Rating: 7.7
Future has two personas: 'Future' and 'Hndrxx'. The Future persona is characterised by high octane, braggadocious rap about money, sex, gangs and drugs, typically on a hard trap beat, and the latter is his Hndrxx one, where he sings about heartbreak, on softer R&B beats. The contrast was clearly created when Future released two albums with those two titles (Future, then Hndrxx), in two consecutive weeks in 2017, with those two different lyrical and production focuses: traditional trap vs R&B loneliness. This dichotomy creates a sense where displays of wealth, drugs, sex and mutually toxic (and destructive) relationships rapped about are presented as the cover, the drug to cover up the desire, at least in part of him, for a wholesome and fulfilling romantic relationship. This dichotomy is most strongly presented in his 2014 song 'Throwaway', and encapsulates most of Future's discography from the moments of weakness on I Never Liked You (2022), his underrated 2018 mixtape, Beast Mode 2, or his mixtape that started it all and totally revamped his career, Monster (2014). This dichotomy is well known and written about, although I'm not sure if it's penetrated through to someone who only has a casual familiarity with Future and his discography. I plan on writing much more about Future and his worldview in many more blog entries, but here I will focus on this particular EP.
Future's earlier 2019 album, Future Hndrxx Presents: The Wizrd, combined both sides, but erred more towards the Future persona. Save Me, Future's first and only EP, is a similar effort in that regard, again combining both, but errs much more towards the Hndrxx side. He begins with this with his crooning on the first song, 'XanaX Damage' where he sings about how he only wants a particular partner when he's struggling mentally:
Baby, if I want you, then I know there's somethin' wrong
I don't mean to ruin all the times we had alone
But I'm not my best with you, I'm so depressed with you
But it's so hard, I don't think I can exist without you
The song's production creates an effect which characterises the whole EP, which is that Future is sinking underwater somewhat. Not literally, or in a Chopped and Screwed-esque way, but the muddy, low-key production stands out from amongst his discography. The same is true in the next song, St. Lucia, where he errs to the Future persona. But even when bragging about his wealth, the women he's with and the exotic places he's visiting, he doesn't sound very happy or satisfied. The first lyric is 'Save Me', which is repeated in the introduction, and whilst I'm not sure, I think that he may be asking a girl to save him from his lifestyle, which may seem fun, but isn't ultimately satisfying. Amongst his most toxic lines in his discography can be found on this song (which is saying something) he raps 'Found out I cheated on her, she'll still feed me grapes'.
The next song, Please Tell Me has Future rapping about wanting to spend money on, and spoil his partner. This seems romantic in itself, but within the context of his discography and worldview, I think that this is part of his broader worldview of a mutually toxic relationship: he uses his partners for sex and status, and they use him for status and wealth.
The middle song returns to the Hndrxx POV, and is perhaps the best song on the EP, 'Shotgun', which has Future singing about how he wants a girl to ride shotgun with him, presumably representing being with him more broadly. It's a great song! The R&B-Trap production is a perfect fit, and Future really sings his heart out in the chorus. You can really tell attention to detail in the production, via small things like the sparkly piano notes dispersed throughout the song. The song also samples the 2006 Ciara song, 'Promise', which of course is notable due to her being his ex, having previously heavily inspired his breakup project Monster (2014) and HNDRXX (2017) as well as aspects of DS2 (2015). I can't help but feel that this likely isn't a coincidence: this wouldn't be the first time Future has used Ciara as a muse for his work, and is a touching callback to a previous relationship.
