Quietly making a name for himself over the past six years as “Drake’s protege,” PartyNextDoor has officially surpassed the so-called “teacher,” sounding more like Drake than Drake himself on his third album, Partymobile. Naturally, of course, this means a cameo from Rihanna on the already much talked about “Believe It” (mainly because it’s Rihanna’s first musical offering in three years and the scandalization over the fact that PartyNextDoor doesn’t bother to offer her a full-fledged verse). But that comes later in the album’s set of party tricks (get it?), starting first with “Nothing Less,” for PartyNextDoor seems to want to deliver nothing less than the perfect quarantine groove with the ambient rhythm that carries through the entire song (giving way to more unwanted speculation that coronavirus lockdowns will result in the next baby boom [insert vomit sound here]).
Regaling his lover with how she gets (and how he wants to give) the best of him), PartyNextDoor croons, “You get the best of me/Whatever is left of me/Stretchin’ like elastic/ /Every little bit of me stretchin’/You get the best of me/Anything less you won’t accept it.” This transitions as caramel smoothly into “Turn Up,” a more upbeat tune that borrows lyrically at times from the reggae classic by Ini Kamoze, “World-A-Music”–specifically the line, “Out in the streets/They callin’ murder” (though on Kamoze’s track, it was, “Out in the street, they call it merther”). Or, from the sound of the lyrics, maybe they callin’ rape as our silky-voiced boy sings, “I done flew you out the city, girl/I know that you look pretty, but I want it all off/You said come and come and get it, so I came and came with it, fuck you ’til you nod off.” Hmmm, all right. And, like Dua Lipa’s latest, Future Nostalgia and The Weeknd’s After Hours, many elements of Partymobile now somehow come across as anachronistic, for the “party life” has very much moved indoors in the time since the creation of this record. In that regard, PartyNextDoor gets one aspect right about the present–and how the rich are getting around: “Well, there’s no TSA/We flyin’ jets.” Private, obvs.
Subsequently, “The News” finds PND doing a one-eighty on the stance he presented in “Nothing Less,” as he tells the object of his affection that he probably treats her too well, especially considering his hidden knowledge of her cuckqueaning him. Hence the chorus: “What’s news to you ain’t news to me.” As in, yes bitch, I already fuckin’ know (kind of like how most civilians feel when their friends try to send them some “earth-shattering” link–Jared Leto though, not so much). Often conjuring easy sonic comparisons to fellow Canadian The Weeknd, PND continues the vibe on “Split Decision,” a slowed down ditty that flips the script on the infidelity narrative, with PND being the guilty party in this version. As such, he pulls a bit of a Shaggy intro with, “You found some things you never should have found”–should’ve just said “It wasn’t me” yo. Trying to call her and explain, he’s met with her generic voicemail, which plays for the full effect within the song before PND then breaks down (once again, with that misogynistic air), “[You] just got back from a trip, caught me with another bitch/I can see it in your face, you gotta make a split decision…/You won’t spare me any mercy.” What woman would in this epoch, to be honest?
“Loyal” ironically follows and features PND’s “guru,” Drake on it. With co-producing credit from Drake go-to Noah “40” Shebib, the song has a very “Controlla”-esque sound. Geeking out over their respective significant others (whoever the fuck they may be), PND and Drake harmonize to express their loyalty and reverence (you best believe Rihanna is eye rolling somewhere about it, particularly after Drake’s most recent embarrassing display of affection toward her). The none too subtly titled “Touch Me” then slows things down again as PND laments of his relationship dynamic, “It’s been a while since you touched me/Touch me and reminded me/Of what I like/Bring me back to the days that you called me/The days that you wanted my company.” Well PND, maybe you were just being too goddamn needy (which only works for Ariana Grande). Elsewhere, an unintentionally hilarious with hindsight line, “We FaceTime even though it’s hardly face time” makes the present feel even bleaker. The fact that touching is more taboo than ever lends added earnestness to the lyric “bring me back to the time”–a.k.a. the time when touching was societally acceptable.
To that end, “Trauma” succeeds this with its antithetical upbeat rhythm–arguably one of the best party tracks on the record. Just as he was upset on “The News” over his significant other causing him trauma, in this iteration of the narrative, he still wants to have her in her life, admitting, “Traumatized, I need you in my life/I’m so, I’m so, I’m so trauma/I’m so, I’m so, I’m so drunk for you.” Perhaps even acknowledging that taking her for granted was what drove her into another man’s boudoir, he adds, “I didn’t know it then, but I know it now/I didn’t show it then, but I show it now/Say it out loud and I say it proud /I’ll never meet a girl like you again/Out of everything I lost, I lost a friend.”
