of staying stuck.

Anchored by focus track “Better” featuring Meshell Ndegeocello, Fantasy Fuel finds Evann stepping outside the insular world that defined their early work and into something more collaborative, rhythm-forward, and emotionally exposed. Written between Chicago and Los Angeles and produced with Abe Rounds (Joni Mitchell, Blake Mills), the album reflects a period of physical and creative relocation. That movement is central to the record’s identity.

After stepping back from the rapid rise of their breakout EP MOJO, Evann relocated to Chicago and began writing from a new vantage point. The city’s rich musical lineage seeps into the record’s looseness and jazz-inflected grooves. That evolution is echoed in the collaborators on the project, including Ndegeocello and Madison Cunningham, signaling a maturation of sound without abandoning instinct.

"Better" is a confessional slow-burn that threads lush, shifting harmonies through a modern soul lens. “I was moving through Stevie Wonder albums,” Evann shares. “That’s why there’s those mean key changes.” The influence shows: “Better” unfolds like a late-night jam on a vintage record player, its melody shapeshifting with every emotional turn. Evann’s elastic vocals stretch between frustration and hope as they sing, “I’m losing my mind trying to figure you out / You hold me so tight then you don’t want me around.” The result is a song that balances heartbreak with an almost radical optimism and a belief that a connection can be repaired if both sides are willing to try.

The accompanying video captures the spirit that has defined Evann from the start: disarmingly genuine, delightfully unbothered, and singularly themselves. Shot at a local park in Chicago, there’s no artifice, no performance, just Evann living in rhythm of their own world. It’s a perfect visual echo of the song’s message: getting “better” isn’t about perfection, but presence.

Evann's previous single "Mull It Over" captures the opposite impulse. Where "Mull It Over" lingers inside rumination and emotional loops, "Better" pushes outward toward resolution. Together, the two songs outline the album’s central push and pull between replaying the past and choosing forward motion.

Elsewhere on the album, the title track "Fantasy Fuel" shifts the lens inward. Built around soft guitar lines and upright bass, it moves with understated confidence as Evann reflects on projection and allure, singing, "out of stardust you were fashioned." They explain, "'Fantasy Fuel' is about the power of attraction. That femme fatale energy has always been a theme in my older work."

That tension runs throughout the album. “Blue Movie Magic” blurs intimacy and spectacle, turning desire into something cinematic and self-aware. “Le Microscope” confronts visibility and scrutiny, shaped by Evann’s early relationship with social media. Playful lyricism sits alongside lush arrangements that explore gender identity and self-expression without overstatement.

“I thought for a long time that Fantasy Fuel was about finding richness in your inner world,” Evann shares. “But I stepped outside of myself to make it. It came from leaving what was familiar and working in rooms that pushed me. To me, Fantasy Fuel is the motivating force. It is the dream, the higher self, the urge to get moving.”

Evann's connection with young audiences remains central to their impact. Labeled at various times an Army brat, Midwestern teen, TikTok breakout, or gender-fluid artist, Evann has consistently moved beyond easy categorization.

The release arrives amid a series of live and visual moments that continue to expand Evann’s audience. They recently opened for Andrew Bird at the legendary Largo at the Coronet in Los Angeles, bringing the new material into an intimate, attentive room. On March 8th, Evann will headline their Chicago album release show at Subterranean, marking a defining moment in the city they now call home. That sense of movement through Chicago also shapes the album’s visual world. In the official trailer, Evann cruises through the city in a convertible VW Beetle with a “Free Ride” sign perched on top, extending an open invitation into the sonic universe taking shape.

At 21, Evann McIntosh has surpassed 60 million streams on their breakout EP MOJO. Fantasy Fuel does not chase that moment - it refines it. The songwriting is more direct. The arrangements are more physical. The record is a reminder that fantasy is not something to retreat into, it's fuel to move forward.