Draft:Five Forever
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| Five Forever | ||||
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| Mixtape by | ||||
| Released | May 30, 2025 | |||
| Length | 31:24 | |||
| Label |
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| Producer |
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| PlaqueBoyMax chronology | ||||
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Five Forever is the debut mixtape by the American online streamer, record producer, and rapper PlaqueBoyMax. It was released through 5$TAR, Field Trip Recordings, and Capitol Records on May 30, 2025. The mixtape contains a total of 13 tracks and was followed by a deluxe version, which featured four new tracks. The deluxe was released on June 20, 2025.
Background and recording
[edit]Five Forever was originally planned to drop at the end of his 100-day stream challenge that started in May 2024 and lasted through August 2024. Due to Max’s drive to stream, the album was delayed for several months, and Max planned for the album to be released in 2025. The album has been in the works since 2023, as stated by Max in recent streams.
On March 27, Lyrical Lemonade officially announced that Max would be the first streamer to have his own set at Summer Smash on June 21, 2025.[1]
Max branded the album with the color pink, the color he’s associated with his community and brand 5$TAR, since he formulated the community in 2021. In late April, Max would repeat the slogan “#pinkallmay” across social media. At 5:55 P.M. on May 1st, 2025, Max would post a snippet of a music video to the project. With the release date blurred.[2]
In late May, news came out that Max would sign to Field Trip Recordings alongside artists like Yeat and BNYX®, making Five Forever his first studio album release.[3] On May 27, 2025, Max would announce on X that the album would come out on May 30, 2025.[4]
Composition
[edit]Overview
[edit]Five Forever sees Max showcase raw honesty, blending his redefined sound, fusing underground trap with psychedelic and cloud rap. In terms of production, Max gravitates towards ethereal, lo-fi, and psychedelic beats, which "compliments his mellow energy, allowing his words to breathe", according to Bryson "Boom" Paul, of HotNewHipHop.[5] The album is driven by hedonistic ethos, seeing the young rapper rap about fashion, women, sex, emotional disconnect, identity, nightlife, and flaunting his success.[6][7] Mano Sundaresan of Pitchfork wrote "The young Twitch streamer tries to become a rapper using the innate talent and creative vision of a Twitch streamer." He also wrote how the album sees Max flip through different trending styles, "like he's a character from GTA, flipping through fits." Sundaresan also wrote "He’s Ken Carson on “Sevan,” deep-voiced Carti on “Yacht,” Summrs on “Tank Davis.” None of it is remotely inspiring; none of it sticks to your brain. “Rockstar lifestyle, rockstar lifestyle, she tryna get drunk, she tryna get piped down,” he moans on “Rockstar,” lyrics you might find typed out by a fan in the YouTube comments of a Yeat type beat."[8]
Songs
[edit]The closing track of the album, "Casper", sees Max rap about leaving, and going "ghost", similar to that of the fictional character, Casper. RapReviews' Steve "Flash" Juon wrote how one of the lines from the track, Everything I touch is gold, got the Midas touch.” is "a redundant bar", and sees Max just become a "carbon copy of today’s trends in rap to accompany them."[9]
"SOS" sees Max rap about his success not just as an online streamer, but as a rapper as well, where on the track, he raps about how " He flies first class everywhere. He wears the best drip, hits the finest chicks, and loves flaunting his success.", according to Steve Juon.[10]
Critical Reception
[edit]| Publication | Rating |
|---|---|
| RapReviews | 5/10[11] |
| Pitchfork | 3.9/10[12] |
