Trippie Redd can turn a sad song into a party. On his past releases, tracks such as “Hellboy,” “Romeo & Juliet” and “Love Me More” attest to his skill for taking sad subject matter and creating a cathartic experience for listeners. On his newest album, “Pegasus,” Redd seems like he is done with expressing his true feelings and wants to evolve into a more positive artist. Will fans like this new direction the artist wants to take them in?
When Redd started with his first EP, “A Love Letter To You,” the project had 12 tracks and was 36 minutes long. “Pegasus,” on the other hand, has 26 tracks and clocks in at an hour and 14 minutes. The longer length makes this album feel bloated, and when listening from start to finish, it’s challenging to sit through. Songs mesh together pretty quickly, and with 26 tracks, more than half are skippable. What this album lacks is standout moments when Redd is willing to be real with his listeners. This isn’t a knock on Redd for mixing up his themes, but he excels at putting his emotions into his lyrics, which don’t get much chance to shine on this album.
The album starts with “Let It Out (feat. Myiah Lynnae),” in Redd’s signature ballad style. The beat emulates the sensations of indistinguishable floating instruments that fill the listener’s ear, giving a sense of uncertainty. Then Redd comes in to express the passion he wants to show his loved ones. Redd’s voice isn’t necessarily soothing, as it’s laced with different levels of autotune at different times. Yet, the lack of pitch makes his words and singing more relatable to the average listener who may not be a musician. Lynnae adds excellent contrast in this track, as she has the natural ability to find her notes. The track is a decent introduction, but it doesn’t build on previous work from the artist.
The album then goes into a few easily skippable tracks — they don’t have much that we haven’t heard from Redd in the past. Redd does give listeners an intriguing feature with PARTYNEXTDOOR on the track “Excitement.” As the lead single for this album, it shows how Trippie Redd has begun to change. He is no longer at a loss with love, as he sings about the distinct emotions his loved one makes him feel. The introduction is somewhat somber as a distorted organ sound backs up PARTYNEXTDOOR’s worshipping of his partner. Once the refrain is over, the beat drops to a deep base and a hi-hat interwoven with Redd’s wailing. It’s a nice change to hear Redd speak to his positive emotions as most of his tracks deal with his sadness over love.
The moment we hear Redd having the most fun is in “Weeeeee.” He immediately comes in with a different tone to his voice — it’s natural, not autotuned — and demonstrates that he can command a song differently. The beat has a sharper edge to it than on previous tracks, as Redd aggressively flaunts what he has done over the past four years on his rise to success. What makes this song stand apart is the jovial nature intermixed with this abrasive persona.
Out of the 26 tracks on “Pegasus,” only these three jump out. Many of them seem to repeat the last, and not much grabs the listener’s attention from track to track. When Redd was writing the Love Letter series, it always seemed like he had a direction for his work. “Pegasus” seems like a jumble of tracks that the artist may like, but don’t necessarily blend well enough to make an interesting album.