Steady, watch her navigate, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!
[Video][Website]
[6.33]
Thomas Inskeep: It’s not Megan’s best single of the year — heaven knows she has plenty to choose from — but it’s strong nonetheless, with a weird Buddah Bless beat anchoring verses in which she and Thug get braggy wit’ it. Inspirational verse: “People say I’m way too full of myself/You’re right, and I ain’t even made it to dessert.”
[7]
Alfred Soto: A less than inspired pairing produces a performance of force, clarity, and intelligence. With the help of Buddah Bless’ rattling pot lid of a rhythm track, Megan and Young Thug fling smut at each other: Marvin and Tammi for the TikTok generation. Conclusion: “Any bitch you fuckin’ with, you need to dead it/’Fore I come through and shit get hectic.”
[8]
Jonathan Bradley: Yes, it has been a while since pop delivered a beat that feels like a giant robot stomping on your face. This calls back at least to Brandy’s “What About Us.”
[8]
Edward Okulicz: The beat is more punishing than pleasurable, but it turns out Megan has about twenty new ways to talk about her prowess at sex, and a very acceptable proportion of these are witty or shocking enough for rewinding and replaying. Half onslaught of freaky metallic tentacles bashing your head, half IMAX tour of Megan’s vagina and 100% teachable moment — be it on the beat or in bed, you might not ever have it better. My one regret is that this didn’t come out, like two TikTok cycles later and interpolate something from that other song called “Don’t Stop.”
[8]
Juana Giaimo: This is supposed to be a song about sexual pleasure but it doesn’t feel so. There is something quite industrial about it in the metallic noises in the chorus, in the repetitive basslines and in their unexpressive rapping. Also, I really didn’t need to see the cheshire cat spanking Megan Thee Stallion.
[4]
Andy Hutchins: Imperial period Meg is such a force of nature that she can warp almost anything around her, so Thugger — once the most avant-garde rapper working, I swear — sounding almost normal and even boring in comparison to her tongue-out brio is really not that surprising. Buddah Bless following up the unholy TikTok and Fortnite triangulation “Out West” with an anthem built for the first strip club on Saturn? Astonishing.
[7]
Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: Megan is great, as always — her last verse is one of the year’s best. Young Thug does better here than on certain other recent features (but not as well as his best from the past few weeks) And yet “Don’t Stop” doesn’t feel as exciting as it could — the industrial qualities of the beat don’t go anywhere, and the generic trap tones that get added on top of the faux-SOPHIE blasts don’t move the needle either. Meg works best over smooth beats, soul or dance tracks where she can fully exert her charisma. Here, her skill just feels like more noise.
[6]
Jackie Powell: Buddah Bless did not “bless” any beat with his production. He might have tried to emulate some sort of cat scratching sound to accompany Megan Thee Stallion’s hook and music video imagery, but I don’t understand why what was designed to be “a bedroom fun song” is a track that sounds like it was produced in a distorted version of Morse Code. Megan the Stallion tries to introduce the single with a sonic motif similar to what became iconic on “Savage,” but leave that to J. White Did It, please. Buddah Bless’ production doesn’t lend itself to be danceable or even listenable on “Don’t Stop.”
[3]
Katherine St Asaph: Feels like the beat was softened, made 50 times as quiet as the industrial clanging would normally be, so Megan could be loud up front. Which is how it should be, usually, but I suspect both performer and track would be better matched with others.
[6]