Review: on 'QRÖMELIFE,' Quavo hands Pharrell the keys, reunites with Offset and watches Tyler steal the show with a verse he calls 'top 25 in rap history'
The ex-Migos star's third solo album, entirely produced by Pharrell, is a grief record dressed as a party — fun and star-studded, but sometimes a guest in its own house.
Foto: Stereogum/Reprodução'QRÖMELIFE,' released Friday (Oct. 2) via Quality Control and Motown, is Quavo's third solo album, after 'Quavo Huncho' (2018) and 'Rocket Power' (2023), and it has one clear idea: hand all 14 tracks to Pharrell Williams, who produced and executive produced everything. Quavo says his friend challenged him to 'go bigger and try to make stadium music,' and the result sounds sunnier and more playful than the Atlanta trap that made him famous. 'Trance (Walk It Down)' interpolates Shannon's 'Let the Music Play' with modern 808s, and 'HAAVIN,' which debuted at Louis Vuitton's Paris show, is pure runway flex.
The record's heart, though, is 'Away.' It's Quavo's first song with Offset since 2021's 'Culture III,' and the reconciliation of Migos' two surviving members, born out of grief for Takeoff, gives the album a weight the party beats sometimes hide. Quavo admits he made it while 'still dealing with grief,' and that comes through more in the subtext than in the lyrics. 'Baby Breath,' with Pharrell, A$AP Rocky and Tyler, The Creator, is the showstopper: Tyler wrote that it holds his 'best verse of all time,' 'prolly top 25 in rap history.' Rapper hyperbole, but the posse cut really is the high point.
The catch is that with nine guests across seven tracks — Future, T.I., Lil Baby, Yung Miami and even Justin Timberlake on 'House Music' — Quavo sometimes becomes a supporting player on his own album, and Pharrell's signature weighs more than the owner's. Critics are split: Ratings Game Music gave it 4 out of 5 and called it 'seriously unserious,' while Morton on the Mic called it a stumble. It's a light, polished album with a real emotional hook, but it could have trusted more in the voice of someone who lost his partner and chose to keep going. Score: 7/10
