In late December 2020, Pennsylvania MC Lil Skies was fed up. He posted a note to an Instagram story to clarify something for his followers: “Y’all gotta stop wishing i was the same person & made the same music,” it read. “I can’t be that same person i was three years ago. my life on a whole other type of time now, this be my last time addressing this.” That last part wasn’t entirely true, though, because roughly a month later, Skies would double down on just how far he’s come as a person and an artist with Unbothered.
To Skies’ credit, the album is a purposeful step away from the somber crooning of early hits like “Red Roses” and “Nowadays.” He hasn’t abandoned the energy of those songs altogether (see “Red Wine & Jodeci” or “Sky High”), but Unbothered in particular is built mostly on two defining principles: stunting on doubters (“Take 5,” “Dead Broke,” “Trust Nobody”) and enjoying the life Skies has made for himself (“Havin My Way,” “Ok,” “On Sight”). In all, it’s a project that won’t surprise fans of more recent releases like “Lightbeam” or “Bad Girls,” but one we’ll surely be able to use in the future to chart the MC’s evolution.