SCARLXRD – ‘FANTASY VXID; SUMMER’: FLEXING FOR THE FINAL SEASON

Scarlxrd’s album and conclusion of a 5-piece project playing off the different seasons, FANTASY VXID; SUMMER released as of today. For any readers who are unfamiliar with him, Scarlxrd is an English rapper whose musical style collectively fuses sounds of ambient indie instrumentation, trap rap, and metal.

FANTASY VXID; SUMMER starts off with WELCXME TX THE GULAG, an aggressive and unapologetic introduction for the album where Scarlxrd talks about who he is as a person. The second track, FXRCES, is centered around a melancholy piano riff and evokes a feeling of hopelessness through lyrics like “this life won’t change, I stay the same.” The third track, HXPE FXREVER sounds musically similar to the former, but is lyrically less pessimistic.

I LXST THE WIL TX WIN states fighting is harder now and serves as a transitional track of the album. Instrumentally, a guitar riff helps establish the song’s dark atmosphere that ultimately builds to something reminiscent of nu-metal. The previously established sound of FANTASY VXID does a complete 180 on the fifth track, SMH FREESTYLE, and marks where the lyrics start to progressively become more optimistic and self-assertive.

Led by a sample saying “and if you step into his world with his mind, you will see it quickly change into a beautiful, exciting world of fantasy,” Scarlxrd warns people to be afraid and talks about those hating on him being unable to relate to him on BE SHXX. CXLD BLOODED– a song that instantly became a favorite of mine– delivers a similar relentless, hard hitting energy.

ERGHHH. // EXPECTATIXNS, Scarlxrd’s declaration of staying true to his roots and in his lane, closes out the album. Having previously listened to the previous FANTASY VXID titles, I can say SUMMER was the most interesting and substantial lyric-wise.

Something I’ve liked about every release in this project is that each one differs slightly. WINTER was the most circular, AUTUMN felt the most melodic, SPRING felt most driven by its guitar parts, and– despite being only three songs– the most diverse, as it contains one of Scarlxrd’s heaviest and softest songs.

While FANTASY VXID; SUMMER shows less overall cohesion than the EP’s, it nonetheless encourages fans to not only listen to each release individually, but to all of them sequentially. Stream FANTASY VXID; SUMMER and the other titles while you’re at it.