It’s been just under a week since I first listened to Duckwrth’s newest album, “All American F*ckboy“. I opened up Spotify on my morning drive to work fulling expecting to listen to New York Times’ “The Daily”, as I typically do. Now, I wouldn’t consider myself a fanboy of Duckwrth’s music, although I am definitely a fan, and a boy. In fact, he showed up on “My Top Songs” for the last three years running. “Power Power”, featuring Shaun Ross, was my second most listened to song in 2022.
Recently with my busier schedule, I haven’t been as involved in the music world as I’d like. I don’t anticipate album releases as giddily or search frantically for tickets nearby for my favorite artists. It’s just not in the budget of time and money. When I saw “All American F*ckboy” (which I will now be abbreviating to AAF for condensation), I didn’t feel a skip in my heart or tick in my brain. I saw another album from an artist I liked which I may skim through for a song I enjoy. What I wasn’t expecting was an auditory gem, an experience, rushing through my system. Let it be known, all of this is pure analysis and speculation, nothing is fact.
On an initial listen, I felt myself catching some lyrics but understanding the overall motivations of the album. While many albums seek to compile their best works into one album, Duckwrth assembled songs all relating to one topic like a storybook. That’s exactly how it feels listening to it as well: a storybook. I felt myself feeling bad, happy, angry for the character in the album. We begin on chapter one: toxic romantic.
Chapter 1: Toxic Romantic
We begin the album on chapter one, just as a book would start. You have the main character of this “story”, unnamed, who calls a bunch of different people asking for their plans. The first person is working, the second person missed the call but has no plans, the third person answers but gets stood up, and the fourth and final person agrees to the plans, which is most likely a booty call.
This pushes us into the actual song by the name of “Toxic Romantic”. We start by hearing the singer say “It’s not you…it’s me”, which is repeated several times throughout the song. It’s a common phrase used in the dating world to assume responsibility of a failing relationship. Already, two lines into the song, we’re learning details about their current relationship. The next line, “I think my girlfriend hates me”, confirms our quickly-created hypothesis. “She thinks I’m mixey in these streets” as the next line now gives us insight that the singer is legitimately the problem, cheating. Again, we’re reiterating the idea that, yes, he is a toxic romantic.
Ken Doll
Skipping the segue track “*the pull up”, we’ll hop into “Ken Doll”. Immediately, we can analyze the title of the song. The Ken doll was created as a “partner” of sorts to the Barbie doll, with strong hints at being in existence solely for Barbie’s pleasure. It’s joked at in the “Barbie” movie.” So, just by the initial peek at the song, we’re thinking that this character relates to the Ken doll. This character, the singer, is one we may think of more someone who finds pleasure in satisfying women. We can gather all of that information just from a simple title, with a little but of background context.
Skipping right to the pre-chorus, our theory is confirmed. “You think I’ve got a worship kink” tells the listener that the people he is involved with think him enjoying others to the extreme, most likely sexual, “worshipping” them. The next line pushes the Barbie narrative in the chorus: “Everything is pink, pink, pink, pink…” “Pink, pink, pink, that’s all I see”. The pink has “Got me feelin’ trashy”, encouraging the toxic behavior seen in “Toxic Romantic”. There’s no need for me to recite everything nasty the narrator does in the verses. The song ends with the outro repeating “I tend to do anything for her”. The singer is proudly a pimp and makes sure everyone knows.
Escapist
We begin with the chorus “Take a ride…Take a seat” which immediately infers (again, it can mostly be found in the title), that the narrator is escaping. This is where the speculation turns into guesswork. Is he escaping with his initial girlfriend? Or maybe he’s leaving with one of his side pieces? For the first time in the album, there’s no definitive answer, although based on past lyrics, I’d lean towards the latter. He is hypocritical in the last line of the chorus, claiming “we need some peace”. I found it interesting that he says “we” instead of “I”, and that he would say it at all, considering the damage he’s caused thus far into other relationships.
Let’s push further into the hypocritical nature. “These hoes got me tense, so I’ma press eject” works against the narrator. He’s caused so much distress to the people he has relations with but talks about needing a break for himself. The very next line, “You text me on the plane…”, is a claim that the women are reaching out to him, not the other way around. However, he understand this to be a lie as we heard in “chapter 1” he called numerous women to hook up with.
It’s not until the second verse we start getting contradiction within the verse. He further claims he needs peace (by moving to the suburbs), but will drop money to, as he puts it, “get a freak”. He follows up with “I’m a Pitbull terrier off the leash”. Pitbulls are widely known to be aggressive dogs by traditional standards (I will argue this, but for the sake of analyzation, we’ll leave it be for now). The narrator is “flexing on hoes” and “bust(ing) down (his) teeth”, showing the full 180 degree turn from verse one.
