This week, I will be reviewing “Company” by Don Toliver. To be honest, I have absolutely no idea who Don Toliver is, so I decided it’d be best to begin with some light research of him and his music. Caleb Zachary (better known as Don) Toliver is an American rapper who began his music career in 2017. Prior to that year, he had no musical experience! He gained popularity in 2020 on TikTok because of his singles “No Idea” and “After Party” from his debut album, Heaven or Hell.

This song is about the narrator missing a girl and seeing her life from afar. He sees her social media posts and can imagine how she is now acting because she’s single and most likely hurt. A lyric that stuck out to me was “I know your cure.” I think “cure” refers to how she deals with pain, especially one from the end of a relationship. Her cure is many social media posts that attract attention, going out every night, and focusing on material goods. I think all of these are very common reactions you see in people who are dealing with a breakup.  

“Company” immediately begins with a very autotuned voice which regular readers know I have a

distaste for. The style of this song is an electric and very warped sound. It was very interesting how there was an instrumental break around the beginning of the song and then around the end of the song. I really enjoyed the transformation of the music after the second instrumental break. The electric sounds got toned down and a simple beat was added with some electric guitar riffs throughout which is more my style of music. Lastly, I didn’t really like how Toliver chose to continuously change the volume of his voice and be off pitch on purpose. 

Along with not really liking the sound of “Company,” I don’t feel a personal connection with this song. I enjoy songs that are full of imagery and describe complex emotions, but this song was very surface level. It felt like it only talked about what one sees after a breakup, not necessarily how one feels. I also prefer songs that have a more “feminine” touch to the lyrics, and I felt like this song lacked that trait. As a result, this song will not be added to my playlist.  

Work Cited: 

“Don Toliver.” Wikipedia, 24 Jan. 2023. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Don_Toliver&oldid=1135412824. 

Don Toliver – Company. genius.com, https://genius.com/Don-toliver-company-lyrics. Accessed 12 Feb. 2023. 

Images: 

https://www.texasmonthly.com/arts-entertainment/don-toliver-houston-travis-scott/ 

https://genius.com/Don-toliver-company-lyrics 

https://alexanderjulian.info/content/tag/Don+Toliver