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Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: It’s absolutely pointless to review Travis Scott’s music in 2025. He’s one of the surest musical victors of the ongoing decay of the critical infrastructure of tastemakers and journalists that once helped determine who’s hot and who is otherwise; he’s gone direct to consumer, topping the charts on pure strength of sales regardless of whether anyone’s really listening. “4×4” thus has no obligation to be anything good, or even new — he repurposes the opening synth fanfares of his biggest hit, does a good impression of the featured guest on his last album’s one memorable song, references another one of his fraudulent number ones. It’s less a song and more a casserole.
[8]
Taylor Alatorre: Travis continues his run as the safe-for-advertisers version of Kanye by sampling, instead of Italian football ultras, an HBCU marching band rendition of a Migos single. He is ostentatiously obeying the speed limit of the zeitgeist.
[5]
Katherine St. Asaph: I assume the conspicuously opulent, straining-for-expensive-sounding sound of the synth-string arrangement is supposed to evoke Maybach music, but what it actually evokes is a low-bitrate mp3 of an orchestral boss battle remix. And Travis Scott’s vocal is so anonymous and slurry-like that this might as well be an instrumental. I find that amusing enough to give “4×4” a much higher score than it probably deserves.
[7]
Nortey Dowuona: FNZ did not come from Australia for this bullshit.
[0]
Melody Esme: A quite good Travis Scott song that, like most Travis Scott songs, makes me feel nothing. I think you may have to be more into downers to really get him, and I’m more of an amphetamine lady (an Addergal, if you will). I like the line about fucking the sun; it made me think of “I WANT TO GET FUCKIN HIGH/I WANT TO EAT THE SUN,” which is always nice.
[6]
Will Adams: Absent of a grippy hook, I’m mostly intrigued by the textures. The marching band sample is processed such that the brass sounds like sirens blaring. Travis’s smeared vocal becomes more robotic via a chorus filter. Then, at just the right moment, he flips into a clear vocal. It’s the rare jolt of energy in an otherwise decent lull of a song.
[6]