On July 15, 2022, American artist Steve Lacy released his 10 song album “Gemini Rights.” Notoriously known for his single “Dark Red,” Lacy returned with this album and immediately hit Billboard charts. Being released by RCA Records with a feature from Fousheé, Lacy goes on to reveal the ups and downs of his past relationship.

The first song on the album is, “Static.” It starts off with extreme comparisons, referencing drug abuse, to show how rocky the relationship he experienced was. Lacy talks about how empty the relationship felt and how trying to “fill the void” with other things isn’t going to make it stable. The short and not so sweet song dives into how unstable each party was, and how though it may have hurt, breaking things off with the other person was definitely the best decision. The brief song is a unique and different way for anyone to see the effects of after a relationship from different perspectives, and through listening to it some could take the last verse as advice.

Being released as a single before the full album was put out, the third song, “Mercury” goes forth to talk about what a lose-lose situation his relationship was and how neither person was benefiting from being hurt. With its fast pace and smooth layered background vocals, “Mercury” was sure to catch the attention of many. The slick references and lyricism he includes such as, “Guess somethin’ bad ain’t ’bout to happen to me.” an homage to the lyric, “Somethin’ bad is ‘bout to happen to me” in “Dark Red,” and “You think I’m two-faced, I can name twenty-three.” which a play on the stereotype of geminis being two-faced and him saying he can name 23 of his different “personalities”, also plays as a reference to his birthday, May 23, gives us an insight into Lacy’s writing style and how he uses many different situations from his past life experiences to create new art.

Receiving 5.3 million streams on the first week of release, the fifth track, “Bad Habit” topped billboard’s rock streaming songs chart, alternative streaming songs chart, and R&B/Hip-Hop streaming songs chart. With the help of the social media app TikTok and the song being part of multiple trends, it is easily the most popular and streamed song on the album. “Bad Habit” talks about Lacy’s so-called struggle with unrequited love, but through listening to the song the listener learns that the person did reciprocate Lacy’s feelings in the past, he just wasn’t aware. Having a contrast between an upbeat vibe/ tempo and semi-sorrowful lyrics pulls in many to not only listen fully to the whole song but to keep it on repeat. The relatable lyrics made R&B fans all around the world instantly add the song to their liked playlist.

Being another short song on the album, the eighth song, “Amber” gives a unique start to the listener, being told as a sort of fairy tale. Lacy explicitly says in the first verse how the two met at the perfect time, but the intelligence on how to handle the relationship wasn’t shared. The song talks about the regrets that he has from even meeting the person he was in a relationship with. Portraying this with the repetition of saying, “I wish I never met you no more.” 

The last song of the album, “Give You the World” is Lacy’s final goodbye. This is almost like an overview of the whole album and the emotions experienced throughout. The soul and R&B makes the song very nice and easy to enjoy. It has a slow pace so it gives the listener the feeling of conclusion. It has a sense of longing and yearning while also feeling finally absolute. Lacy chose an astounding way to sign off his album, with a steady tempo and the final word of the song being goodbye.

All in all. Listening to this album was an amazing experience. Lacy did a great job portraying so many different emotions and feelings to his audience. With everything being great on the surface he also makes it interesting to pick apart and analyze. These are all qualities of a stunning story teller, it’s hard not to recommend and I’d rate it a 4/5.