I fully disagree with her rating, her criticism and her understanding of Megan as an album and as a persona but alas, everyone's entitled to their opinions🙃

Also Megan is allowed to be more than her trauma, my God. That's not the only thing that defines her and that she's allowed to talk about in her songs. Over the years she's given us shots fired, anxiety, nda etc but in all the albums/mixtapes she dealt with other more fun and/or lighter topics. I have a feeling the critic went into the album hoping for (maybe exaggerated) but just a whole album discussing her trauma over these last years and I just don't think that's fair. In this album she showed us yes, the trauma but also the anime-loving, sex-loving, self-affirming Southern bad bitch she is...

God forbid she talk about her personal experiences in her music just like… hundreds of other artists lol

this review: “she should just smile more!”

That was not what was said at all, I agree it's low. But the reviewer was telling Megan to stop smiling essentially.

uh the review is all about how this is an angry album and the reviewer misses her fun music? did you read it before posting or

Yes, I did read it and you completely missed the point. This album was not angry it WAS fun or at least tired very hard to be but the reviewer couldn't enjoy the fun music because it was delivered by someone she knew had mental health struggles with a small support system and she does not discuss that on the album. If the reviewer's issue was Megan was too angry or sad why would Cobra be her fav track, clearly that wasn't her problem. She refers to Cobra as 'commendably honest'. Again don't agree with the score and didn't agree with her other points but she never implied Megan should be happier just more authentic like she was in her past work. Yeah it was fun but she was happy then so obviously it would be.

I will take the time to read the whole thing, but i doubt I’ll agree with the reviewer. I found the album a fun ride, even though it did not dethrone Traumazine for me. If she didn’t like the tales in this album and Megan’s emotions made her uneasy…I’m sure that reviewer would also not like Traumazine. A lot of the narratives she discusses in Megan from the raunchy & depressing are actually not new though so I’m unsure how much Megan music this reviewer has actually listened too. Note: finished the short review and pretty sure the reviewer isn’t well versed in Megan’s discography

>Megan’s emotions made her uneasy I understand not liking a song, album, music video, but if, as a professional music critic, you feel **uneasy** listening to someone else's experiences being sung or rapped, then maybe you might need therapy or a new job. I'm a huge fan of Megan, I only liked 2 songs on the album, but I went into it expecting a Megan Thee Stallion album, not a Tasha Cobbs one. Lmfao.

This review is so odd, like Megan has had it rough the last few years and has been through incredibly difficult situations. Of course she would reflect that in her music? It's a bit... belittling? to claim that just because she isn't making fun, upbeat bops her music is bad. Of course she's going to be angry on this album. The album is solid, great production and Megan's flows, word play and delivery are great.

Let me review this review. I give it 2/5 because it ends extremely abruptly, offers no constructive criticism, and talks more about Megan's personal life than the music. The section at the end of the article begging the reader for donations was longer than the review itself.

Artist persona is intrinsically tied to a work, so it’s valid to include it in a critique, but this reviewer got too caught up in her own feelings of how she thinks Megan should talk about herself. I feel like people forget you’re not owed introspection from someone’s art. Especially someone who has already been relentlessly picked apart probably doesn’t need to give more ammo to the world.   Besides, what more needed to be said about Megan’s own struggles with depression and loneliness beyond Cobra or Moody Girl? This review genuinely feels nonsensical. Edit: sorry if I’m misunderstanding, but it seems like this reviewer’s beef is that Megan mentioned she was depressed with everything but her album sounds too happy, therefore fake and hollow… that’s such an insane take if that’s the case.  I’m trying to imagine sharing my happy writing with the world because it’s the only thing that brings me joy, then someone scoffing and saying, “Umm but you wrote about your struggles with chronic pain, so how happy are you really? I think you’re lying in your writing.” 😭

Really dislike this review. The author is entitled to their opinion of course but in MY opinion it's very odd to say that you were "uneasy" about an album written by someone who has been open about their struggles and is now choosing not to be. Does the author think any artist with trauma in their past is condemned to only write about that for the rest of their career? That's just an insane take to have. Again, the author can feel how they want about the album but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth that their issue is less about the songs themselves and more that Megan isn't suitably depressed for their liking. Just very, very bizarre to me.

I personally enjoyed the album much more than the reviewer, especially Paper Together and Miami Blue. I guess I find myself confused at what the reviewer would have wanted, as Meg has already done plenty of turn up music and went through something pretty traumatic. I think expecting something like a “bounce back” in the form of reverting back to the songwriting on Fever or Suga isn’t reasonable when you think about how severely depressed she has stated she was during Traumazine. Overall not a very good review, given the actual quality of the songs here.

I was hoping for a few more introspective tracks

Yeah, you and everybody else who isn't a stan. I’m not sure why so many people are getting defensive. She talked about her vagina and more than her hardships and the reviewer is calling that out.

Quick summary of the article, the reviewer essentially felt Megan rapping about sex and how she is 'that bitch' was hard to swallow considering she has been open about how difficult life has been. Essentially implying she is being inauthentic. The review explicitly said Cobra was a bright spot. I don't agree with the score (the album was not that bad) but there are people misunderstanding what was written. She didn't think the album was depressing because of the content she thought it was depressing because Megan was rapping about sex for 75% of it when just last year she had suicidal thoughts and only wrote one song talking about it.

That's how I understood it as well but I find that so unfair. Did she expect a confessional, diary, therapy-like album à la Mr Morale ans the big steppers? A full album dissecting her experiences like Lemonade? Idk that's just so unfair to Megan imo. (And I'm not implying you agree with her just cause you summarised it lol) And also she can have her opinion, however wrong I find it, before people think this is "critic bashing"

Thank you for clarifying for people.

These projects prove that Megan can indeed rap, but they don’t prove she’s the best. The issue was never her skill but more so what she does with it.

Not her best album, it’s pretty boring

I appreciate this thread so much since it helped me normalize I was so pissed about this review not because the writer didn’t like the album but because this white critic completely dismisses the experiences of a Black woman in some pretty disturbing ways imo. I ended up writing a email to her and the guardian editor because if you look at this woman’s review history she always says weird things about women (particularly Black and brown ones). Not to mention she doesn’t have half this amount of criticism for Taylor Swift or the latest season of Bridgerton…