A couple of days ago, Tory Lanez officially released his sophomore album, Memories Don’t Die, to a host of mixed reviews. And like we did with I Told You back in 2016, we’ve picked a few stand out quotes to give you a sense of what people are thinking.
The Ratings Game felt that Memories Don’t Die gave Tory a great outlet to showcase his versatile skill skit, while not quite meeting the same level as I Told You:
“Memories Don’t Die sounds like a really good compilation album. You get so many different sounds on it, which means Tory finally got a chance to showcase all of his talents to the people. It doesn’t quite flow like the first one, which results in a bit of an inconsistent sound throughout. Overall, I think it has an abundance of hits, but it certainly doesn’t live up to the potential I placed on it.”
Fans on Genius have been sounding off about their favourite aspects of the release, with many citing it as a step up from Tory’s debut:
“The album starts with a spoken intro, which pretty much a continuation of I Told You’s main theme of getting laughed at being ‘The kid with no cash when he asked for the cash.’ The first actual track ‘Old Friends x New Foes’ starts off slow but mid-way through the beat switches to a hard-Play Picasso beat and Tory comes in rapping, going at all the fake friends in his life, setting the tone for the whole album that this album is definitely more rap heavy than his debut.”
Meanwhile, Ben Beaumont-Thomas of The Guardian gave a harsh critique of the album (rating it 1 star) and basically calling Tory unoriginal:
“Drake is not the only MC to get ripped off on Lanez’s gutless quest to avoid developing his own artistry. Swae Lee’s entreaties (on 4 Me), Post Malone’s mournful melodies (on Hillside), the Weeknd’s jaded song-craft (on Real Thing), Rick Ross’s freewheeling declarations (on Benevolent) – all are rendered less appealingly in Lanez’s strained, vocal-fried tones. Aside from stark, straightforward domestic abuse storytelling on Pieces – where J. Cole takes his turn to be imitated – the lyrics, full of bad girls and truly blank verse, are as generic and lumpen as value-range muesli.”
Exclaim! gave the project 6 out of 10, and writer Kassandra Guagliardi aka KassKills was clearly looking for a bit more than what MDD brought to the table:
“Tory Lanez manages to inject Memories Don’t Die with a few quality tracks, but overall it misses the mark on classic appeal. Previously released singles ‘Shooters,’ ‘B.I.D.’ and ‘Real Thing’ (featuring Future) carry the entire album, so if you’re looking for the real bangers, look no further, because the rest of the project probably isn’t for you.”
According to Hits Daily Double, Memories Don’t Die will be the top debut on next week’s Top 50 chart, with steams coming in at: “40-45K total activity, 10-15K album.”
Memories Don’t Die is available on Spotify, Apple Music and other outlets.
Producers the album include, in order of appearance, Play Picasso, Lavish, C-Sick, Happy Perez, Dr. Zeuz, EC Fresco, Christian Lou, BobbyMadeTheBeat, OG Parker, Smash David, Mansa, SkipOnDaBeat, Sergio R., Nick Fouryn, Benny Blanco, Cashmere Cat, Sean Myer, and AraabMuzik.
Guest appearances include 50 Cent, Nav, Future, Fabalous, Davo, Paloma Ford, Wiz Khalifa, and Mansa.