Unfortunately, Five Forever did not receive a well-enough reception, with multiple reviewers calling the album "boring", or "redundant", of what's already said. According to RapReviews' Steve Juon, he wrote how he's "completely bored" by this album. On top of the bold statement, Juon also wrote, "He offers the most generic monotonous tropes of modern rap music he possibly can." Juon claims how he wants Max to achieve success and enjoyment in his life, but he doesn't want him to sing-rap about it, writing how the album misses substance to it, with him writing, "For 30 minutes he distills the essence of every successful AutoTune rapper until we reach a pure concentrate that’s syrupy to the touch and so sweet a drop on the tip of a syringe would turn two gallons of water into Kool-Aid. It’s pure candy. There’s no substance to it at all." He wrote how the album will perform well due to his name within the industry, but outside of that, it lacks any uniqueness or interesting factors; it's the "same ol' shit", according to Juon. Due to his discontent with the album, he gave it a five out of ten, giving the music a five, as well as the lyricism a five out of ten.[13]
Mano Sundaresan of Pitchfork wrote how the album isn't original at all, with him taking aspects from different rappers and blending them into his own tracks. Sundaresan also writes how "uninterested" he sounds on his own tracks; he wrote that "Max sounds more like he’s falling asleep." Despite facing heavy criticism for his lyrics, Sundaresan wrote how Max has a good hearing for beat selections, with him writing, "He’s got a good ear for beats, but Max could tap into his network of producers even more." He wrote how the most fun track on the album is "Paid For", despite its bounce, Max failed to see it through successfully, with Sundaresan writing, "is the rambunctious bounce of 'Paid For,” but, then again, how do you mess up a bounce track? Instead of channeling the spontaneity and creative bursts of his streams, Five Forever drifts into the miserable grey waters of music that you wouldn’t turn off, but you would probably never turn on."[14]
Commercial performance
[edit]Despite its negative feedback, it was an immediate hit amongst fans, with the album charting at #1 on the Apple Hip-Hop charts on Friday. Outside of it's only chart, Five Forever only did 6,700 units during its first week.[15]
Release Five Forever Deluxe
[edit]On the Friday of June 22, 2025, Max would follow through with the release of his deluxe album, which featured four more highly anticipated tracks.[16]
Track listing
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "2025 Summer Smash lineup: Young Thug, Future, Don Toliver & Yeat". Billboard. Billboard. Retrieved September 26, 2025.
- ^ "plaqueboymax". X. Retrieved September 26, 2025.
- ^ "Plaqueboymax Deal With Field Trip Recordings & Capitol Records". Billboard Pro. Billboard. Retrieved September 26, 2025.
- ^ "Tweet by plaqueboymax". X. Retrieved September 26, 2025.
- ^ Paul, Bryson “Boom” (June 1, 2025). "PlaqueBoyMax Wastes No Time Following "Atlanta" With Formal Introduction In "Five Forever"". HotNewHipHop. Retrieved September 26, 2025.
- ^ Juon, Steve “Flash” (June 10, 2025). "PlaqueBoyMax :: Five Forever". RapReviews. Retrieved September 26, 2025.
- ^ Paul, Bryson “Boom” (June 1, 2025). "PlaqueBoyMax Wastes No Time Following "Atlanta" With Formal Introduction In "Five Forever"". HotNewHipHop. Retrieved September 26, 2025.
- ^ Sundaresan, Mano (June 5, 2025). "PlaqueBoyMax: Five Forever Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved September 26, 2025.
- ^ Juon, Steve “Flash” (June 10, 2025). "PlaqueBoyMax :: Five Forever". RapReviews. Retrieved September 26, 2025.
- ^ Juon, Steve “Flash” (June 10, 2025). "PlaqueBoyMax :: Five Forever". RapReviews. Retrieved September 26, 2025.
- ^ Juon, Steve “Flash” (June 2025). "PlaqueBoyMax :: Five Forever". RapReviews. Retrieved September 26, 2025.
- ^ Sundaresan, Mano (June 5, 2025). "PlaqueBoyMax: Five Forever Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved September 26, 2025.
- ^ Juon, Steve “Flash” (June 2025). "PlaqueBoyMax :: Five Forever". RapReviews. Retrieved September 26, 2025.
- ^ Sundaresan, Mano (June 5, 2025). "PlaqueBoyMax: Five Forever Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved September 26, 2025.
- ^ PlaqueReport. "PlaqueBoyMax's 'Five Forever' mixtape review". X. Retrieved September 26, 2025.
- ^ Paul, Bryson “Boom” (June 22, 2025). "PlaqueBoyMax Takes His Victory Lap With "Five Forever (Deluxe)" Debut". HotNewHipHop. Retrieved September 26, 2025.