He rose to prominence at a bizarre time: label boss Drake and affiliate The Weeknd had just parted ways, and the rap star seemingly swiped Party up as a crooning replacement. These are the rewards of a studio rat given free reign, where awe is found in the novel arrangement of sounds in space.PartyNextDoor’s music career has been spent in the shadows.

He tucks unexpected elements in spots they may go unnoticed at first-you might not catch the whistling littered throughout “You’ve Been Missed” until the fifth listen, but once registered, it’s just another memorable hook amongst a litany of others. Once again, helping elevate Brathwaite’s lust is his production. When he claims that “she knows what I have to calm her down” on “Don’t Run,” it’s both a reference to his sexual prowess and the mindful attention of a supportive partner. “Why do you act like I’m sexist or something, just for calling you sexy?” Brathwaite asks with genuine confusion on “Nothing Easy to Please,” a line suggesting some of his relationship woes might stem from not understanding women quite as well as he thinks. Unfortunately, he’s not always as tuned to his partners. “Come and See Me” is tuned to more a nuanced frequency, disguising a lament about uneven give-and-take in a relationship in the clothes of an “R U up?” booty-call anthem. Given the time PARYNEXTDOOR 3 dedicates to the aftermath of infidelity, that’s pretty often. Clothes that don’t quite fit his boss feel effortlessly tailored to Brathwaite: “You heard a lot about Jamaicans, and you wanna know what it’d be like,” he sings with an infectious assuredness on “Don’t Know How ” “Only U” is three minutes of sweat and anticipation erected on top of a skeletal swing on the cavernous “Not Nice,” he expresses his need to “hold the corner and then slow whine it.” The way physical pleasures intertwine with emotional turmoil encompasses most of Brathwaite’s focus on the album-in Brathwaite’s world, sex is not as a shortcut to intimacy but a reflection of it, even if he has a tendency to latch onto carnality in the absence of intimacy. The album helps prove he’s a lot more than just Drake’s patois advisor. The island vibes of “Work” soak Brathwaite’s third studio album, PARTYNEXTDOOR 3.

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