pH-1 is finally back with a full-length album after dropping the masterpiece that is “X” in 2020. This time, he hit us with “BUT FOR NOW LEAVE ME ALONE,” a gathering of genres, producers, and features from all over the map that clocks in at 41 minutes runtime total, and make this album a good bait for anyone trying to introduce pH-1 to the world.

The album has been out for just over 24 hours, so this isn’t a deep dive on lyrics, meaning, etc. as I haven’t gone into all the translations and intricacies of his wordplay. As the title of this post suggests, this is merely a first impressions overview. What you’ll get here are thoughts on the album as a whole, standout songs so far, and a game of “if you like [insert artist’s name’s music], you’ll like this song.”

The Album

Prior to the drop, publications everywhere anticipated this being pH-1’s darkest work yet. With “MR. BAD” as the pre-release single, there was definitely the suggestion of traveling down a different avenue of Harry’s brain. But boy were we gobsmacked by the actual range in this album.

Using “all over the place” as a descriptor typically has a negative connotation, but in the case of BFNLMA, I think it’s a great thing. Harry is drawing references from his favorite artists, songs, eras of his life, and putting them all in this album for our enjoyment. He has a really diverse taste in music and it’s obvious when we hear the arrangements here, but what’s most important is that his essence and his signature calm yet assertive flow is (almost) always present.

BFNLMA had two radically surprising moments for me – things we haven’t seen from Harry and likely wouldn’t expect him to do – that make it evident how experimental he was willing to go in this era:

1. The second verse in MY SHRINK TOLD ME: I have personally listened to almost all of Harry’s discography multiple times over, and I don’t think we’ve ever heard him “rap act” the sentiment of the verse, a la Eminem. The first time I listened I had a confused dog face and lifted my head as if I had just heard a crash down the street and needed to make sure it didn’t just happen in my head. It didn’t. Also, Harry is such a New Yorker using the term ‘shrink.’ Oh and the fact that the song is FULLY in English? We got TWO English tracks in this album. Bless. A moment in time.
2. DEAD GIRL: I need 7-10 business days to fully process this song. I’ve listened to it multiple times and I can’t believe it’s part of a pH-1 album. It’s the standout song of the album for me. It’s produced by Vangdale who worked with Sik-K a lot a few years ago, and this definitely their signature dark hip hop production.

Generally speaking, I have never felt like any of pH-1’s albums need to be listened to in a certain order, but BFNLMA does feel like three chapters: the fun (tracks 1-4), the problems/fights (tracks 5-10), and then the self-reflection once the storm has passed (tracks 11-13). And the last song MUST go last.

For now, I’m really intrigued by the album and can’t wait to go nuts dissecting lyrics as I obsessively listen to it. It’s good. There’s no question about that. Now let’s look into the songs in more detail.

Tracklist

1. ZOMBIES (Prod. SMMT & BRLLNT): this upbeat trap song is right within Harry’s wheelhouse. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a rapper say “Oh my goodness” in a song and that fully took me out. Fun. It’s a vibe. Good to listen to in the car or while cleaning the house. Happy we got a visual to it (mixed with TIPSY).
   
2. TGIF (Prod. PEEJAY): one of the reasons girls fall for Harry so hard is his playfulness. He has this way of striking a balance between being wise and sweet while showing he’s capable of full fuckboy swagger, and that’s the formula to drive any woman crazy. This song is entirely dedicated to Harry’s bad boy side and his ability to get away with murder, especially now that his ever rising fame is another tool in his arsenal.
   
3. YUPPIE TING (Feat. Blase, Prod. BlackDoe): we got this song almost a week in advance as a gift on YouTube, I think because it’s VERY Harry. He figured he’d throw us a bone while we waited for the full album drop with a song that didn’t stray too far from what we know of him. It’s great, it’s a vibe, it’s a dance track, and it’s a bad bitch anthem. It also has a 90s hip hop nostalgia to it.
   
4. TIPSY (Prod. Sumin): this song smells of New York in the early 2000s from beginning to end. It’s one of two songs Sumin produced for him in this album, and they’re both great for very different reasons. It’s also a typical Harry BDE moment with his pull with the ladies. The ending is very interesting, Sumin really threw a wrench in there for us, what a bad bitch. We stan. To insert myself into the narrative, this is why I feel understood by Harry every day of the week:
   
   You were born to be single
   You never liked to mingle
   혼자인 게 (being alone is) simple
   
   Just put it on my tombstone. My life summarized in 3 lines.
5. MR. BAD (Feat. Woo, Prod. Sumin): if you’re a fan of Kendrick Lamar, this song will suit your taste. As the album’s pre-release single, this song set the mood for what we could expect of Harry: the darkness, the experimenting, the genre mashing, the vibes. Woo’s deep vocals were the perfect contrast feature choice for Harry. Sumin did a superb job here.
   
