It’s hard not to smile while listening to this album, especially if you knew how necessary this album was. For me, for us, for the artists listening, and for Party. PARTYMOBILE might be Party’s perfect album. It solidifies his spot as a sound-innovator and one of our generation’s best songwriters.
PARTYMOBILE is PARTYNEXTDOOR’s first studio-album since his 2016 release P3. In the past few years, Party has stayed out of the limelight, opting to be behind the scenes, writing some of the biggest songs of the last 5 years: “Work”, “Sex With Me”, and “Wild Thoughts”. Whether it was intentional or not, Party’s return album, PARTYMOBILE, will likely solidify him as one of the most influential artists of our generation. PARTYMOBILE is what we needed from him.
As soon as the album started, we knew this is exactly what listeners wanted to hear. After Party established himself and his sound with earlier projects, it felt like he grew tired of the sound that he created, opting to try something different. P3 was the peak of that experimentation, and although he maintained commercial success, it left a lot of fans wanting more. PARTYMOBILE is the perfect execution of the sounds that Party created, now, he is just at his best.
The album starts off dark and grimey, but includes powerful drums that keep you drawn in. It was this sound that Party had been associated with for a majority of his career, yet this is the most authentic its ever sounded. He opens up emotions we hadn’t heard in years and rides the production better than he ever has before. Just as we began to wonder if the entirety of the album was going to stay mellow and moody, we were hit wit the energy of the lead single “Loyal”, which featured OVO-front man Drake. Even with the switch up of sonics and energy, the song felt perfect in place. Party goes on to maintain the island energy with a sequence of incredible songs that had never been previously released. Standouts from this portion of the album are “Trauma” and “Believe It”, the latter of which features the Caribbean Queen, Rihanna. It’s worth mentioning that Rihanna’s only musical endeavours since 2016’s Anti were Pharell’s “Lemon” in 2017 (which was later remixed by Drake), then this minimal appearance on a HUGE tune with PARTYNEXTDOOR. Even after years away from the radio, Rihanna and PND are sure to receive a lot of play with this record.
Before officially ending the album with a bonus “Loyal” remix that features Bad Bunny, Party concludes the album with the subtle reminder that he’s one of the best writers in the game. “Savage Anthem” is unlike anything we’ve heard from Party in the past. The production maintains the character that he has been known for, but this time he lines up the bars to execute the most concentrated song of the album. The perfect way to end what will inevitably be a classic project.
We pray that we all make it out of this pandemic healthy and safe, because once we do, this album will the perfect way to start off our summer soundtracks.
What do you guys think of the new Party project? Was it worth the wait? What are your favourite songs?