Most of us are the heart eyes, but Tobi is the rest of the expression…
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Ramzi Awn: “Pop Out” elicits a sweet rhythm from Polo and Lil Tjay, and even though none of the production tropes sound new, they get the job done. The piano on the beat is properly ghostly and there are hooks strewn about like diamonds in a trash heap. Pick them up and move on.
[7]
Alfred Soto: With his melodic cadences and skill with internal rhymes, Polo is a delight to listen to as he unrolls his catalog of antisocial behavior. Lil TJay, the one with the conscience, is the less interesting rapper.
[6]
Julian Axelrod: I first heard “Pop Out” in the middle of a Lil Tjay binge, on a sunny afternoon when I was convinced he’s the future of rap. (If you catch me on the right day, I still am.) But this listen made me appreciate the craft and nuance in Polo G’s delivery, the way he can create a symphony out of a three-note run. While Tjay’s solemn and unhinged, Polo’s brash and sensitive, his bars never ending quite how you expect. The whole affair is meticulous and menacing, and the vibe is so well-sustained you can listen three times in a row without realizing. The future of rap is bright.
[7]
Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: JDONTHATRACK & Iceberg’s beat sets the tone well here, its mix of pianos and stabs of guitar leaving “Pop Out” somewhere between celebratory and ominous. Polo G and Lil Tjay have little more to do than make that subtext text, with Polo’s straightforward, clear-eyed flows and Tjay’s more Greedo-like performance balancing spite and joy and allowing them to mix together.
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Nicholas Donohoue: There’s a nerdy choice of description going on here that personalizes the track in a cool way. It’s a hint of an intellectualism that isn’t so much digging up grit, but more going toward mechanical and lock step in the lyricism. This isn’t an elevated rags-to-riches track, but it is one that is going about itself in a different way and that’s enough.
[7]
Hannah Jocelyn: In a year strangely bereft of rap crossovers beyond “All Glory To The HypnoRoad,” “Pop Out” does, in fact, do that. I love Polo G’s charisma, actually delivering the kind of wordplay that feels refreshing after years of mumbly, murky trap (not a bad thing, just omnipresent.) Rhyming “poverty” and “animosity” alone is enough, but even somewhat basic bars like “The way that I been ballin’/should make the cover of 2K” stand alone on the Hot 100, in that they are bars at all. Lil Tjay’s verse kills the momentum with “Both my hands can do the job and I ain’t talkin’ masturbate,” but the line is an exception. It won’t inspire thinkpieces or memes of its own, and it’s certainly not as memorable as some of the aforementioned trap, but “Pop Out” is purely enjoyable and even promising.
[7]
Tobi Tella: Oh, jesus christ. Actually, this was less painful than I was expecting from the first few seconds; Polo G was at least actually rhyming on a beat, even with extremely derivative lyrics. But then the other guy came in autotuned and I had to hear these guys brag about being killers a fourth time and I suddenly felt myself age from 18 to a 50 year old white lady who hates “that rap music!”
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