My favorite Hunxho story is that he used to have a shattered heart tatted on his face—until he had it redone into a healed heart. That’s the same energy that has made the Atlanta crooner one of the faces of the pain rap generation—extremely popular and bruised balladeers with forefathers like Boosie, Kevin Gates, and Lil Durk—but with a deeper focus on romance and a slightly lighter touch than his fellow sadboys Rod Wave and Toosii (who, by the way, is currently a 26-year-old college freshman on the LSU football team). With a deadpan delivery heavy on Auto-Tune, Hunxho’s wounded lullabies are like if Future became an advocate for therapy after Honest. He’s a man determined to right his wrongs, on a growth journey that has given him the perspective to become something like a gloomy Hitch for the TikTok era.
Hunxho writes like the ideal bachelor on Pop the Balloon: In touch with his feelings and Christian; committed to hyping up women and giving them lots of expensive gifts. “It’s like God made you to look good without makeup,” he sings over the 21 Savage-assisted snap&b of “If Only.” If whoever you’re cuffed to is having a bad day, I bet sending them a Hunxho lyric or two would make them feel a little better. Personally, I’d go with his affirmation-dense verse from “Look in the Mirror”: “Even when they not proud, I’m so proud/You beautiful even on the inside, let your soul smile/And I know you been workin’ hard and, girl, you’rе so tired/But you know you can talk to God and it be alright, it be OK.” Boyfriend of the year material.
He means well, but the music also happens to be so serious and humorless—lots of dreary pianos and Hallmark-card affection—that I can’t help but find it extremely goofy and hilarious. I get a real kick out of “She From,” a track about hooking up with girls in different states, with ChatGPT puns like, “She from Hawaii, Aloha, girl, have my son” and “She my main, but she from Maine,” because he’s so deadass about it. (He should’ve binged a few Bourdain episodes.) I’m a fan of when he lilts, “You look good in blonde, girl, I’m fond of you, very pretty” on “Only Play This at 3 AM,” because it sounds like he’s flirting at gunpoint, though that’s just Hunxho being Hunxho. On “Come Home,” he puts the moves on an ex by telling her he wants to love her like her grandma, giving her therapy updates, and informing her that he likes to watch her IG Reels. It’s all very true to the way people text and express their feelings in modern relationships, but it’s ridiculous to hear in song form.
