Released amid a hail of controversy – some of it stemming from an incident in which its author was shot, allegedly by rapper Tory Lanez – Megan Thee Stallion’s 2020 debut album Good News was an exercise in optimism from its title down. Two years on, there’s more controversy – the Texan rapper is currently engaged in a bitter legal battle with her record label – but her mood has clearly changed. The title of Good News’ follow-up is derived from “a chemical released in the brain when it is forced to deal with painful emotions caused by traumatic events”; the video announcing its release featured a funeral, gatecrashed by Megan Thee Stallion in an absolutely enormous hat. “I’m on my fuck-you shit, bitch, I’m done being nice,” she announces a few minutes after Traumazine begins.
