Kimvalyn Miller

P3
Music Review

The Flordian breakout star, Rod wave, recorded in dark rooms for a month to make his
new album. Unlike most artists who tend to change up their music from slow paced and
sad, to upbeat and uplifting, as Rod Wave became popular overnight, his music
remained the same; bleak and drowned with sorrow and misery, yet still touching the
hearts of every listener that can relate. Rod Wave spoke on his past traumas, his past
relationships, his emotions… truly exposing his vulnerable side, odd for, an otherwise
thought to be, tough and not in touch with emotion, male.

Every song in Pray 4 Love involves a heartbreaking instrumental, almost sounding like
the same track. The technique of sitting in a dark room and recording from the heart
seemed to work due to the powerful and impactful expression in every song. In​ Rod
Wave’s 2019 debut LP (Long Play), you might believe that it was recorded in a church
due to it being a soulful record with constant mentions of faith, but not religious. Instead,
he makes songs about pain, heartbreak, trauma, and turning to religion as a last resort,
made amazing to listen to with catchy songwriting and choir-ready vocals that separate
him from others in the South and Midwest ​making​ ​similarly​ ​hopeless​ sounding music.

Within Pray 4 Love, the main theme of all his lyrics is pain. ​One article went as far as to
say that listening to the album is like “reading someone’s college admission essay,
where all of their life struggles are squeezed into a couple hundred words.” I agree
because in a college essay, you are looking for ways to connect with the audience in
order for them to understand the struggles you have endured. Although the reason is
not to get admitted into a college, the artist powerfully addresses the audience through
mentions of his father going to prison in “I Remember”; him confessing his love to
someone and crying when it isn’t reciprocated; him going to prison; his mother crying;
his friend stabbing him in the back over money; and so on. The whole Pray 4 Love
album is a running list of traumatic events with the goal of allowing the listener to feel
what Rod Wave has been through, as well as, maybe even relate to him. Rod Wave’s
songs work effectively because of the feeling of the rawness of someone going to
confession at a catholic church for the first time.

In all, ​Pray 4 Love, ​is an amazingly emotional album that can maybe help those who
feel that they are too tough to share their feelings and understand that they are not
alone. Rod Wave is an amazing young talent. that, and I suggest the readers listen to
any song on this album. I honestly can't wait to listen to more works from Rod Wave.