Father John Misty reacts to Kendrick Lamar dropping surprise album the same day as him: “furiously scribbling my seeming response”
The pair have released albums in the same year for some time now
by Emma Wilkes · NMEFather John Misty has had his say on Kendrick Lamar surprise releasing his new album ‘GNX’ the same day as he dropped his new album ‘Mahashmashana’.
The Compton rapper posted a link to the album on his social media pages at 5pm UK time on Friday (November 22), with the 12-track, 44-minute release now on all major music streaming platforms.
It is Lamar’s sixth studio album and first since 2022’s ‘Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers’, and features production from Jack Antonoff, Kamasi Washington, Mustard, Terrace Martin and Sounwave. It also includes uncredited guest vocals from SZA.
The album does not include ‘Not Like Us’ or any of the other tracks that arrived earlier this year as part of Kendrick’s high-profile beef with Drake.
Now, Father John Misty has joked about his own new album coming into competition with Lamar’s. He wrote on X: “not now I’m furiously scribbling my seeming response to”.
When a fan commented, “I’m so sorry that you happened to drop on the worst possible day to drop a new album,” Misty pointed out that this is the fifth time both musicians have dropped albums in the same year – in fact, the trend has been going for almost as long as Lamar has been releasing albums.
“it’s okay only other times it’s happened was 2012, 2015, 2017 and 2022,” he wrote.
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In a four-star review of ‘Mahashmashana’, NME wrote: “The lush ‘Mahashmashana’ doesn’t quite mainline the zeitgeist in the same way that ‘Honeybear’ and ‘Pure Comedy’ did. Then again, there’s something to be said, in 2024, for logging off in favour of self-reflection. On the swooning ‘Mental Health’, Misty rejects the hive mind, concluding that his own particular “insanity” is “indispensable”. Whoever the folk he is underneath that beard, the good Father can’t help but share words of wisdom.
He will also embark on a UK and European tour in 2025, including a huge show at the Royal Albert Hall.
Tickets are on sale now – you’ll be able to buy yours here (UK) and you can check out the full list of dates below.
Father John Misty’s 2025 European and UK tour dates are:
APRIL
03 – Sentrum Scene, Oslo, Norway
04 – Fållan, Stockholm, Sweden
05 – Copenhagen Opera House, Copenhagen, Denmark
06 – Huxleys Neue Welt, Berlin, Germany
08 – La Cigale, Paris, France
09 – Ancienne Belgique, Brussels, Belgium
10 – TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht, Netherlands
12 – Usher Hall, Edinburgh, UK
13 – O2 Apollo, Manchester, UK
14 – Brighton Dome, Brighton, UK
15 – Royal Albert Hall, London, UK