The Genius Community is a group of international music lovers who come to Genius every day to contribute musical knowledge. Through the medium of annotations, they decode the deeper meaning behind lyrics, contextualize them within an artist’s discography, pinpoint their social relevance, or uncover their historical influences.
The best annotations are not only well-written and comprehensive, but also bring new insight to the lyrics we’re all obsessed with. They consolidate the most interesting information about trending music, or take what could otherwise be unassuming lyrics and transform them into engaging tidbits of knowledge. With that in mind, here are the Best Annotations of June 2019.
NF is set to release his fourth studio album, The Search, in a few weeks. On the title track, he reveals that he struggles with being famous—NF’s modus operandi has always been to stay lowkey and out of the limelight. Genius contributor @CalebMac116, reveals some details about the sold-out crowds that NF has rocked over the past few years.
From Barbies, to Street Fighter character Chun-Li, and now Megatron, Nicki Minaj has been adopting names of fictional characters for her various personas ever since she entered the rap game back in 2004. She broke up with Meek Mill in January 2017 and was rumored to be dating Nas towards the end of that year. However, she got engaged last November and makes a subtle mention of her fiancé on her new track, “MEGATRON,” which Genius contributor @ninetyninedreams breaks down in an annotation. “MEGATRON” may appear on Nicki’s unconfirmed fifth studio album.
Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabella linked up for their new track, “Señorita,” which is their second collaboration together. Genius contributors, @tirelessmess and @AGS96 were able to add context to the language choices, while also shedding light on the artists' upbringing. Shawn is set to release his fourth studio album sometime this year.
Taylor Swift will be dropping her seventh studio album, Lover, at the end of next month. The album is preceded by two singles, thus far, including “ME!” and “You Need To Calm Down.” Both tracks give a shoutout to the LGBT community, but the highlight comes in “You Need To Calm Down,” where Taylor embraces the label of being deceptive and a snake. Genius contributors @neeknoo, @Pessoa, @VinylZombie_MCR, @ParanormalActivist and @RaquelJimnezAranda broke down the history of the title in an informative annotation.
A little over a year ago, Pusha T released his scandalous Drake diss track, “The Story of Adidon,” where he accused Drake of being a deadbeat father, amongst other things. In other news, Drake’s hometown basketball team, the Toronto Raptors, won their first NBA Finals, prompting Drake to release a two track project titled The Best In The World Pack to celebrate. However, it seems Drake is still a little salty about last year’s feud with Push, as he dredges it up on his new track, “Omertà.” Genius contributor @speckhelper fleshed out Drake’s subtle claim to making Pusha T famous in this month’s best annotation.
