“Forever” by Lil Baby (ft. Fridayy)
Reading in between the lines, Lil Baby’s “Forever” comes off as a song of unrequited affection, at least as far as the first verse and, to a lesser degree, the chorus is concerned.
“Forever” is also what we may term as a modern-day hip-hop love song. It is one in which the featured romance between the vocalist and addressee is far from ideal, at least not from a traditional perspective.
For instance, it is made pretty clear that the addressee, Lil Baby’s romantic interest, is also involved with another guy. And whenever said guy ‘gets back in the picture’, Baby notices that homegirl ‘acts different’, as in developing a bad attitude towards the vocalist.
But dating women who are likewise dating someone else seems to have become more or less an accepted norm in the world of hip-hop.
However, in this case it is a bit more understandable why the vocalist is accepting of this situation, because it is such that he doesn’t see the addressee on a regular basis to begin with.
By the looks of things, she is resident in some city that he visits from time-to-time, for instance Lil Baby last having the opportunity to hook up with her “three months” ago. And even with this present encounter, he only anticipates being able to spend “a couple [of] hours” with her.
An Utterly Smitten Narrator
That reality also brings us back to thesis sentiment of this track, which is the vocalist being thoroughly smitten. Or put otherwise, despite the various challenges present in this relationship, he doesn’t seem to have any desire whatsoever to call it off. Instead, it’s as if these prolonged absences strengthens Baby’s desire to be with the addressee. Furthermore, he’s convinced that she too feels the same.
Meanwhile, as far as the title is concerned, the word “forever” is not mentioned anywhere in these lyrics. That said, it is important to state that the chorus is derived from an earlier (unreleased) song that is likewise titled “Forever”.
When did Lil Baby release “Forever”?
This is one of the song’s to be found on the 23 track playlist of “It’s Only Me”, Lil Baby’s album that was put out on 14th of October, 2022 by these labels:
- Motown
- Quality Control
- 4PF
It is possible that the title of that project is meant to allude to the fact that, all things considered, Lil Baby is concurrently the top rapper holding down the A-T-L. This became true when his regular collaborator, Gunna, as well as one of their close associates, the more-tenured Young Thug, both of whom are also from Atlanta, were locked up on a number of RICO charges earlier in 2022. Their incarceration likely means that they will not be seeing the light of day anytime soon.
Who is Fridayy
The featured vocalist on this track, Fridayy, is a singer/producer from Philadelphia. The most-popular song he’s participated on to date is the title track from DJ Khaled’s “God Did” (2020) album.
In addition to providing vocals, Fridayy also co-wrote and co-produced “Forever”. This is his first collaboration with Lil Baby.
The Unreleased “Forever”
Actually, there is an unreleased song titled “Forever”. The said unreleased song is a collaboration between Fridayy and Vory. It is from that song that the chorus of Lil Baby’s “Forever” is derived. As such, Vory is also given songwriting credit for this song.
More Credits
Also interpolated herein is Drake’s “Chicago Freestyle” (2020) featuring Giveon. This may explain why Giveon is also granted writing credit on Lil Baby’s “Forever”. The other writers of this track are:
- Lil Baby
- Fortune
- Bizness Boi
The latter two on the list also acted as the song’s co-producers.
FYI, “God Did” by DJ Khaled is also interpolated into “Forever”.
