Love Sick
Don Toliver
2023
Don Toliver is very close to being a household name that can extend outside of the R&B and hip hop spaces, as this album proves that he has the capabilities of curating a distinct listening experience that elevates beyond what’s trending.
trap&B/Cloudy R&B/Hip Hop Soul
BY HARPSICHORD
JANUARY 20, 2024
If J. Cole’s rules could be applied to R&B, Don Toliver should be regarded as a “middle child.” While the Houston native has found an abundance of successes including a Top 10 feature on 2020’s “Lemonade,” as well as three Top 10 Billboard 200 albums– including a No. 1 collaborative project with his label Cactus Jack– he still isn’t getting his just due. The sound of Don Toliver is central to R&B culture whether people want to admit it or not. At first listen it can be sort of off-putting to traditionalists who disregard the vocoder-effect of Don Toliver’s presence. But buried beneath that sound is substance– albeit in the terms of how commercially-viable R&B presents itself today.
From the jump, Toliver brings you into his world with a hovering piano assisted by his faint vocals singing “I know you’re done with me.” Oddly enough, his girlfriend, Kali Uchis would discuss on ‘Red Moon In Venus’ a brief period of separation. Her album would drop a week after Love Sick. Their collaboration, “4 Me,” blatantly samples “Girls Dem Sugar,” with Kali Uchis singing Mýa’s portion of the original song’s chorus– as this song’s refrain. However, it’s not the strongest of their collabs– just enough to serve the thematic purpose of the album.
Back into “Love Sickness,” the opener of Love Sick : It’s temperamental with guitars and lyrics that are the complete opposite of someone being done with him. In fact, he oozes through his styrofoam-sipping madness by gushing over a dame. “Let me tell my story, come here” he ominously alerts listeners. That track leads into “Let Her Go,” where his falsetto asks, “don’t I make you feel special?” It’s aided by phantom 808s and a mosh pit bounce, alongside the harmonizing of James Blake. If anything, the song takes on the spacey feeling of Blake’s discography as he is the one who steals the show. Although it’s only the second track on the standard edition, it’s the highlight of the entire album.
Despite that fact, Don Toliver never eases up on the energetic motion of Love Sick . “Leave the Club” combines intergalactic trap with the attitude of bounce. Unlikely for making a song of this nature work, Lil Durk delivers with melodic singing that skates, while GloRilla is able to make her style of Memphis horrorcore land during the beat switch. Durk and Toliver are softly uttering their cases, whereas GloRilla provides aggressive hard-edged sexuality. In a sense, the roles that these individuals are playing replicate a parasocial commentary on the state of partying at clubs and role reversals amongst genders. The strongpoint of Love Sick are the beat switches that make standard fare for what’s interlaced in mainstream radio surpass those notions– entering into more unorthodox territory. “Go Down” changes in its last minute with a tread-genre beat supplied by the sample of “Backseat” by fellow Houstonian, TisaKorean.
Don Toliver has a distinct spine-chilling, signature sound. The intergalactic high energy that still manages to be syrupy and a bit sluggish through vocal delivery. That style pronounces itself on “Time Heals All,” which recalls tracks like 2019’s “No Idea” – as well as the album’s popular Future and Justin Bieber-assisted “Private Landing.” While there are tracks that rely on those motions, the standouts are actually the songs that represent Toliver’s R&B maturity. From the gondola guitars of “Leather Coat” to the grounded 808-synths of “Slow Motion.” Psychedelic soul makes a brief appearance on “If I Had” – containing the grooves of hip hop’s favorite uncle, Charlie Wilson.
But it’s not fair to make this a review that celebrates the more traditional sounding R&B over what trends today. While Don Toliver gives us plenty of trendy, he pushes those boundaries with a fully immersed world of variety. The songs that fashion themselves off of what’s “hot now” are just as exciting as the ones traditionalists cry about being “good music.” For instance, “Bus Stop” – which features Brent Faiyaz, during his own buzz– intertwines Jersey club with the chirping of a pager. “Cinderella” – a seeming ode to Kali Uchis– stands out for being hypnotic reggaeton balanced out by Toliver’s brand of trap&B.
At the beginning of this review, J. Cole’s “Middle Child” was brought up to describe the state of Don Toliver’s career. Love Sick makes it clear that although Toliver has put in the work, the mainstream constituents of the charts need to catch on to the fullest. At this point he’s in a league of his own. While he can provide songs that radiate the kinks of mass appeal, there is a level of deeper curation that proves music can be more than a charting game. It can be innovative and true to one’s identity while the rest of the world continues to catch up.
“Let Her Go” for providing excellent chemistry between the sound of Don Toliver and the dynamics of James Blake to make a powerful statement at the start of the album.
“Cinderella” for being addictive in its atmospheric form.
“Leather Coat” for recalling R&B that occupied the transition from the maturing of the late 90’s into the start of Y2k.
“Honeymoon” for morphing bounce into chopped-n-screwed theatrics in the center of the album before the tone transitioned into further confidence displayed by Toliver.
Key Tracks
While the production of the album reels ‘Love Sick’ in, sometimes the lyrical subject matter can get a little redundant. This album is close to scoring a B+, but maybe it just needed more development on the lyrical front. Further insight beyond the sex, easy temptation, and the drug-fueled nights of partying. This album goes into the consequences and the masking of being ‘Love Sick,’ but where are the personal anecdotes that lets us really see what caused the love sickness. Don Toliver has more depth that should have taken center stage when least expected.