PartyNextDoor finally made his long-awaited return with PartyMoible. After dropping two singles in December and an expected February drop, it got pushed back to March.
Truthfully, I have never been a huge fan of PND. When he’s worked with his mentor, Drake, I’ve always found his music to be enjoyable. Whether it’s an interlude or a full feature, PND always comes through on a Drake project.
PartyNextDoor
But I was hopeful things would be different here and he could carry a project on his own. This album had a lot of hype going in, so my expectations were high for PARTYMOBILE. Given where R&B is at right now, there is a lot of life in these artists.
I’m going to echo Joe Budden here and say that this is the most over-hyped “two-pack of ass” album of 2020. With all the R&B I have heard recently, this was just lazy. There is no personality, no expression, just PND going half-assed for the majority of the album. The first nine tracks on the album bored me to death or damn near made me lose my mind.
The production here is either lo-fi or poppy/dance-hall in the most basic form. PARTYMOBILE may well have been broken down on the side of the road because this is getting no parties started at all. Although some of the tracks like “Nothing Less” and “The News” are smooth, it’s background music for the most part. PND somehow made “Loyal”, featuring Drake on a dance-hall vibe, damn near unlistenable.
Track List
But that’s not the most offensive part, shockingly. PND did his best to phone it in on the song-writing. On numerous occasions he didn’t even bother to write a second verse, opting instead to repeat his first. “Turn Up”, “Touch Me” and “Showing You” are at least three-and-a-half minutes long, and there is nothing to show for it. There is no progression on most of the first nine tracks.
“Showing You” was easily the most frustrating track on here though, because just when you have hope in PND doing something great here, he shut it down swiftly. You hear this infectious flute-centric beat that becomes stale within two minutes. In fact, you hear no progression for damn near five minutes.
With all of that being said, he ended the album strongly. “Believe It” with Rihanna is an instant pick-me-up. He finally gave a single shit to make a good song with this one, probably because of Ms. Fenty’s presence. “PGT” is an absolute banger as well, where his voice carries a track for once.
“Another Day” is a somber track, but it’s short and to the point. “Savage Anthem” is over six minutes, but PND stayed true to his word here. He called out Kehlani with the lyric “I heard number two is your man now / I don’t mind being number two now,” showing a level of expression I that I had been waiting on for ten tracks.
A lot of hate has been coming my way due to my opinion of PARTYMOBILE. He has a loyal fanbase that came through the OVO hype train. It needs to be noted that the Young Thug impersonation he uses on this album kills any mood or vibe he wanted to create.
Features
The Thugger influence on PND is clear, but it doesn’t work as well for him. A lot of these tracks ran way too long with some horrible writing and un-finished ideas. Someone must have pressured PND to drop this album sooner than he wanted.
I have never seen an artist give less effort lyrically on multiple tracks. Maybe, next time around he will really come with different sounds and gets some help with the writing. There are some flashes towards the end, but this album fell way short of the mark.