Fell Off The Earth
The last song of the chapter is “Fell Off The Earth”, inferring that perhaps the narrator metaphorically fell off the face of the planet. Of course he didn’t actually, but due to a lack of social media presence or being extremely introverted, one can do just that. Again, we’re seeing a completely different side of the narrator than before. Now, the narrator has been ghosting and no longer responds, due to personal and professional interferences. “I be at work” is one excuse but he admits if he felt a vibe he would’ve responded in the line “if I catch a wave, then I’ma surf.”
Verse 2 reveals his feelings towards settling down. He claims he needs a “ride or die beside me” and that if the woman he’s pursuing wants something expensive, something like a Prada purse, “then (he’s) gotta work”. In the chorus, he repeats the phrase “Over the moon”, which might not have immediate significance. However, with a basic command over English phrases, one can often be “over the moon” for another person. This earth he is falling off of is his toxic romantic nature, and now he is settling down with someone. But he does not, in fact, settle down.
Chapter 2: He Fears Everything
We start chapter 2 by learning more about the narrator through a phone call. He did not settle down, but he did indeed fall off the earth, as she can’t get ahold of him. This ghosting makes the woman ask more about their relationship, wondering if she was the problem. “Like what are we? What are we doing?” Welcome to chapter two: he fears everything.
Grey Scale
Duckwrth is very intentional with his titles and I think he does an amazing job at picking the best titles for his songs. “Grey” is the mix between white and black, the mixed area between two positives. It’s an undefined area, which in the case of him, would be bouncing between the realm of cheating and settling. Before we hop into the lyrics, we’re assuming he’s going to be contradictory. This entire album has shown contradictions, but this song will highlight the “grey area”.
The first verse is onto his “cheating” side, as he wants to have a public display of affection, “hoping we get caught a lot” and “probably fuckin’ in the parking lot”. Right into the second verse, he says he likes a situationship but she doesn’t, drawing clear lines in the sand. So, against our initial prediction, the grey area is actually projected onto the woman. It’s clear that they both have their individual desires and wants, yet neither is willing to compromise to find the grey area they can both enjoy. We’ll end this section by the chorus line “have my baby, no not maybe”. This further hints at his indecision.
Hoe Phase
We finally get a name, thank god. I’ve been getting tired of saying “that woman”. The woman’s name is Keisha, and she likes long walks and the beach. Her “Boyfriend ain’t shit” and he is sneaking around with another women on the low. “Hoe” itself is typically used to denounce women that sleep with many men, although the term is genderless. In this song, however, the narrator is speaking about Keisha, although not using “hoe” in an extremely negative manner. He is saying she is in her “hoe phase”, a phase of being a hoe that will eventually come to pass.
Patrick
After a little bit of examination, I’ve come to the easy conclusion that “Patrick” in this song refers to American Psycho, Patrick Bateman. For those unfamiliar with the film, it follows a psychotic serial killer named Patrick Bateman posing as a white-collared investment banker. Small things tick him off and cause him to kill, such as someone’s business card looking better than his own. We’ll need to take this knowledge into the song analysis.
We see a new version of the narrator; one focused on changing themself. However, as we’ve learned time and time again, this change is superficial, for the aesthetic. In the chorus, we see “She’s in love with psycho” which put the initial idea of American Psycho in my head. Then in the second verse, he says “Psycho like I’m Patrick”. The word “obsess” ties directly into his character. So while the narrator puts on a new face, the yearning continues inside.
LA Traffic
This one took a bit more examination than “Patrick”. To summarize the song’s lyrics, the narrator is on the road to see his woman but gets pulled over for speeding, jailed, and tries calling her to help bail him out. Los Angeles’ traffic is notorious for horrible delays and bumper-to-bumper congestion (in media and from real life experience). The narrator is caught speeding at 105, which in California’s 65 mph zones (especially near LA), is a felony speeding risk, which would send him straight to jail. I applaud Duckwrth on his realism and continuity.
In the introduction, he’s stuck in traffic, but by verse one, it’s cleared and he’ll arrive sooner than he thought. After being sent to jail, he uses his one phone call on her and she doesn’t answer, presumably because they had been in a fight recently. When his friend helps him with bail, he goes to see her and sees her with another man. All of a sudden, the music stops and he asks “Who the fuck is that?”, referring to the new man. He goes through internal conflict on if he should believe her or not when she claims it’s her “bestie”. In the end, he chooses he should find a new girlfriend.
