The review of PARTYNEXTDOOR's return make-or-break album.
After essentially disappearing for two years, PARTYNEXTDOOR delayed PARTYMOBILE not once, but twice.
During that delay, a budding R&B star showed why he's a budding star and arguably the biggest male name in the genre dropped his first album since 2016.
But at the end of the day, none of that really mattered for PARTNEXTDOOR.
At just 26 years old, PARTYNEXTDOOR already has one of the best R&B projects of a decade under his belt, along with a number of timeless standalone tracks and major songwriting contributions to music megastars. His legacy was already solidified, and with both Drake and Rihanna rumored to release albums this year, PARTYNEXTDOOR's legacy is still set to grow.
Regardless of the narrative the Twitter label executives have created, PARTYMOBILE was never going to be make or break for PARTYNEXTDOOR.
But that's the thing about narratives, they don't have to be true; they just have to be loud enough to influence a couple thousand impressionable minds to become legitimate. The same goes for Twitter as a whole, but that's a conversation for a different Writ-150 paper.
Point being, PARTYNEXTDOOR treated PARTYMOBILE like a make or break album, featuring only artists that would guarantee a large audience, lessening his subject matter and delivering his most sharpened project yet.
PARTYMOBILE sounds like an album that was delayed twice.
There's not one bad song on PARTYMOBILE.
Some songs may take longer to grow on you than others, as they might not be the PARTYNEXTDOOR sound you prefer, but if given the chance, each song will eventually grow on you. For example, I prefer the darker, revealing sound of PARTYNEXTDOOR, so I initially hated the dancehall, generic track "EYE ON IT", but the song has turned into one I can't skip simply because it's an enjoyable listening experience.
Even the singles that were each individually mid(at best) sound bearable in the context of the full album--another indication of what PARTYNEXTDOOR was up to throughout the delays.
The initial sequencing of the album, which featured only the singles and unnamed tracks, had "THE NEWS", "LOYAL", and " SPLIT DECISION" scattered across the tracklist.
The official version of PARTYMOBILE sequenced the singles back-to-back-back near the front of the album, getting them out of the way within the first third of the project and allowing better tracks like "TRAUMA" and "SHOWING YOU" to shine in the middle placements while "SAVAGE ANTHEM" was free to take on a life of its own as the last song of the album.
If you're one of those people that don't believe the order of an album is important, you're perfect for The Migos, and you should read this article on its importance from The Guardian.
PARTYMOBILE is PARTYNEXTDOOR's best arranged and most concise album of his career, but it's also his least telling.
Content-wise, PARTYMOBILE is like a NETFLIX series. Outside of two or three episodes, nothing truly relevant gets said.
Maybe this is done so you can have sex with it on in the background without fear of missing anything important. Maybe it's lazy writing. Or maybe PARTYNEXTDOOR and NETFLIX realize that as long as you deliver a respectable body with a wowing finale, the audience will keep coming back for what's next.
Enter, "Savage Anthem", the wowing finale that leaked circa 2017 detailing the final days of PARTYNEXTDOOR and Kehlani.
Side note: Kehlani is obviously PARTYNEXTDOOR's top muse. "Kehlani's Freestyle", classic. "Girl From Oakland", classic. And now, "Savage Anthem".
"Savage Anthem" has all the tools necessary to become what its name prophecizes.
There's cheating. There's no remorse for said cheating. There's complete emotional disregard for the ex that was cheated on. There's an open invitation to the ex to get cheated on again. And to cap it all off, there's a choir because why not. *Toxic chef's kiss*.
Outside of "Savage Anthem", PARTYNEXTDOOR doesn't say much on this album, as even tracks that seem like they're filled with content like "Trauma" and "Showing You" don't really go past surface-level lyrics.
"Trauma" sets up to be a ride of introspection with it's revealing chorus, but the song is literally all chorus since PARTYNEXTDOOR decided to not even record a single verse for it.
"Showing You" comes directly after "Trauma" and provides a little more content, as PARTYNEXTDOOR promises to stop hurting his lover, but he doesn't go past that promise or even detail what led up to the promise or even try to say how he's going to stay true to the promise.
The practice of giving the audience just enough content to make them think they're witnessing something important occurs for a majority of the album, but the finale is so jampacked with storylines that most listeners won't even realize that the last song is the first time PARTYNEXTDOOR actually goes in-depth into an idea.
Final Score: Riverdale Season One/10
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