Speaking again of wanting to “show things,” PND then gives us “Showing You,” a whimsical, flute-laden (with a bit of woodwind thrown in, too) track that addresses a theme that, by now, is starting to feel a bit stale as he begs the woman he betrayed to forgive him (damn boi, can you just keep it in your pants?). Accordingly, he begs, “Baby, I miss your touch (miss your touch)/And I wanna get back every day ’cause it means so much to me.” So does getting back to every day for most in quarantine mean the same. And anyway, does it really mean that much to him if he keeps doing it (whether with the same girl or a different one every time)?
Maybe that’s why he needs to keep his “Eye On It” for other women, as he expresses with an air of yearning and burning on this island-infused song, one that has the same club anthem-y feel as “Loyal” and “Trauma.” But it wouldn’t be PND without a bit of a skeevy flair, which is why “Eye On It” discusses his dilemma in lusting after one woman who he has agreed to be “just a friend” to while already having his own girlfriend who he admits is “bad,” but still not bad enough to curb his desire for the other. How typique.
Arriving to level the playing field for women combatting with PND’s fuckboi ways is Rihanna on “Believe It.” Once more revisiting the motif of infidelity (who is this dude, a Woody Allen movie?), PND and Ri collaborate to address how both need to show one another trust if they’re going to believe it–“it” being that there’s no stepping out afoot. Commencing with the insistence, “Best make me believe it/Believe you won’t deceive me,” at no point is Rihanna given a full verse (somewhat heightening her tease nature of late when it comes to putting out new music). She is, however, bowed down to with PND’s line, “You got the power/Pussy power.”
Enough pussy power to make PND change his pace to that of a Sade variety on “Never Again”–where, once more, he beats the dead horse (while also seemingly beating off) with the same theme. Talking of how he’ll never be betrayed again by this broad, he goads, “For the last three months, I’ve been thinkin’ ’bout another bitch/Yeah, yeah, wouldn’t you do the same?” Because whoever this lover is that spurned PND, she clearly did what she wanted without any regard for him–or so he paints the picture. With a moody and visceral conclusion that segues perfectly into “PGT”–which is a not so perfect pop culture reference. For we all know the ultimate dead horse beating is 1) Michael Jackson full-stop and 2) pretending he did nothing gross by paying homage to him. And yet, PartyNextDoor just had to go there in repurposing “PYT” (pretty young thing) into an abbreviation that now means “pretty grown thing.” And really, who knows which version is more throw up-inducing? Because even if PND is overly highlighting that a girl’s age is “mature enough” (to bang, that is), it still sounds predatory, like he’s saying it more for his own sake than anyone else’s.
Indefatigable with his creep factor as the album nears a close, “Another Day” details his disappointment in the current girl du moment’s “rejection” of his advances, as she refuses to spend the night after coming over. This leads PND to rue, “You’re not ready to spend the night, baby/There’s always another day/Rainin’ on my parade/It seem like you’re scared/What I wanna do to you, I wanna go to bed.” Wow, thanks for the obvious breakdown. And maybe there isn’t going to be “another day” for this girl if she keeps coming over. Rohypnol’s a helluva drug, after all.
To that end, “Savage Anthem” is the most candid, honest depiction of who PartyNextDoor is, despite his tiptoeing around it for the majority of Partymobile. Urging the one he’s wronged (though there’s likely been well more than one), he sings, “Don’t hold your breath/Don’t wait on my love.” This in between any number of deliberately incendiary phrases, including, “Don’t wait on my nut from your sex,” “Wash my dick off before I get home” and “Talked to you then went to the strip club VIP, I got my dick sucked.” So yeah, the main takeaway from the entire record is what PND himself asserts, “I put the dirt in dirtbag.”
Lightening the tone for his fadeout, PND tacks “Loyal (Remix)” to the end, but it doesn’t quite take what you’ve been through already away. Anyway, if you don’t listen too closely to the lyrics, Partymobile is a perfectly lovely album to lounge around the house to (and for most, “lounge” means the incorporation of ganja).
