Megan Thee Stallion Returns… For Better or For Worse -

By Tim McGuire

Megan Thee Stallion rocked the internet at the beginning of 2024 by securing the first official #1 Billboard hit of the year with her aggressive song “HISS.” The success of that single led to more hype for her self-titled album and brewed a deeper rivalry with rapper Nicki Minaj. As the beef between the two rappers faded, Megan dropped her self-titled album, MEGAN, and was met with mixed reviews. And now, here in October, we have an unexpected surprise from Thee Houston Hottie: not just a few deluxe songs, but rather a whole new “second act” worth of content. MEGAN was already long at 18 songs, and this second act adds 13 new songs to the mix. This review will solely be about the 13 new songs added, but how they relate to the original album will be considered.

One of the things that’s immediately obvious on first listen is the influence of “Mamushi (feat. Yuki Chiba)” being the most successful song from the original album. Megan has had a good year so far, so it only makes sense for her to want to extend it. The only problem with this is that “Mamushi” is one of the worst songs on the original album. Even with a new collaborator in K-pop girl group sensation TWICE, it doesn’t save the song, especially as TWICE gives an arguably worse verse than Yuki Chiba. The other song that seemingly rode off the “Mamushi” hype train is “Neva Play (feat. RM of BTS),” which is better, but just fine. Megan does her job well on this track, and then RM adds… words, I guess. His verse also felt like nothing. I can appreciate it if Megan wants to have some international talent on her albums, but it would help if the artists didn’t come from the corporate hell that is the K-pop industry.

Megan’s marketing isn’t over yet, however. Another thing that’s noticeable is how short these songs are; not one song passes the 3-minute mark. These short songs make me question if Megan ever really wanted to make an extension, or if she just wanted a fatter paycheck. However, there is an argument to be made. On one hand, a song such as “Like a Freak” works well because it doesn’t need to be very long, just something that could be a cool interlude throwback to Far East Movement’s club classic “Like a G6.” But on the other hand, you have some throwaway tracks like “He Think I Love Him,” which is essentially a waste of a minute when you could just skip to “Like a Freak.” Aa whole, the shorter songs do hurt the album. Any song that sounds like it was lazily made now automatically also feels like a throwaway.

Outside the musical quality of the songs, there also lies some flaws within the lyrics. I hate giving the critique that all a rapper does is talk about sex, money, etc., because it makes me feel like I’m echoing someone who hates rap, but it needs to be said: Megan doesn’t have any focus here rather than being Megan Thee Stallion. This works on some songs like “Bigger In Texas,” a fiery opener track, but after a few songs, the topics get tired. I personally got bored by “Right Now,” the sixth song in. While there are some good lines here and there to add some variety to how she approaches these insanely broad subjects, it still feels repetitive. However, there is one strange exception: “Bourbon,” the song following the opener. While it has barely any message or theme at all, the freedom it allows Megan to rap about whatever leads to some great flows and bars (A personal favorite of mine is, “Hot Girl Productions, head of the label / Nothing but hits coming out this stable / Shout out to God ‘cause he set up the table”).

While it may seem so far in this review that MEGAN: ACT II has nothing to offer, it would be a ludicrous to say there truly is nothing. There’s some hidden gems within here, namely “Bourbon,” “TYG (feat. Spiritbox),” and “Fell In Love.” “TYG” is easily the best song on the (extension of the) album, showing a somehow even more aggressive side of Megan Thee Stallion. Her collaboration with Spiritbox on this track also adds grit to the already gritty, electric-guitar heavy beat, which is a certified banger. One the flipside, “Fell In Love” shows a more old-school approach, which Megan surprisingly fits into quite well. Despite continuing her repetitive theme of sex 10 songs in, this one takes it to the limit. It’s unabashedly filthy, giving it the edge over its fellow songs on the tracklist. Both of these songs show Megan trying something new and succeeding with flying colors, so fingers crossed that she dives into these sounds more next time.

The big question I had going into the album was “Will she finally respond back to Nicki?” And the answer is… almost. She drops few and far between lines like, “They love to talk numbers ‘cause they can’t talk talent,” and “Number one, I can’t beef with no fan page.” She seems to be addressing Nicki’s infamously obsessive fan base rather than Nicki herself which is interesting. MEGAN did in fact sell far less than Pink Friday 2, which the Barbz made sure to tell everyone, but Megan does have a point as many critics didn’t take well to Nicki’s latest effort. It’s probably smartest for Megan not to bring up the drama directly again for peace’s sake, but these one-off lines are intriguing to examine.

Let’s just get this question out of the way. Did Megan Thee Stallion drop this second act to get more streams? It’s very likely. Despite whatever her intentions may be, she showcases some interesting things here. None of the ideas seem fully fleshed out, so listening to this album is like opening different doors and peeking inside. Megan is still a relatively new artist, so she has the time and space to grow as an artist, but this most likely won’t be included in people’s memories as Megan improves over time. I would recommend this album to anyone who’s a fan of her already, or just really hates Nicki Minaj.