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 May 2019.
Rumors are running rampant that singer and songwriter, Jhené Aiko, will be releasing her third studio album this year; she may even use her last name, Chilombo, as the title. She released “Triggered (freestyle)” as the first promotional single for the album, which contained some ambiguous lines that immediately stirred controversy. Genius contributor @trappachino speculates why the line may be aimed at ex-boyfriend, Big Sean, while also acknowledging that the two have made up.
In May 2017, Miley Cyrus dissed hip-hop and said she was moving on from the genre, but in February of this year, she decided to return. She released her EP, She Is Coming, following her “Cattitude” single, which made headlines for it’s mention of Nicki Minaj and Cardi B. Genius contributor, @Chancelorr, detailed Miley’s reasoning behind the name drops.
Joyner Lucas plans to release his third studio album, ADHD sometime this year. The New England rapper has confirmed that Eminem will make a guest appearance on the album, but the big story is the reconciliation of Joyner and Logic, who had been feuding since 2017. Eminem recently featured on tracks with Joyner and Logic, so naturally, fans speculated that he brought the two rappers together on Joyner’s new track, “ISIS.” However, Genius contributors, @bzgoldman and @Ega x Wandering explain who really saved the day.
Halsey is scheduled to release her third studio album in October. Her new single, “Nightmare” serves as a sequel to her June 2017 track, “Devil In Me”—a song about inner struggles. In “Nightmare” Halsey decides to embrace her wild side and advocates for women’s rights. Genius Contributor, @tirelessmess pinpoints why a few lines from the song may be Halsey’s way of speaking out against new abortion laws in Alabama.
Young Thug landed his highest charting single as the lead artist with the release of “The London,” which features J. Cole and Travis Scott—the track currently sits at number 12 on Billboard Hot 100. Cole serves as executive producer of Thugger’s album that’s set to drop this year, but on his verse, he revealed how much he charges for a feature, which Genius Contributor, Nathaniel Hall calculated in this month’s best annotation.
