Well last time he released ‘i’ as the lead up single that was seen as him taking a new more radio friendly approach and there were worries that he was going to ‘sell out’ on the next one. Instead he released a pretty experimental and at points obnoxious recored that was anything but radio friendly.
He also took that track ‘i’, which seemed like an apoltical track, and completely recontextualised it in the terms of black identity/self hate and made sure to include a snippet of a rant in the album version.
So I guarantee the next album will have one or two surprises and im not going to read to much into the single that doesnt really do much for me.
He already sold out, in the most basic of terms. you could say maybe he’s gone pop, but again, he’s already worked with Imagine Dragons, T Swift, Drake, Maroon5, Dido, R Thicke, Alicia Keys, Sia, Yonce, etc, he’s already there.
Didn’t think too much of this track (relative to his other stuff of course) but have found myself wanting to say, ‘sit down. Be humble’ all day befofe quickly realising how ridiculous I’d look and stopping myself.
There’s something about his tone in the chorus which is oddly engrossing
Depends what you mean by ‘sold out’ there is a reason why I put that term in quotation marks. The point is that he is still taking risks and making music that is far more interesting, meaningful, and ambitious then most artists today. Pop or otherwise.
If anything every album he has released has been more ambitious then the other one. So yes he is a hugely successful commercial artist that has been happy to do verses on other albums and vice versa. Yes he has played the game to get wider recognition. But the music itself has never felt compromised to fit radio play or shift sales. Not in the LP format anyway.