The following song, 'Government Official', largely returning to the Future persona, rapping about models, money and lavish living. Sensing a theme? He combines both on this project so that one can't help but notice both, even to one totally new to his discography. Returning to the name of the EP, it really does seem probable that this is really an appeal to a woman to save him from the hedonistic lifestyle he claims to enjoy. Note the contrast from the chorus and the final verse:
[Chorus]
I just went out to Morocco to do some recruitin' (Yeah, yeah)
Fuck the government official, we plugged with Putin (Yeah, yeah)
Got two twin sisters, yeah, they squirt, they be shootin' (Yeah, yeah)
Don't get the squirt-squirt on the shirt-shirt, be a fool (Yeah, yeah)
[Verse 3]
When I drink codeine, I get in my feelings (My-my feelings)
All I wanna see you in the same place as I'm in (I'm-I'm in)
I like takin' ecstasy, it made me a millionaire (Made me a millionaire)
It made me get emotional with the bitches (Emotional with the bitches)
This contrast is part of the reason why I began my reviewing of Future's discography with Save Me, despite it being easily one of his least known projects: the dichotomy is so clear and needs so little legwork for me to explain from the rest of his discography.
The next and penultimate song is a curious one: here's the chorus:
My bitch asked me why I always stay extra-d out
All my whips got extras now
Why so many hoes on the low? You know
Why my niggas extras? (Extra, extra, extra)
Why my bitch so extra?
I'm always on extra
From the production and Future's singing, it's clearly a sad song, but one could read the lyrics and be forgiven for thinking that it was an upbeat, high energy bragging song. I think (with help from the Genius annotations) that he's saying that his everything that he has in excess/extra (women, cars, money, and friends) aren't bringing him to happiness. But for me the beat isn't amazing: it sounds like it belongs on a Drake album, and is a little too.. loose.
This leads to the final song, 'Love Thy Enemies' which is a brilliant song, and if you listen to one song from this EP, I recommend this one. There's a soft guitar that provides a gentle backdrop from his singing, where he sings about an ex-partner. He sings:
I've been possessed, they wanna take my soul
Save my flesh, I’m in need of your love
Tracin' back to orbit is where we met, met
You wasn't considerate to how I was feelin', yeah
How am I explain this to my children?
I need to find the words without soundin' foolish
Caught in temporary illusions, yeah
Treat me like property, but you pursuin'
I need angels, I need angels, yeah
I need answers, who I can't trust?
Fighting through breakups, revelation
Complicated obligations
This again returns to what I wrote earlier about how not only does Future objectify his partners, but they also objectify him. He sings about loving his enemies (in this case, ex-partners) and how roses he sent have died, and it ends the EP on a tender note. It's not a perfect EP: due to the lack of songs, even one or two songs being comparatively weak mean that the quality as a whole is shaken. The beat for 'Extra' is particularly lacking in my opinion Some of the songs are just a bit too short, particularly the first and final ones, and his bragging songs in 'St. Lucia' and 'Government Official' are blunted by his generally murky approach, meaning they have less intensity and energy. Whilst that might have been his intent, he simply has better ones from other projects, like 'Thought It Was a Drought' from DS2(2015) or '712PM' from I Never Liked You (2022).
But why review this album? As mentioned before, this wasn't the first or last time when Future made an R&B project, and neither is it the only time he has engaged in heartbreak, romantic sorrow or drug abuse: there are elements of it on every project of his, and like I said, this is not the first project where he has combined the Future and Hndrxx angles. The answer is that this is simply is his most experimental project, and it led to brilliant results. On the surface level, it's unique in a range of factual measures: it's his shortest project, coming in at just over 20 minutes, and it's his only EP, in contrast to his ocean of mixtapes and albums.
But more importantly, he takes risks: whether its his sad rapping about 'Big booty from my city' on 'Extra' or the vocal effects on 'Love Thy Enemies'. He and his producer even left in a cough in the verse I pasted above from 'Love Thy Enemies', in between 'Caught in temporary illusions, yeah/Treat me like property, but you pursuin'''. Furthermore, it's heartfelt, and has a lo-fi sense of capturing a specific mood. His avant-garde, high fashion, more 'artistic' approach is on full display in the music videos for five of the seven songs on the project, which I recommend. Its closest comparison is HNDRXX, but whilst that album was polished, radio-friendly and took you on a full journey, Save Me is murky, has distorted production, and gives us a snapshot of a range of moods, quite possibly concerning the same girl at different times. This EP gives the sense that, as the title implies, Future is in an emotional crisis.
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