Destroy Lonely “LOVE LASTS FOREVER” Album Review

Opium is all the rage these days, and Destroy Lonely is one of the reasons why this movement became much more than a passing fad. He’s defined a corner of the contemporary rap world for better or worse thanks to his obvious inspirations from Playboi Carti‘s artistry and how he fuses those creatively with the melodic and woozy aesthetics of a Lil Uzi Vert. But much like the rest of the label’s output, the Atlanta native faces a lot of criticism for the perceived staleness and lack of substance around the sound of rage. To give credit where it’s due, LOVE LASTS FOREVER is his best work yet that displays more unique tones, dynamic vocal performances, and distinguishable stylistic influences than what many give him credit for. But sadly, it’s not enough of a forward push to fully break it out of its repetitive spell.

Furthermore, there’s a strong percussive formula for most of LOVE LASTS FOREVER: shuttering and crisp hi-hats, reverb-heavy snares or claps, and buzzing bass and kicks. It works well sometimes – the dreamy “LOVE HURTS” with Uzi (who does their thing quite well), the frantic psychedelia on “BABY MONEY,” or the welcome timbre changes on “SYRUP SIPPIN” that sound more laser-y than murderous. The problem arises when you’ve heard your fourth or fifth Destroy Lonely track in a row where the trap drums take up most of the mix instrumentally. There are some legitimately cool alternative melodic influences here such as “WISH YOU WELL” and sung samples on “AMERIKA,” but from the very beginning of the album, generic vocal melodies plus washed-out mixing and synth layering taint them alongside unfulfilling structures.

For example, “FOREVER” kicks LOVE LASTS FOREVER off oddly with dramatic opening vocals from Melanie Blatt and All Saints that give more EDM drop than psych-trap. Still, it’s one of the few modular tracks here that goes through significant changes, so we have to give props for how its stark and icy snares eventually transition into a trap rhythm pretty effectively. The other structural features of Destroy Lonely’s latest album rest mostly on spacey outros with various interchangeable synth layers, which are a bare minimum at this point within the mainstream trap lane. Throughout its runtime, it mostly depends on tempo changes and switching up distinct and distorted melodic tones to provide variety. It certainly succeeds at this more than If Looks Could Kill, but not by much. Vocally, Lone still has a long way to go.

That’s not to say that he hasn’t separated himself further from his Opium counterparts, who previously exhibited much more performance crossover with each other. “THRILL” with Ken Carson sees Destroy Lonely contrast Ken’s nasal growl with a more high-pitched and airy tone. But without many direct vocal contrasts even with himself, he ends up sounding the same over a lot of these instrumentals. D.L. uses his entire arsenal on every single song, switching from more aggressive triplet flows to stretched-out crooning, lower-register embellishments, and soaring vocal leads… Sometimes all within a minute. It makes for a compellingly dynamic performance if you’re listening to any one song individually. But when you’re spinning 20+ tracks consecutively, that variety really loses its luster fast, especially when you don’t have the crutch of lyricism to fall back on.

Of course, no one wants LOVE LASTS FOREVER to get in its Nas bag. What matters to Destroy Lonely is the energy and the atmosphere, but even then, this only works up to a certain point. While some funny or ridiculous lines stand out here and there (“These n***as keep dropping trash, boy, stop littering” on “SHIP HER OFF” or “She trying to skate all on my ice, she think she Frozone” on “LOCK IN,” for example), there’s also a good chance you’ve heard them before or that you literally don’t care. The vibe is what matters. It contributes to this album’s biggest misstep: there’s very little to take away from it once it ends. No matter what version you listen to, the lack of standout hooks, memorable verses, tightly defined melodies, and interesting song structures leaves you feeling quite vapid by the end.

To reiterate, this is more of a numbing effect than the straight-up boring effort on If Looks Could Kill. Destroy Lonely does define himself more as an artist here, making rage-adjacent trap that is uniquely atmospheric and layered without depending on exaggerated aggression to do so. There’s also nothing wrong with a more amorphous, vibe-centric, and repetitive album experience, except that’s what we’ve already gotten in the past to a tee. Long story short, LOVE LASTS FOREVER is the kind of album that isn’t very nice to new people it meets on the street. Those who love this style will find much more quality and catharsis within it than we did, and they are probably more correct in their assessment as a result. But if you’re not content with reheated leftovers of your drunk-at-3AM go-to, this album will not convince you otherwise.