After half a decade of waiting, Playboi Carti dropped his highly anticipated album, MUSIC, on March 14th, 2025. This marks his third studio album, following Whole Lotta Red, released on December 25th, 2020. During the five-year wait, Carti teased and scrapped multiple other projects, such as Narcissist and a collaborative album, 16*29, with Lil Uzi Vert.
Carti first teased MUSIC back in 2022, stating in an interview that his next album would carry that title. In 2023, he leaked the songs “Evil Jordan” and “2024” (both would be on the album and deluxe), indirectly suggesting the album would be released in 2024.
On September 12th, he posted on Instagram that there would be a release of music that day, and subsequently released the single “All Red” and posted a website where you could preorder his album, MUSIC, which stated it would release “no later than 6 months past September 12th.” After that, hype around the album died down until around March 10th, when fans began receiving shipment notices for their preorders. Hopes rose again, but no confirmation came from Carti until March 12th, when he finally announced that the album would be released on Friday, March 14th.
This wasn’t the end of a series of delays. One of the album’s producers announced around 11:45 PM EST that the album would drop at 12:00 AM Pacific Time. That, too, didn’t happen. Instead, the album was released at around 7:30 AM EST. Carti’s album featured Travis Scott, The Weeknd, Kendrick Lamar, Jhené Aiko, Skepta, Future, Lil Uzi Vert, Young Thug, and Ty Dolla $ign.
Of the 34 songs, the album has its high and lows, and features a wide variety of genres, like rage rap in songs like “Pop Out,” “Wake Up F1lthy,” and “Olympian,” R&B inspired Rather Lie and “We Need All Da Vibes,” soundcloud rap in “Evil Jordan,” and “Philly,” plus iconic leaked songs like “2024” and “FOMDJ.”
The opening track, “Pop Out,” was an interesting listen at 7:35 in the morning, as it is pretty much the definition of a rage rap song. The beat sounds like an auto mechanic shop, and Carti sounds energetic throughout the song. Junior Mahir Ozkan says that he enjoyed this song simply because “Carti’s lyricism can’t be matched.”
“Evil Jordan” is the most-streamed song on MUSIC, with over 40 million plays. The track begins with a sample from The Weeknd & Playboi Carti’s song, “Popular,” after 45 seconds of an instrumental. The track was changed a bit from the video release in 2024, and many fans enjoyed the new introduction to the song.
“Rather Lie” with The Weeknd is the third collaboration between the two, following “Popular” and “Timeless.” Both songs were very popular, each with over 150 million streams. “Rather Lie” certainly did not disappoint. The piece has a very soft R&B-inspired beat, and between The Weeknd’s signature sound and Carti’s raw voice, the combination creates a very relaxing listening experience. Junior Gavin Hicks stated that the song “was a nice break from the rest of the album, and this track felt fun.”
In “We Need All Da Vibes,” Carti features both Young Thug and Ty Dolla $ign. Young Thug raps in the chorus, which is featured three times, and also in the second verse of the song. At the end of Young Thug’s verses, you can hear rapper Gunna’s adlibs—Gunna actually had a verse on the original song, but had to be taken off due to legal issues. The whole track feels positive, with a beat that has a nice sort of summer vibe to it. This song is deservedly one of the most popular on the album.
So, with the long wait finally over, fans are asking: Was MUSIC worth five years? While the album includes some questionable choices, like controversy around AI voice filters, it also features standout highs that are definitely worth replaying.
