Left: Moneybagg Yo, photo by Vivien Killilea via Getty Images. Right: Taylor Swift, photo by Dimitrios Kambouris via Getty Images.
It’s an unwritten rule in the music industry that major artists shouldn’t release major works on the same day. Just this month, Chicago rapper Lil Durk pushed the arrival of his new album Almost Healed, in what may or may not have been a move to avoid direct competition with his bitter rival Youngboy Never Broke Again, whose May 12 record Richest Opp currently sits atop the Billboard R&B/hip-hop chart. Now, Moneybagg Yo has also moved his album back — not, as one might imagine, to avoid conflict with Durk’s project, but to honor Taylor Swift, whose deluxe version of her 2022 album Midnights dropped today (May 26).
In a video posted to his socials yesterday, Yo explains his decision: “I just got the news my lil’ baby Taylor droppin’ tonight,” he says in the clip from the comfort of his red Ferrari after a spirited singalong to the title track of Swift’s 2019 album Lover, blunt in hand. “I ain’t gonna lie, y’all know how I feel about Taylor, man, so I think I’m gonna push Hard to Love back just a few days. Y’all be patient with me, man. Let Taylor have this shit.” He then relights his blunt, resumes his singalong, and drives off under a cloudy, afternoon sky.
The new video appears to be part of a new trend of openness for Moneybagg Yo, who penned a personal letter to his fans earlier this month, sharing heartfelt truths about love and loss. Still, the Memphis megastar is in no danger of becoming a hippie. Just yesterday (the same day as his T-Swift revelation), he dropped the “Ocean Spray,” an ice-cold Hard to Love cut, along with a BenMarc video treatment. Watch it below.
Hard to Love, originally slated for a May 26 release, is now scheduled to arrive next Friday, June 2. Taylor Swift has not yet publicly thanked Moneybagg Yo for his generosity.