Pitbull
Let’s change the mood again as he does so often in his writing. We get to see a more aggressive side of the narrator as in the first line he says “your spinal cord is noodles”. He would only know such facts if he hurt the other man for his woman. The title of the song is a hint at his new aggression. Pitbulls are known for being an aggressive breed (which is 100% myth, it’s the owners). It is seen as even more mean when compared to a poodle in the same line. Later on in the same verse, he is “wiping all the blood of (his) fangs from teeth sinking in”, further showing his animalistic behaviors.
He again talks about poodles, comparing the other man to a poodle while he is a pit. There’s a repetition of “Little bitch” four times over pushing the agenda of an alpha dog. By the time we reach the outro, he tells the other man (the poodle) to get away “‘fore I eat yo’ ass too”.
Before we hop into the last song of the “chapter”, we get a little interlude detailing a night in the life. The narrator is out drinking on a bar crawl with a new woman. Luckily we don’t have to do any analysis; it straight up tells us this next part. “He could have ended the night hours ago, but the combination of lust and ego tends to subdue rational decision making.” This entire sentence is perfect and I will not stand to hear otherwise.
Had Enough
With the background knowledge of the interlude, we understand his situation and more of his internal side. “This party ends when we say so” is a blind attempt at giving her the satisfaction of calling it an end when in reality we understand he lacks the decision making to end the night under his own will. They’re on drugs and drinking (if you believe the narrator) and he “plead(s) the fifth”, hinting at him revealing incriminating or odd facts about himself. In verse two, he gets a little bit of strength to end the night, but the drinks are “drownin’ thoughts in (his) head”.
When you finally think he’s lost it, he brings himself back down to Earth. He’s putting his foot down and calling it a night, saying that he has had enough. He’s tired of drinking and doing drugs and going out partying. Will we finally see a version of the narrator that settles down for a healthy relationship?
Chapter 3: Confessions, Sins, and Broken Men
This interlude connects the night of partying with the morning after. We hear the voicemail about the original woman, the one he got arrested for speeding towards. She calls him out for his crazy partying and wondering what they are. She says she’s “waiting up for (him)” because he told her this and that. Finally, she ends the voicemail with the line “I’m just so over this.”
June 1st
While most of the titles of the songs in this album allude to something else, this one is merely a date that has no conjunction (as far as I could find). We hear the regret from the narrator in the beginning: “Every word unsaid Weighs a little heavier.” The narrator is sitting in his car contemplating calling his ex-girlfriend and apologizing for the night at the club. We know this is weighing heavily upon him as he says “It prob be easier if I jumped off the Eiffel.” The song focuses solely on his feelings of coming forward with his actions and “man(ning) the fuck up”, as he puts it.
Permanent Vacation
Seemingly on the exterior, we have a song that doesn’t follow the traditional story being written in this album. The “permanent vacation” the narrator refers to is his dad leaving their family. If we care to look beyond the surface-level, we understand that this relates to himself as a character as well. While his dad leaving affected him, he’s beginning to think in similar terms and take his own permanent vacation. He can’t deal with the mounting pain of how he’s treated other people and is pushing to extremes. “Papa used to call it a generational curse” teases this (in this first line of verse one) that it’s in his blood to abandon.
The entire first verse is dedicated to speaking ill of his father’s abandonment, while the second verse is moreso focused on his own life. We then begin to see some parallels in the two verses. In the first: “sneaking off with hoes, Mama off at work – Wasn’t just a flirt, you was doing dirt” compared to the second: “Side relations, yeah, I probably should have mentioned – Did the unthinkable.” However, he at least is conscious of what he’s doing by the end of the second verse. “I can’t talk no shit ’cause I see no difference – What he did is what I’m doing.”
Finally, the woman the narrator was originally with, gives up. In the outro she says she’s done, through. You cared about him and let him into her darkest secrets, and in the end, he betrayed her.
I’m Stressed
Here we have the narrator, stressed, as the title confirms. He hears the news from his girl and learns she wants nothing more to do with him. Good for her, I say. At times of stress, the mind will race and you can easily spot that through repetition of words. He repeats “Look what I did” three times* and his heart is going to beat through his chest and “break through (his) ribs” twice over. Even more, he repeats “God” in praying and swearing to Him. I did a quick search on the lyrics and found he repeats “stressed” forty times!
In verse two, he makes a comparison of wanting to be in a relationship like John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Just thinking based on a little research I’ve done, John and Yoko Ono were by no means a perfect couple. They each had their own separate flaws that sometimes sparked when it was the two of them. However, there was deep love in their relationship. Besides looking for someone to rhyme with, I think it’s a good choice of a couple. Another amazing line I want to highlight is “You singing along, but now I sing it solo.” Feeling this heartache of a relationship come to an end, he pushes aside the feelings of a bitter end to capitalize on the joy of loneliness.
