Latto really should be a bigger star.
That’s not to say she isn’t a fairly big star. Her hit song “Big Energy” peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed on the chart for just a week shy of a full year. Just seven months after it dropped off, she scored her first No. 1 with BTS member Jung Kook on his 2023 solo song, “Seven.”
But “Put It On Da Floor Again,” Latto’s 2023 collaboration with Cardi B — an A-1, certified megastar, to paint the contrast — didn’t crack the top ten, peaking at No. 13 on the Hot 100. To be sure, that’s still incredibly good and difficult to do. But, not to put too fine a point on things, Latto only has three songs that have even charted within the top half of the chart. This is despite dropping a pretty consistent run of absolute bangers including, but not limited to: “B*tch From Da Souf” (the first “grown-up” song I heard from Latto, which made me a fan), “Sunshine,” “Wheelie,” “Lottery,” “Sunday Service,” and most recently, “Big Mama.”
The Uproxx cover star is, for my money, one of the top mainstream rappers out now, and deserves to be ranked alongside ubiquitous culture connectors like Cardi, Megan Thee Stallion, and yes, all three women’s ostensible nemesis, Nicki Minaj. But until now, she hasn’t been, whether that’s a result of her previously unmarketable moniker, her commitment to making more rugged trap cuts than glittery pop anthems in the vein of “Big Energy,” or just bad luck at connecting with potential fans for some other, undefinable reason. The timing of her debut during a pandemic certainly didn’t help.
That could change with the release of her third album, Sugar Honey Iced Tea, which is out now via RCA Records.
A large part of that is due to the music on the album itself, which isn’t “better” than her prior output as much as it is richer, more diverse, and yet, more focused and personal (see: tracks like “Big Mama,” “Georgia Peach,” and “S/O To Me”). The rollout has leaned into Latto’s self definition as a Georgia girl, with trailers paying homage to the cult classic film ATL and tapping Dungeon Family members, and features from both rising Atlanta stars like Hunxho and Young Nudy to cultural fixtures such as Ciara (my predicted ATL Bass Renaissance may take off with their collab “Good 2 You”).
But the other thing is simply the way stars are made in the era of constant social media interaction between stars and their fans — something that Latto has grown noticeably better at in the year or so since “Big Energy” took off on the charts. The biggest stars — the Cardi Bs, the Doja Cats, the Megan Thee Stallions — are made simply by their availability online.
We know them — or at least, we feel like we know them — and we have a sense of who they are, where they come from, what they want out of life and this music thing. In Latto’s case, there was always a bit of an opaque screen there; despite growing up in the public eye via reality shows like The Rap Game and pursuing rap stardom since her tween years, it never seemed like fans were able to connect with a lifestyle or persona, despite the fact that she very rarely fronted and was always game for an interview with both legacy publications and digital mainstays.
The fans live on social media, though, and the above-mentioned A-listers are native to one app or another, arguing with haters on Twitter or streaming live chats on Instagram even as they worked to build their platforms. It seemed that, until very recently, Latto just didn’t seem all that enthused to put that much of her life on display. Over the past year, she had a high-profile tiff with Nicki Minaj and her protégé, Ice Spice, the latter of which indirectly led to the title of Latto’s album (why, yes, she does think she’s the sh*t).
Likewise, she seems to have found herself a bit on TikTok, the app of choice for folks falling into her particular demographic (she turned 25 last December). There, she shares clips from her travels, almost always accompanied by her sister, Brooklyn, who offers fans another window into Latto’s interior world. One of those clips was indirectly responsible for the battle between Latto and Ice Spice, which garnered attention without getting quite as spiteful as the one between Drake and Kendrick Lamar, leaving the door open — however slightly — for future reconciliation between the two.
That newfound vulnerability has seeped into the music, which finds Latto delving more deeply into topics like her longstanding relationship with a secret boyfriend (rumored to be fellow Atlanta rapper 21 Savage), and the trials that have arisen during her ascent through the rap world. Her storytelling skills and real-life story have begun to align and expand to encompass more of the avenues by which artists become endeared to fans — and potential fans. Sugar Honey Iced Tea has the benefit of building on all the previous work she’s already done — after all, “Big Energy” basically made Latto a household name in 2022 — and paying off on the curiosity of listeners who wondered how she would follow up. After all, everyone loves a cold glass of sweet iced tea in the summer, which is exactly what she’s offered up, along with the traditional Southern story to go with it.
Sugar Honey Iced Tea is out now via RCA Records. You can find more info here.
