I'm ready. Oh, God. Hi, everyone. Richthony Mantano here, the internet's busiest music nerd. It's time for a review of the Tommy Richman album, Coyote.

Yep, here we have the latest LP from singer, songwriter, producer, Mr. Tommy Richman, who's come-up has been one of the most surprising and sudden in 2024. You can't really tell the story of Tommy's unforeseen popularity without addressing the song "Million Dollar Baby", which has proven to be one of the year's biggest summer jams.

It is a totally unlikely mega hit that's a homespun fusion of Dirty South Hip-hop, R&B, and synth funk, too, with a banger chorus as well. Just as a testament to how genuinely catchy the song is, it went massively viral at the same time Kendrick Lamar and Drake were fully engaged in what is going to go down as the biggest hip hop beef of this decade. Yeah, even that could not draw people's attention away for "Million Dollar Baby".

And look, the popularity of this track is international too, as it's gone number one and platinum in several different countries. I mean, for a moment, you almost couldn't escape it. But now that the track's fervor has died down a little bit, it's allowed Tommy to fill the void with some new material, a string of singles as well as this album, which I've very much been looking forward to because, truth be told, Tommy doesn't have a big commercial back catalog to speak of beyond this record, though he has been active for years, cobbling together SoundCloud demos and singles and several EPs, too, as well as his Alligator album in 2022, which is honestly pretty scant for a full length.

For better or for worse, Coyote is actually the biggest, fullest, and most complete picture we have of Tommy as an artist. But unfortunately, it still sounds like things are in the incubator stage a little bit. Though I think you can sense on this record Tommy's pride in the material, as missing from the tracklist are "Million Dollar Baby" as well as "Devil is a Lie", which is another attempt at a bop that scratches a similar itch. It's clear that Tommy wants this record to sink or swim based on the quality of the songs contained within and the honest audience reception of them, as opposed to the viral popularity he's gotten off of a few singles, which is a commendable move, but what if that's exactly what this album needed? If it was going to be released this quickly anyway, because "Million Dollar Baby" went viral just months ago, and in that time, Tommy turned around an entire album.

Ultimately, though, what I think this record really truly could have used was maybe more time for it to develop or smooth out the various speed bumps in its tracklist, maybe add some production value or something.

For example, the falsetto vocals on "Thought You Were The One" sound goofier and more difficult to digest with each listen, not to mention the dry and soulless synthesizers and super faint beats aren't exactly a treat to the ears either.

Then there's the sound quality of "Letterman", which leaves it feeling like a YouTube rip of a Justin Timberlake demo from 2002, which I should note, this is not the first time we've heard a buzz around an up and comer who's bringing a lofi flair to the world of neo-soul or RnB. I don't know. There's early Frank Ocean or JMSN, How to Dress Well, Steve Lacy. Tommy, in comparison, is coming to the songs on this record with a lot less finesse and vibrant musical ideas. I mean, the writing and execution on these tracks, I was surprised to hear, is actually pretty conventional despite Tommy's DIY bona fides. In fact, I would say the only reason what Tommy is doing is being perceived as unique is because it's being presented to us in a way where it sounds left field and rough around the edges, which honestly, I think there's more to lofi music as an art form than just making something that sounds like a demo.

The sound in production on Coyote, though, stagnates pretty quick. The polite and bland synthesizer patches leave a lot be desired. The drums lack color and punch and variation a lot of the time. The vocals are often swallowed in a sea of reverb, which leaves these tracks sounding like a tiny man trying to serenade me karaoke style on the other side of a drain pipe. I mean, that's pretty much the sound of the track "Elephant in the Room", a meandering intro whose romantic narrative is just too much of a chore to follow.

Following this, "Whitney" does try to pick up the pace a bit with a peppier groove and a stronger chorus. It definitely feels like Tommy is doing his best to not pigeonhole himself into that "Million Dollar Baby" formula on this one, which I do commend. But the longer I sit with this track, the more those howling, godawful vocal runs in Tommy's upper register just grate at my soul. And once again, the messy DIY production is just about the only thing lending this track any personality.

"Temptations" is a decent attempt at capturing a groove and some keys that could have been on Michael Jackson's Off the Wall. But is there anything else on this track that is MJ level in terms of the singing or writing or arrangements? No.

The falsetto vocals wear out their welcome even further on "Whisper In My Ear", especially as Tommy starts singing in these especially squeaky registers.

Deeper into the record, Tommy tries to switch things up a bit with a track that really makes a direct connection to his love for Memphis rap on "Tennessee". But honestly, all this track does is makes me nostalgic for all the artists who broke big in the early 2010s, bringing back this cloud rap, Memphis rap revival sound on either YouTube or DatPiff, because the production on this track here does not bang at all. The rapping and flows are half-hearted at best, and the bars, "They call me Tommy because I'm trying to get rich, man / I'm not going to hell because that life's a bitch man." Pass.

The final leg of this record has its moments, but it's not enough to save the project by any means. "Green Therapy" is definitely one of the best tracks here if you're looking for something personal and introspective from Tommy because he does go into some fraught family dynamics in the lyrics, specifically around his dad. I do commend this track for tying up a lot of the therapy sketch interludes that have been playing out throughout the record thus far.

The song "Vanity" has a bit of an '80s flair, especially on the drum side. There are a lot of aspects of this track, consciously or not, Tommy seems to be pulling from the freestyle music of that era. Lyrically, this track serves as a self-portrait for Tommy, where he describes his lone wolf status, his drive to do things for himself, which I do appreciate, but the song still does overstay its welcome at six minutes.

Then there's the closing track, whose guest rap verse actually is one of the best moments on the album, like the writing and flows on this track are actually incredible. So shout out to mynameisntjmac, for bringing those to the table. He definitely breathed some life into this record at that point for sure. But with that being said, I do actually think this is one of the better written and performed songs on the record from Tommy, getting conceptual with things like time and space around a relationship narrative. And he really tops things off a pretty and haunting refrain at the very finish.

The issue is, though, tracks like this are more the exception than the rule on this record because overall, it's not a great or a very flattering album for Tommy, in my view. The entire thing sounds rushed. It sounds half baked with pretty much no tracks on it hitting nearly as hard as "Million Dollar Baby".

I mean, if Tommy sidestepped placing that song on this record just as a means of seeing how great all this material is in a vacuum, I think we pretty much have our answer. And on top of it, there is a severe lack in versatility in the production and the vocals to justify an album, even of this length. Coyote is not a big record.

But yeah, unfortunately, there are a lot of things about this LP that are just shoddy, from the writing to the production to the singing that I would hope get smoothed out and leveled up in some way, shape, or form before another album, which is why I'm feeling a decent to strong three on this thing.

Anthony Fantano. Tommy Richman. Forever.