MEGAN: ACT II

Near the end of “Bigger in Texas,” the opening track on Megan Thee Stallion’s new deluxe album MEGAN: ACT II, the Houston superstar lets everyone know where they can put their opinions. “Always beggin’ me to crash out with these losers, shut up, enjoy this music/Y’all gon’ learn I move on my time and not for none of y’all amusement,” she raps, a none-too-subtle message that she’s moved past the noise and distractions. Much of Megan’s ascension to the upper echelon of celebrity has been imbued with The Shade Room-style nonsense, social media criticism mixed with harassment, and a litany of voices trying to tell her which way is north. On ACT II, she’s back to having fun.

Since her profile rose with the 2018 mixtape Tina Snow, Megan’s balancing act has manifested in a slew of full-length releases that attempted to satisfy everyone, and it wasn’t always a perfect fit. Compared to the patchy conglomeration of styles and lyrical themes on its predecessor, this July’s album MEGAN, ACT II is more precise. Megan hones in on the magnetic bawdiness and charisma that first endeared her to fans in freestyles recorded on radio station microphones and video clips filmed in suburban Texas. The album feels spiritually aligned to her Tina Snow and Something for Thee Hotties tapes: a creative recentering marked by funny, well-varnished raps that arrive with a refreshing lightness and freedom.

That isn’t to say that Megan doesn’t have smoke for others on ACT II—her brand of vendetta produced some of the best moments from MEGAN, like the poison-tipped “Hiss” and “Rattle.” But here the jokes arrive with an air of superiority, not as necessary counterpunches. “Bitch need a pen pal, can’t spit a bar/Spit your best when you’re tryna get a nigga off,” she raps in the middle of a lengthy verse on “Bourbon,” sounding completely at peace on the sinister, stripped-down beat from frequent collaborators Bankroll Got It and Shawn “Source” Jarrett. Sure, there are some corny lines (looking at you, “spaghetti” wordplay on “Right Now”), but Megan’s in top form on loose, freewheeling stretches where it sounds like she’s cutting up with a couple of friends. Breathlessly rattling off Jordin Sparks and Warren G references to boss herself up on “Number One Rule” hits all the notes: confidence, sexuality, and security.

Megan’s most effective guests meet her where she’s at, though they sometimes leave meat on the bone. Meg and Flo Milli each settle into their own groove on the Lil Ju production “Roc Steady,” which uses the penetrating whirring sample from Ciara’s “Goodies” for a twerk anthem that’s somehow always on the verge of getting off the ground. And though Megan plays the role of heavy-metal singer adequately alongside Courtney LaPlante and Canadian band Spiritbox, “TYG” feels closer to a round of Rock Band where you pick the wrong song. But a remix of MEGAN’s “Mamushi” that features all nine members of K-pop girl group Twice leaps past the original, and “Neva Play” sets up an intoxicating foil between Megan’s breakneck bars and the low crawl of BTS’ RM, both dripping with charisma.

The other musical touchstones littered through ACT II register as homecomings, as if Megan had tried to reconstruct the mixtapes and albums of her youth from memory and to marry their tenets with her modern sensibilities. Still, her strength is in the bars, no way around it—whether she’s trying to merge onto a classic Gucci Mane beat (“He Think I Love Him”) or eviscerating a Far East Movement megahit (“Like a Freak”). The oscillation between her Southern rap heritage, her wide-ranging interests, and her encounter with superstardom—particularly given the pressure on Black women in rap to capitalize on the attention—is understandably dizzying. But the most striking image arrives in the “Bigger in Texas” video: Houston legends Paul Wall, Scarface, Slim Thug, and Sauce Walka step into the role of video vixens as Megan positions herself as the hometown hero, and spits like it too. This standout track stands as a reminder of what a relaxed Megan can sound like, a sense of clarity that allows ACT II to flow with greater freedom.