Hurricane J.I.M.
While I wasn’t able to figure out what the J.I.M. stood for, I did understand the meaning behind the hurricane. First, we need to understand a little bit about weather. Hurricanes are these large spiral storms that bring destruction and terror to everything around, although they have an opening in the middle that is relatively calm. This is called the “eye of the storm”. The first verse of the song has the line “Maybe you should meet me in the middle” which infers that it’s safest in the middle, the eye. It’s confirmed in the chorus through “Hurricane, it keeps on moving – I found peace in the middle.”
There’s also hints at showing how there is calm after the storm, after the initial destruction. Despite the path of the hurricane leaving everything in pain, the moments after it passes are calm. By the outro, we hear him say “I found peace, and hurricanes, and peace”, most likely referring to the peace in the eye, the destruction that followed, and the peace thereafter.
Chapter 4: There May Be Hope
The shortest chapter is the final chapter including just two songs. We’ve been on a roller-coaster of emotions and feelings with the narrator and it all comes down to his redemption arc. The final chapter of “there may be hope”. We know him to be unreliable thus far so I wouldn’t put too much into trusting what he says, but the first song in this final chapter give a glimmer or sunshine, a glimpse at changing his being.
I’m Really Changing
The line “My heart was in the streets” has some significance that many might not immediately catch. There’s a bit of slang that refers to cheating women and “hoes” that they belong to the streets. As in, anyone can have them. The narrator is admitting that his heart was on the streets in the same sense. He gives her permission to check his phone, check his DMs, “But (he’s) newly changed, so don’t check last weekend.” This shows he still has a long way to go, and is willing to accept that fact.
He misses the mark on his first attempt at rekindling their love through song-making. He said “it sounded like a fart…silly flatulence, slipping out on accident.” So here, he’s playing off that his first shot was a failure and joking about it, but he will try something more serious. In my opinion, the reason he failed on the first try was because he did something for himself. Not once do we hear much about the woman, but we can assume he enjoys song-making which is why he did it for himself. Furthermore in the same verse, he states “I be missing us making love ever passionate…Hopping up out that kitty, got me staggering.” We see him diverge towards his old self even more. Perhaps this was never about love but his own self-interests.
Temporary Pleasures
I love the speaking segments between the narrator and his ex-girlfriend. They show great insight into both characters, and it’s typically the only “personality” we get from the ex. They’re speaking on the phone and the narrator tells her he misses her and doesn’t know if she has it in her to forgive him. She responds that he doesn’t call, see her, and despite attempts to persuade her he really has changed, she isn’t buying any of it. “So, it is what it is.”
Finally, we’ve reached the conclusion. The narrator and his ex-girlfriend will not be getting back together. So, in the first verse, he’s remembering the good times they’ve had. “Give me all of your smiles And all of your good times.” He’s making space in his head for the good memories instead of the negative ones. The entire purpose of “temporary pleasures” is to show that relationships aren’t always forever. People make mistakes (like he did) and he could still gain positive experiences from it. His interlude reinforces the fact that “Everybody needs to be human…we’ll never be perfect…we will always be…ourselves.”
The album ends pretty beautifully on the hypothetical question of love. The relationship was always destined to fail because he didn’t love himself. However, he in turn learns to both love himself and notice what love looks like. Perhaps his days of going on wild benders is over. He has reached a peak in his maturity. I’ll let Duckwrth end this song and album with his own words – “So, is this the end of the story? Or the beginning of (a) new one? I’ll let you decide.”
Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Typically when I listen to music, I don’t dig too deep into the lyricism. A lot of songs, especially older ones in Classic Rock or Hip-Hop I know lyrics too and will sing along, but there’s no intention behind understanding what is said. I couldn’t tell you what inspired me to stop and truly listen to this multiple times. What inspired me to research for hours what he said and why he said it? I couldn’t give an honest answer.
If I had to choose a reason behind why I put so much time into analyzing this album, it would be the story outline. It was written as a chapter-book and perhaps that’s what drew it to me. The story has a clear plot, well-built characters, and constant action. It draws readers and listeners in seamlessly jumping from point to point. Duckwrth is a true master of lyric writing and I’m glad this album has blessed my ears.
If you want to see more album analysis in the future, let me know down below what album I should listen to. Thank you all for reading and continuing to support the blog. This post took me roughly 8 hours of research, listening, and writing, so any support would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Great article!
Awesome!
Very good!
I love Duckwrth!
Very good 🙂
Good article and well written, greatly articulated!
Very good!
Awesome !