Billkin Learns How to “Grow With The Flow” in Sophomore Album
Thai multi-hyphenate superstar Putthipong Assaratanakul — known mononymously as Billkin — has returned with his second studio album Grow With The Flow, released November 26.
The eight-track LP marks a noticeable shift from the sturdier, more composed image often associated with Billkin. Instead, this era leans into vulnerability and reflection, peeling back his layers to reveal a refreshed outlook on love, conflict, and the realities of growing up and getting older.
Building on the foundation of his 2023 debut album, Love’s Apprentice, where he traced the cyclical, emotional rollercoaster arc of adolescent love, this new chapter shows the 26-year-old artist confronting adulthood and relationships with more clarity and intention. Below EnVi breaks down the LP track-by-track.
How We Grow
The album opens with “Daily Magic,” a track about finding joy in the tiny rituals that hold you and your partner together. The song leans into the soft, comforting charm Billkin does so well. With his smooth vocals floating over mellow pop production, the track takes mundane, everyday moments and turns them into something warm and intimate. The lyrics read like a reminder that love isn’t always about grand gestures. That sometimes it’s okay to find wonder in the slow mornings, the shared spaces, and the unspoken routines that make everything feel steady. It’s one of his quietly sentimental releases, capturing the sweetness of being known, because to be known is to be loved.
The tone of the album takes a turn with “ก้าวก่าย (Still On Your Line),” written and produced by Thai singer-songwriter BOWKYLION. Built on understated R&B grooves, the song finds Billkin wrestling with the aftermath of a breakup he hasn’t fully accepted. His smooth vocal delivery carries lyrics that detail the push-and-pull of wanting to move on yet still slipping into old habits. The restrained R&B production emphasizes the track’s vulnerability, while BOWKYLION’s writing grounds the song in accountability and relatability.
“Golden Hour” lands right in that moment where you’ve already accepted the ending but can’t stop replaying the parts that made everything feel good. Written and produced by Amp Acharinya, the lyrics are written like a stream of consciousness while reminiscing on the old days of the relationship. Billkin croons through all the little routines that made their love feel easy like waking up to a phone call instead of an alarm, never going to sleep without a “sweet dreams,” and having someone by your side through it all. Now all he has are the memories — and even those feel a bit too tender to touch. Yet, “Golden Hour” isn’t dramatic about any of this, Billkin’s velvet vocals glide smoothly over the track and just lets the nostalgic sadness sit there.
What We Learn
The middle of the album is where Billkin shifts the lens inward by not just looking at the relationship, but at himself as one half of it. He discovers what he enjoys, what he doesn’t, what makes him feel cared for, or what makes him feel cast aside.
“ยิ่งดูยิ่งชอบ (Bossy Baby)” leans straight into the things he does like, and he’s surprisingly honest about it. The Thai title essentially means “the fiercer you are, the more I like it,” which already tells you everything. It’s Billkin being playful and a little chaotic in the cutest way, because he likes when someone pays attention to him. He enjoys it when they care enough to check him, remind him of things, nudge him, even scold him a little. It represents that kind of affectionate nagging that only happens when someone is genuinely invested, and instead of pretending he wants to be unbothered, Billkin just says it: it makes his heart flutter. The production from legendary Thai entertainer The Toys keeps the same energy as his lyrics — bouncy and slightly flirty.
Then “ตัวโดน (Always Me)” swings the other way and pulls Billkin into what he’s not wanting to deal with anymore. Atom Chanakan’s writing makes the emotional exhaustion feel painfully clear. Billkin walks through all the ways he kept taking hit after hit, like absorbing someone else’s bad moods and standing by them no matter what. Or acting like a shield for someone who didn’t realize they were stabbing through it. He sounds tired in the way you only get tired after giving someone the benefit of the doubt for way too long. It’s the moment you look at yourself and say “all I do is love, care, and be with you, what did I do wrong,” as Billkin does in the song.
Together, these two tracks spell out one of the biggest lessons of the album: loving someone teaches you what you want and what you don’t want to deal with, because knowing both is how you actually grow.
How We Change
At this point in the album, Billkin has walked us through the sweet parts, the sad parts, and the self-reflection that comes with looking inward. And then he hits us with the most romantic moment on the album — “From Now On.” Sweeping strings open the track and immediately give it this full, almost cinematic warmth that sets the tone. Billkin has always been a lover boy at heart, and here he lets himself lean into that sentimentalism completely. This is where he sounds the most sure of himself and the most grounded about what he wants from his person, and how he wants to grow with them.
The lyrics (written by CAKE of Thai duo SERIOUS BACON) read almost like vows. Waiting until midnight just to be the first to wish someone happy birthday, imagining a calendar full of future milestones, wondering which date they’ll eventually call their anniversary. And then he gets fully wedding-coded with “When our love lasts long enough for me to give you a ring…” but the vocal delivery adds to its sincerity and gentleness so it doesn’t come off too intense.
What makes this song stand out is how clearly it marks a shift. After all the looking back and all the sorting through feelings, this is the moment where he chooses what he wants moving forward. It sits in its own little corner of the album because it feels like the clearest declaration of ‘I know what I want, I’m choosing this and I’m choosing you’ that he’s made thus far.
As the final single before the album drop, “From Now On” gives a full-hearted, sincere swell before everything pulls back into a quieter, more vulnerable space. There’s an ebb and flow to the tracklist that feels intentional, this big moment of certainty and romance followed by the kind of reflection that only comes once you’ve lived and learned.
Where We Go
The emotional core of the album lands squarely in its final two tracks, both of which Billkin mentioned reflect how he’s been feeling lately. These were the songs he held dearly while finishing the record, and you can hear it immediately.
“ใครจะรู้ (Silent Blue)” carries the weight of that honesty. With lyrics by 3RD and a lyrical concept created by Billkin himself, the track moves into a quiet heartbreak and sadness he hasn’t really shown at this scale before. He remembers “every memory, maybe too many,” still listens to every song his person once sent him, and is feeling pain just as intense as how he loved. The production from Janpat and 3RD stays minimal on purpose, giving Billkin space to lean into a high, aching falsetto that almost feels like it cracks the air around him.
But he doesn’t leave us there. “Grow With The Flow,” the title track co-written by Billkin with Bell Supol and production from Janpat and Julian Cary, steps in like a deep breath after crying, when your eyes are still puffy, but you’re ready to keep moving. The song opens with just piano and Billkin’s voice in all English, almost confessional: “Nobody knows, so we grow with the flow.” It’s a simple reminder that we’re all just winging it in this thing called life and all we can do is learn and keep putting one foot in front of the other.
The track slowly widens into a warmer, more comforting groove, as Billkin switches into Thai. And then comes the surprise: a gospel choir that closes the album on a hopeful note. It’s not a fairytale ending or wrapped in a perfect bow, but it is acceptance and the choice to keep going and growing.
Ultimately, Grow With The Flow feels like Billkin letting himself grow in real time through the love and sweetness, the hurt, the self-reflection, and the choices he makes. It’s complicated and full of ups-and-downs in the way that real learning is, but steady in a way that shows how far he’s come. Whether he’s looking back, looking inward, or looking ahead, this album makes one thing clear, Billkin is growing with intention and he’s letting us grow with him.
Want more Billkin? Make sure to watch him in the acclaimed 2024 film, How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies, now streaming globally on Netflix and keep up with him on Instagram and TikTok.
Looking for more SEA artists to add to your playlists? Check out our breakdown of ALAMAT’s latest album DESTINO here!
