Be calm. Future dropped.
Leave it to Future to appropriately name his latest album, I Never Liked You, prepping fans for a summer of villainous bops – leaving men ready to forget about their longtime girlfriends and women prepared to snag Birkins and bounce.
This weekend, I joined in with other Future fans and gave into the toxic energy, giving the album a much-needed listen.
Based on initial spins of the 49-minute project, I can honestly say the album isn't as toxic as people are making it out to be, but it's still getting played all summer in this household, especially now that Future added five new songs to the deluxe version of the album on May 2, mere days after it dropped on April 29.
Let me first start by saying, Future fully embraces his toxic king status on I Never Liked You. The album carries its fair share of unwholesome quotables, i.e., "Buy a Birkin for a bitch before I buy her flowers" and "Get mad at yourself cause you can't leave me alone."
Ye and Drake came with some toxicity of their own. You can catch Ye jabbing at buying a house across the street from Kim Kardashian's ("I'm a buy a home next to your home if I miss you").
Meanwhile, Drake supplies some What a Time to be Alive energy, going back and forth with Future on "WAIT FOR U" and "I'M ON ONE". He gets in his toxic Future bag, telling a woman seeking a relationship with him that he's actually her best friend instead ("I could never be your man, I'm your bestie").
In my opinion, they came with the toxic energy I was looking for from Future — you know, that DS2, Beast Mode, and Monster energy. But, perhaps, Future's R&B-style tunes and softer side on this album didn't help to pack the stings as Drizzy and Yeezy delivered.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for slowed-down Future, hence why HNDRXX is also a no-skip zone for me. But, with those vibe-paced tracks, Future took the time to show us the other facets of himself and honestly, I'm not mad at it.
The Atlanta rapper explores his more vulnerable POV on "LOVE YOU BETTER," "BACK TO THE BASICS," and "VOODOO." In between, you got classic toxic and flex king Future with tracks like "MASSAGING ME" and "PUFFIN ON ZOOTIEZ."
In short, I Never Liked You was an emotional rollercoaster, to say the least – going from actually sympathizing with the king of toxicity to wanting to ball out on a Hermès I know I can't afford in his honor.
Ah, you gotta love Future's wild-ride album experiences. And it's safe to say the Pluto fans are indeed here for the new album and its vibe too because internet reactions never lie (and are never not hilarious).
With this amount of hype, Future's I Never Liked You may actually become the biggest debut of 2022, as projected.
