“If Looks Could Kill” by Destroy Lonely
The vocalist in the case of “If Looks Could Kill” is a young up-and-comer from the ATL, the son of another rapper called I-20, who most notably used to run with Ludacris. Destroy Lonely himself was put on Playboi Carti, whom he has apparently been associated with since childhood.
Accordingly, Carti signed him to his own label, Opium, which also seemingly by extension makes Destroy a signee of Ingrooves and Interscope. Therefore it is those labels which are backing “If Looks Could Kills”, his debut studio album, of which this song serves as the title track.
Also just as a side note, the rapper has self-released four mixtapes – beginning with 2019’s “Forever, ILY” – before eventually being signed in 2021.
THE PRE-SUCCESS OF “IF LOOKS COULD KILL”
This song was released less than a week ago, on 2 March 2023, so it remains to be seen how it will fare on music charts. However, “If Looks Could Kill” did manage to leak beforehand and, it should be pointed out, proved quite successful on TikTok and SoundCloud and actually charted in that latter regard.
Destroy Lonely’s co-writers on this song are also the track’s producers, Ssort, Clayco and Carter Bryson.
THE LYRICS
“If Looks Could Kill” covers the basic ground you would expect from a young, major-label rap artist. For instance, Destroy Lonely sets things off by alluding to his wealth and recklessness. And overall, the lyrics are replete with references to enjoying drugs, gun violence and sexual adventurism.
So being that this appears to be the rapper’s first official single, it can also be taken as Destroy Lonely’s introductory song to the masses at large.
As far as the title goes, one way of understanding it based on its positioning in the chorus is as pointing to a certain romantic interest that the vocalist mentions just prior. Lonely is able to perceive, despite her “act(ing) cool”, that she is actually “evil” and “so deceiving”.
Meanwhile, the term “if looks could kill”, most simply put, refers to someone giving you the evil eye. So perhaps that’s the way of saying that he’s able to pick up on her true personality, despite homegirl’s outward demeanor, via the look in her eyes.
