Much like his mentor Playboi Carti, Destroy Lonely has always had an interest in expanding rap music past its traditional borders. On his 2024 sophomore album, LOVE LASTS FOREVER, the Atlanta rapper uses his voice in a bevy of ways, incorporating instrumentals from a number of genres to create a truly chameleonic and shifting body of work. On “FOREVER”, a pop vocal performance that sounds like it was taken from an EDM banger introduces the cut, before layers of harmonies, triumphant synths and handclaps help bring Lonely to the stage. When he begins his vocals, though, he chooses to drown his words in Auto-Tune, making sure his delivery emphasises texture over bars. When the chaos subsides and Destroy Lonely begins to rap during the song’s second half, the effect hits all the harder. Elsewhere, on “LOVE HURTS”, the alt-rap pioneer teams up with one of the sub-genre’s forebears, Lil Uzi Vert, to create a woozy and subterranean countercultural anthem, a one-of-a-kind look back on the ways relationships can dissipate.