“I’m sad as fuck. I want 2,000 more shows,” Destroy Lonely, 24, says as he adjusts a diamond chain around his neck. Tonight marks the last stop of Opium Collective’s Antagonist Tour, and Lone, as his friends and fans call him, is reluctant for the run of shows to end. “That shit was fucking wicked,” he smiles. “It felt like a rave.”
The 20-plus-date, high-octane tour has taken him across the nation and seen him share a stage with a mix of label mates and mentors: Playboi Carti, Ken Carson, and Homixide Gang. But tonight at State Farm Arena, just a stone’s throw from where the alternative rapper, born Bobby Sandimanie III, grew up, feels particularly special. “This is my first time performing in front of this many people,” he explains. “Doing it in Atlanta and seeing how many motherfuckers fuck with me, that was just crazy.”
Watching from the audience, it was easy to see why Lone feels so at home onstage. From the moment the gritty bass of “LOCK IN” hit their ears, the young crowd stirred into a frenzy. When “NOSTYLIST” played toward the end of the set, the voices screaming, “Bitch, I wake up, no stylist,” nearly drowned out the speakers. Lone commanded the energy like a seasoned pro. It’s a moment Lone has been working towards since he started, wanting to just make music for “whoever is out there like me.”
“I was 14, dreaming of doing shit like this,” he says. “I hope it’s a young n**ga out there watching me and my brothers do this shit and is inspired to go home and do whatever they want to do in their life. I hope 10 years later, they can feel how I feel. ’Cause I was a fan of Carti. I was a fan of all this. Now I’m doing this shit myself. If I could do it, I feel like anybody could do this shit.”
A few hours earlier, sitting in his smoke-filled recording studio, the walls vibrating with his music, it’s safe to say that not just “anybody” can do this — at least not like him. Lone is warm, witty, and stylish, wearing black leather wristbands and a chain, both adorned with diamonds. “I got this skull necklace and a lot of spikes ’cause I feel evil today, like a rock star,” he grins. His dreadlocks are shades of silver and purple peaking out from a dark beanie, and he’s dressed head to toe in his now trademark black ’fit.
But the most staggering thing about Destroy Lonely is his approach to art. He’s currently working on his next full-length album, Drop Dead Gorgeous, and as he gives us a first listen — once we find a room in the studio that will play it as loud as he wants — it’s incredible to witness. The tracks shift from metallic industrial rock to petulant punk back to indie rock meshed with R&B, layered with his raucous Southern rap delivery. One track that may or may not be named “Paranormal” seems to defy genre. “If you took If Looks Could Kill and made it take ecstasy,” Lone says, referencing his 2023 debut album, “that’s what it sounds like.”
His choice to dial things up is deliberate. “Whatever I'm doing, I like to put it on hard mode,” he says. “With Drop Dead Gorgeous, I feel like I'm making music I've never made before. There are so many different textures and colors I'm trying to play with.” He’s been experimenting with singing, studying older artists and musicians, trying to get up to speed on all the different things a voice can do. “I feel like I could rap or make another “NOSTYLIST” in my sleep, but that's not fun,” he says. “So to keep what I'm doing fun for me, regardless of numbers or how much money I'm making, I want to make it challenging. My engineer, [Ellantre "Trey" Williams], when we finish a song, we can be like, ‘What the? We never did that before!’ That's like the most rewarding feeling.”
Destroy Lonely may not be in it for the numbers, but his drive keeps pushing him to the top of the charts, and his Atlanta punk aesthetic keeps pushing him in front of designers. He’s collaborated with Matthew Williams, appeared in Marc Jacobs campaigns, and even walked in VETEMENTS’ show at Paris Fashion Week. “I'm stretching my hand a lot more in fashion,” he says. “I got a lot of collaborations coming up in 2026 where I get to show the world me as a creative director for the first time.”
For many of the custom outfits he wears on tour, he works with creative director and stylist Stephanie Perez. In the green room, Perez, who shares in Lone’s modern goth aesthetic, shows me pieces they’ve designed together: A floor-scrapping leather trench over a wide Chanel embossed belt; multiple studded waist belts; a black top with metallic zippers that connect removable gloves, sleeves, and back. “I wanna put that on hard mode and do that better,” Lone says. “I never went to an art school or a fashion school. I don’t know much about fashion, and that's why I love it.”
Now that he’s got some time off the road, Destroy Lonely intends to be an “open vessel” for creativity. Though he still can’t stop himself from continuing to create, dropping a jittery bass-driven track called “the acronym” with his friend and labelmate Ken Carson. “I'm taking in everything possible,” he says. “I’ve been studying hard. I came in as a student of rap and hip hop, but now I feel like I'm a student of culture in general.”
