https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXT4H7-n40E
Ever the epitome of “carefree black boy,” Lil Uzi Vert’s latest appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert was no deviation from his norm. Lil Uzi Vert performed “The Way Life Goes” from his debut studio album Luv Is Rage 2, swaying from side to side, standing still, or walking slowly around the stage in the most nonchalant manner, only barely more animated than he is on red carpet interviews or other television appearances. In a stark contrast from his usual performances, though, the rapper’s set design included a coffin, complete with vigil candles, laying on the floor behind him.
Uzi didn’t acknowledge the morbid addition to his performance by name, and in fact, he didn’t really look at the casket at all. The reason why it was included on stage is left up to the audience, perhaps as a reference to death being the end result to life, an inevitable “way that life goes,” or a reference to Uzi’s line in the song that mentions a girl he was intimate with who he wants to cut ties with (“If she ever call my phone you know I gotta dead her”)…so maybe, like, she called him and that wasn’t a metaphor?
Funeral-ready in his all-black outfit, Uzi sang the hook to the song, “I know it hurts sometimes but you’ll get over it/You’ll find another life to live/I swear that you’ll get over it,” which, in a very Uzi way, kind of serves as an explanation for why he’s so chill – dude is letting life roll of his back and enjoying the view from where he is in his career and his 23-year-old life. This is a guy who wore black Hot Topic-core pants and a sweatshirt on the red carpet at the Grammys. He’s clearly enjoying the fame and making music, and this performance showcased that. If some were to mistake his demeanor for emo or depressed (as many of his counterparts are portraying in their music), that notion would be quelled by the big smile he gave Colbert as the audience applauded his performance, showing everyone his career is nowhere close to dead.
