If Looks Could Kill by Destroy Lonely
If Looks Could Kill is Destroy Lonely’s first and longest studio album, having a total of 26 songs and having a total length time of 1 hour and 24 minutes. It was released on May 5, 2023. This was his follow-up album from his most popular work, No Stylist. When this album was released, many fans of the rap genre felt like it was underwhelming, some stated that a lot of the beats were repetitive and the album wouldn’t be as great as No Stylist. I did not believe any of these statements, and as time passed, opinions changed. While listening to ILCK, I thought it was really well executed. The overall aesthetic of this album was perfectly curated, having a 20th century slasher-like vibe, where it’s depicted by mystery and a sense of calmness. The cover was inspired off of the famous 90’s thriller/slasher, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and the melodies of these songs fit that aesthetic to a tee. There are many feelings in this album but the most used is a combination of love and heartbreak. But the most outstanding feature of this album is Destroy Lonely’s melodic rapping, the way he raps and speaks on the mic blows all his other performances on other albums out the water. This is just a quick preview of what this album contains, but other than that, let’s review a couple of songs that fit this album’s vibe.
Track 1. “how u feel?” (3:54)
The starting track of the album, and probably one of the best. This song starts with an audio clip from the 1973 horror film Messiah of Evil, ”They say nightmares are dreams perverted. I’ve told them it wasn’t a nightmare, but they don’t believe me.” This goes off on the aesthetic built around the album, and staying built on it. One of the most popular choruses on the album, Destroy Lonely captures the feeling of love in this track, “Every time I look in your eyes, I look away mesmerized, and you shine brighter than the stars that decorate the night sky, and I promise to keep you close, if you promise you’re mine.”. He is complementing his current lover, while showing affection. Telling her that not only does she have beautiful eyes, he also states that she is so unique that she shines brighter than all the stars in the night. This track starts the album off perfectly while also leaving room for more while listening into the album longer.
Track 4. “which one” (3:28)
Now this song has a different vibe to it. Destroy Lonely dedicates this song to finding out who loves him for him, regardless of all his success and fame. This song also alludes to the fact that he doesn’t love easily stating in the chorus he is usually stiff on finding love, but has affection towards someone in particular. In this song he also hints that he is usually around multiple girls, stating, “I’m tryna figure out which one love me, I’m tryna figure out which one trust me.” This also hints at the fact that he lives a crazy life, and needs to have someone who will truly love and trust him. This quote is also where the title of the track comes from. This track has feelings of uncertainty, love, and pride for what he has earned while being an upcoming artist.
Track 14. “which way” (3:11)
This track starts off strong, Destroy Lonely states, “I don’t know which way I’m going.” This can mean many things, and it’s only the first line, but he is most likely talking about the direction of his life. In the other tracks, he makes it clear that he lives a fast-paced life while also going through old heartbreaks, and new ones, and is concerned about if he is taking the right path in the current stage of his life. Other things that are important in this track, is his success. While flaunting about his current success, he also calls out his haters who tried to belittle him in the past, saying that as he went up, he had to cut them out of his vision.
Track 16. “moment of silence” (4:28)
Easily the best song on the album. Destroy Lonely makes a statement about how the new money from his success has been replacing his friends. This could mean a couple things, but it’s mainly pointing to the fact that his friends were only using him for his money, and while having a new wave of fame, he started to cut off all his fake friends. It could also mean that he has been too busy putting effort into music, that he doesn’t have time to socialize, so his new earned money has started to become his new friends. Overall the theme of this song is having a moment of silence for his upcoming success, and his working mindset. Talking about the early stages of his life when he had struggled but now reflects on it, showing his fanbase that hard work always wins.
I would have to give this album a 4 star review. It’s hard to try and fit all of the positives in this review, whilst a good album I feel like it’s too long and there could have been better song replacements for certain songs. The length of the album and the “overuse” of guitar-like melodies were primary reasons for the early hate on this album. I understood these but the positives in this album outweigh the negatives by a huge margin. Recently, this album started getting love again, but it was in response to Destroy Lonely’s new releases, as they didn’t live up to their expectations. All in all, “If Looks Could Kill by Destroy Lonely” is one of the best albums I have heard and would like to share it with people who are looking for new music to listen to or an album they can play whenever they want. Personally, this is a really good album to listen to in the winter, or to just have on in the background
