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Best New Track

"Lie to Me"

Future used to be all about keeping you off-balance. Pluto was designed to be undefinable, flitting between guttural thuds (âLong Live the Pimp,â âSame Damn Timeâ), unhinged joy (âStraight Upâ), naked desperation (âTurn on the Lights,â âYou Deserve Itâ), and something entirely foreign (âParachute,â âMagic,â âPermanent Scarâ). When it came time to drop the deluxe version, Future shuffled the tracklist again, just to keep us guessing. Honest, Monster, Beast Mode, 56 Nights, and Dirty Sprite 2 are the same schizophrenia on a macro scale. So what happens when he strings us along on a record for 25 minutes, waiting for one big payoff?

âLie to Meâ is what happens. EVOL, which Future dropped last week as part of a deal with Apple Music, quickly settles into a rhythmâperhaps too easily. While songs like âLil Haiti Babyâ and âIn Her Mouthâ are potent in isolation, the recordâs first seven songs more or less meld into one another, all hi-hats and Xanax. But suddenly, synths: âLie to Meâ is from the end of a movie (but not FBG: The Movie). In fact, in more ways than one, it feels like a throwback to Pluto with its syrupy maximalism and cackling optimism. Where half of Purple Reign and much ofÂ EVOL see the Atlantan curt and closed off, this is the greatest Future: vindictive, grateful, sensitive. The current run of mixtapes may be tapping into his reserves, but at his best, heâs still rapâs foremost stylist, and perhaps its most painfully honest artist.

Listen to âLie to MeâÂ at Apple Music.
