Skins (2018)

Skins (stylized in all caps) is the third studio album by American rapper XXXTentacion. It was posthumously released on December 7, 2018, through Bad Vibes Forever and Empire Distribution. It is one of the projects that XXXTentacion worked on before his death, and was released posthumously. The album features guest appearances from Travis Barker of Blink-182 and Kanye West. The album's theme sees XXXTentacion discuss heartbreak and mental turmoil. Genres on the album draw influence from lo-fi, nu metal, screamo, emo, punk rock, ambient, trap and acoustic. Skins was leaked to the internet three days before its official release date.

The album's lead and only single, "BAD!", reached number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100. Although the album received mixed reviews from critics, with criticism aimed at the album's short length and "unfinished" nature, it was a commercial success, debuting at number one on the US Billboard 200, making it XXXTentacion's second US number-one album. It sold 132,000 album-equivalent units in its first week in the US, of which 52,000 were pure album sales, and has since been certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales of 500,000 units in the US.

Background

After the release of the EP A Ghetto Christmas Carol in December 2017, XXXTentacion announced he was preparing three new albums and eventually announced the titles of the albums as Bad Vibes Forever, SKINS, and ?. XXXTentacion's second studio album ? was released in March 2018. XXXTentacion was murdered in June 2018 before the albums Bad Vibes Forever and Skins could be released.

It was posted temporarily on XXXTentacion's Instagram after his death that the album would be "super short. It's literally gonna be a minute", but several publications reported that the album may appear in unfinished form. Some of the details about the album were shown when an iTunes Store link became active for a period of time on November 7 before being taken down; the page showed that the album had 10 tracks and was a total of 17 minutes long. The page was later reinstated. The only track title shown is that of "BAD!" DJ Scheme, XXXTentacion’s official DJ, stated that Skins will not be XXXTentacion's final posthumous album release.

In September 2018, American rapper and record producer Kanye West privately previewed a song from his upcoming album Yandhi that featured posthumous vocals by XXXTentacion. On November 23, 2018, a snippet of an XXXTentacion song titled "One Minute" that featured West leaked. "One Minute" was later confirmed when the official track listing was revealed on December 3, 2018.

Composition and lyrics

Scott Glaysher of XXL wrote, "SKINS" picks up right where ? left off: It's a chaotic medley of rock and rap that leaves more questions than answers." The album's theme sees XXXTentacion discuss heartbreak and mental turmoil. Genres on the album draw influence from lo-fi, emo, screamo, punk rock, nu metal, ambient, trap and acoustic. Like XXXTentacion's previous albums, ? features piano chords and acoustic guitar, but also features use of electric guitar riffs.

Regarding the album's genre, Glaysher wrote, "Props are due to XXXTentacion for trying to tackle all these genres, yet despite the late artist's versatility, his third album feels a bit skeletal. The songs are short, not mixed particularly well and—perhaps due to his untimely passing—feel unfinished. Had X been around to see this album all the way through and hash out some of its rushed wrinkles, it has the potential to have been his best project yet. But as it sits right now, Skins renders itself another opportunity for XXXTentacion's cult-like following to continue enjoying new music".

Promotion

While XXXTentacion had sung a line of "BAD!" and talked about SKINS on Instagram prior to his death, the state of the album was unconfirmed after his death until his team posted on Twitter that further details would be announced on November 9. The pre-order became available shortly after "Bad!" was released.

Critical reception

At Metacritic, which assigns a rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 44, based on 9 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

The Independent described the album as "another fiery blast of catharsis, a largely metaphor-free space where depression isn't hinted at poetically but invited to throw down". Writing for XXL, Glaysher stated "it's a chaotic medley of rock and rap that leaves more questions than answers." Slant Magazine stated "even the songs where Onfroy can be heard for more than a few seconds feel more like demos than finished tracks—an effect that can be haunting, as on the spare, acoustic guitar-driven "Difference (Interlude)" and "What Are You So Afraid Of"."