Rihanna! How very odd that she’s chosen to reappear on a PARTYNEXTDOOR song, of all things. This song is catchy enough, but I’m not sure it has the special sauce it needs to be a hit. “ Vuja De turn Deja Vu” might be one of the most nonsensical lines I’ve heard in a long time. The fact that he’s actually Jamaican makes this so much less cringe-worthy than when someone like Ed Sheeran works in this space. Why is the percussion on these songs always so similar? I appreciate that his patois is authentic. Another extended outro that kills the momentum. A great sentiment in theory, but in practice, I don’t think he’s following his own advice by writing a song about it. Evidently, he needs to “ spend more time showing” and “ not telling” her that he loves her. PARTY is trying to bargain with his partner by telling her he can be better. It feels almost like he wrote to a different beat and then they swapped the instrumental at the last second. There’s a bit too much going on in this production for PND to find a pocket to ride. The flute sound that has been so popular in hip-hop since “Mask Off.” Strangely enough, I’ve yet to get tired of it. This song is about 75 percent chorus, but I dig how heartfelt PARTY sounds. PARTY wants us to know that he’s a broken human being: “ You get the best of me / whatever is left of me.” This is something you say with a couple’s counselor present, not on the introduction to an album. In standard 1-listen fashion, the rules are as usual: no pausing, no rewinding, just my gut reactions in real-time.
He may try to recapture the acclaim of his first two projects, or he may opt to veer in a new direction entirely. Aside from the three singles that he’s released to date-“ SPLIT DECISION,” “ THE NEWS,” and the Drake-featuring “ LOYAL”- PND has given fans few ideas of what to expect from this project. Today, this album arrives in the form of PARTYMOBILE. In the interim, fans have begun reminiscing on the glory of PARTY’s first two projects-the supple vocal runs, the soaring hooks, the sheer triumph that is “ Break From Toronto”-and begun clamoring loudly for a new album. And so, this break has acted as a palate cleanser of sorts.