6. JULIETTE! (Feat. UMI, Prod. moocean): we got two fully English songs in this album and I can’t get over it. I’m obsessed with this song. It’s timeless. I’m new to UMI and I’m about to jump into her discography RIGHT NOW because her voice is just a warm bath I want to sink into for the whole weekend until my fingers are pruny and ready to fall off. Harry’s rapping cadences in the first verse are my cup of tea through and through. Also, you know that meme of the texts guys send when it’s New Year or your birthday and they’re capitalizing on a possible moment of vulnerability for you? The amount of men that will use this song as a decoy Trojan horse to get girls to give them a chance…
   
7. RUN AWAY (Prod. hoiwave): this song didn’t immediately catch my attention (there’s stiff competition in this tracklist). I really like the beat and the light light rock vibe. It’s the perfect song to put in the background while you’re doing work. She’s Lo-fi’s older cousin who is a hipster and in a better mood.
   
8. DEAD GIRL (Prod. Vangdale): I’m not writing anything about this song until I’m done processing. Just know I’m mindblown. Vangdale put crack in this track. I want a music video for it so badly. Harry’s singing. This lyric “께 보냈던” sounds like Harry is saying “que bonita” in Spanish and it hurts me. I’m going back to processing, bye.
   
9. SHRINK TOLD ME (Feat. & Prod. Mokyo): Harry wrote about this song on July 31st 2018 (a few days after his birthday, and nothing like a birthday to make you REFLECT), which is wildly interesting in terms of his frame of mind at the time and how he feels it fits into his life today. He’s really being vulnerable here, and I think playing with the “rap acting” (singing the feelings, like Eminem does a lot) gave him a sort of mask to hide behind to sing about these things. I love Harry and Mokyo’s working relationship, they always produce interesting, unique songs. Lastly, I love that western men will have this fully English song to relate to and express the feelings they don’t even know they have.
   
10. ISSUES (Feat. Paloalto, Prod. PEEJAY): I need a deep dive into the lyrics of this song to be able to appreciate it fully. Musically it’s pleasant and the overall message is relatable, but it’s not super memorable in the midst of this tracklist.
    
11. BREAK THE GLASS (Prod. Slom): this song put me in a chokehold within the first eight-count. This beat is my bread and butter. If you like Mary J. Blige, you’ll like this song. “I’m sipping on some white wine hoping to say bye bye this time for good” is a very memorable, relatable, quotable lyric. Drake would be proud. I would love to dance to this at a lounge with a drink in my hand and feeling the music loudly around me. It’s a vibe. A whole vibe.
    
12. FINAL BOUT (Feat. Los, Prod. Nutty): if you’re into BIBI or Jhené Aiko, this song will fit right into your playlist. I really like the energy Los brought into this song, he made it sound like something produced in the States. Silk Sonic vibes. I like the cadences, the beat (this song needs an instrumental version, STAT), and the ad libs are really fun and noticeable but never obnoxious (which tends to be the case).
    
13. BVE (Prod. hoiwave): I’m proud of my limited Korean here to help me understand the wordplay of the title: the V is an upside down A, so “bae” but not in english. 배 can mean a few different things including pear, stomach, or ship. And in this song, it’s all about Harry being a ship in a storm, big waves (challenging life situations of all kinds) coming to rock him but he never capsizes. Mood was brought all the way down here, like a typical fitness class cooldown. This song has a lot of poetry, metaphors, similes, and right when it gets you in a self-reflective mood it pumps the breaks to an ABRUPT halt that leads into the album outro – in the same song. The outro is a letter from Harry to his parents. What every grateful child of immigrants (or someone who grew up watching their parents struggle to give them a better life) feels.

Closing Thoughts

pH-1’s “X” is one of the albums I can’t live without and will listen to forever. It will make every list of favorites for me, all for different reasons. It encapsulates a very hard time in my life, and my desire to fight it. And although Harry has kept us fed with singles ever since, I really couldn’t wait to see what his next fully-fleshed work would look like. Going into anything with such high expectations is never a good idea, but I couldn’t help myself. The good news is: I think BFNLMA is absolutely solid, and surpassed my expectations by NOT being what I expected. The surprises kept coming, and I know I will continue to find new things to love as I keep listening to it.

Thank you for this album, Harry. “i need help, BUT FOR NOW LEAVE ME ALONE” is also a great choice for my tombstone carving, so I relate to all of it as a whole.