After 'Bad Habit,' Steve Lacy could do anything. Genius new album? Yep. Monogamy? Never.

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Set us as preferred “Oh — .That’s Steve Lacy.”Two streetwear-dripped-out dudes on the patio of Verve Coffee nearly spit out their matchas on a recent Monday afternoon in West Hollywood, when the singer-songwriter Lacy walked up to order an iced tea.Dressed in svelte black athleisure with a close-cropped haircut, the 28-year-old Lacy was less flamboyant than he’d looked in recent years, when he sported long braids and sunglasses that covered half his head.

Only a mint green handbag and full sleeves of tattoos suggested that Gen Z’s reigning rock star had settled in to talk about his new album “Oh Yeah?”.Lacy is much more famous now than he was in 2022 when he released “Bad Habit,” a defining lo-fi pop song of the post-pandemic era that topped the Hot 100, earned Grammy nominations for record and song and changed his life forever.Now the Compton-reared Lacy can’t go anywhere in L.A.

without shifting the center of gravity in a room.“That’s funny to think about,” Lacy said, when asked if he enjoys being pointed-at-in-coffee-shops-caliber famous.“I’m not about to call a restaurant and be like, ‘Hey, yo, it’s Steve Lacy.’ But when my assistant books it, then I’m like, ‘Whoa, we got this table.’ Maybe my name is more famous than me.

It can be annoying, but it’s been very calm right now.”“Oh Yeah?” is an artful, side-eyed smirk at the pleasures and melancholy of stardom, from an artist who has remade rock and R&B for the bi-panic era.Over 10 crisp songs, Lacy asks if love is possible when your options are infinite.

What to do when you want true intimacy yet know that, as he sings on one track, “If I had dollar for the friends I would f- / I could buy a pair of really nice shoes.” Music The Compton singer-guitarist topped the charts with ‘Bad Habit.’ Now he’s a Grammy contender, on his own terms: ‘I didn’t have to change to do it.’When Lacy toure...