The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is the music you need, right now.
Mariah The Scientist‘s second album Ry Ry World looked to broaden the scope of her content, positioning her in a world that operates under her discretion. While her first effort, 2019’s Master, zoomed in on her love life, the failures of her partners, and her forever-changing outlook on the wide realm of relationships, Ry Ry World zooms out to deliver a panoramic view of Mariah’s mind to illuminate her worldview.
Through ten songs and a pair of guest features from fellow ATLiens Young Thug and Lil Baby, Mariah drops the curtain that stood in front of Ry Ry World. She reveals three major things that keep it on its axis: ferocity, feistiness, and a fearless approach to it all. Mariah is uninterested in the things that occur in her orbit that don’t concern her. Her peaceful and easy-going voice creates a path that traverses the world uninterrupted as it evades obstacles or barrels through them unfazed.
On “Walked In,” one of the more upbeat records on the project featuring Young Thug, Mariah walks with her head held high and the belief that not only what’s meant for her will come to her. “Yes sir, tonight we falling in love / Want none of that cappin’ ’bout booin’ up,” she sings before adding later, “Looked in his eyes and asked him ‘What you tryna do?’” A straightforward approach is the first step towards saving time and energy, especially when the result relies on the actions of another party. Whether through heartwrenching questions to a man about a woman he left Mariah for on “All For Me” or the ravaging thoughts behind heartbreak and her sinister responses to it on “Revenge,” the Atlanta singer has no problem shooting an arrow of havoc into her problems to kill them off for good.
However, the singer is not against a good fight whenever it’s needed. She raises her guard and creates distance between herself and an unfaithful lover on “Aura” through dreamy production and contemplation of the what-ifs and perfect world scenarios. “2 You” and “Maybe” also grapple with the uncertainty that results from failed bouts with love. “Maybe we should escape / Maybe I should’ve stayed,” she sings on “Maybe.” “Maybe we should’ve ran away / Maybe I should’ve prayed.” What Mariah must come to terms with is maybe things aren’t meant to be no matter what she could’ve done.
Mariah’s fearless approach to everything in her life is what makes Ry Ry World so unique and captivating. Factor in her ferocity and feistiness and it becomes evident that the singer strives to have her way. She lays her cards on the table with her heart beside it on “Always N Forever” with Lil Baby declaring, “I’ll be your woman always.” Even when it’s time to let go, like it is on “RIP,” Mariah drops the hand of her partner knowing that she fought as hard as she could. “And if I told you, ‘The world is yours’ / You’d just wanna go to Mars,” she admits. “But I cannot sell my soul to prove, it should’ve been ours.”
One can imagine that if Ry Ry World is not a place that Mariah The Scientist traverses by herself, it’s one filled with people who might, or should at least, strive to live more like the singer. The singer proudly wears her heart on her sleeve because it’s big enough to take on whatever damage the world might inflict on it. So even with an arrow in her back and through her heart as the album cover depicts, Mariah The Scientist won’t ever change her ways because Ry Ry World continues to spin as long as she stays true to herself.
Ry Ry World is out now via RCA Records. Get it here.
