A Love Letter to You 4 (2019)

A Love Letter to You 4 (often abbreviated as ALLTY4) is the fourth commercial mixtape by American rapper Trippie Redd. It is also the fourth installment in the A Love Letter to You mixtape series. It was released on November 22, 2019, by TenThousand Projects and Caroline Distribution. The project features guest appearances from Lil Mosey, Juice Wrld, YNW Melly, Chris King, Quan'ta, YoungBoy Never Broke Again, Smokepurpp, Tory Lanez, DaBaby, Lil Yachty, Pi'erre Bourne, Youv Dee, Lil Wop, and Mariah the Scientist. The deluxe edition was released on February 21, 2020, featuring additional guest appearances from Chance the Rapper, Russ, Young Thug, Lil Tecca, Lil Durk, G Herbo, and SahBabii. Production was primarily handled by Pi'erre Bourne, Nick Mira, Taz Taylor, and Igor Mamet, among others.

A Love Letter to You 4 sees Trippie Redd delve further into hip hop and emo rap. One critic wrote: "Tireless and always emotionally charged, Trippie Redd's amalgamous approach to rap resulted in a web of trap beats, emo acoustic guitar lines, and lyrics sung in a tormented croon." Another opined that, in view of Redd's recent break-up with girlfriend Coi Leray, A Love Letter to You 4 is "about an unquantifiable catharsis". The album was supported by five singles: "Love Me More", "Death", "Who Needs Love", "Yell Oh" and "The Way". The record project was a massive commercial success, debuting at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart with 104,000 first-week album-equivalent units. It was also well-received by critics, who highlighted the project's sonic diversity. On October 8, 2020, A Love Letter to You 4 was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). On July 21, 2021, the mixtape's certification was upgraded to Platinum. The 5-year anniversary edition of the album was released in November 2024.

Background

A Love Letter to You 4 was announced by Redd in an Instagram on from August 31, 2019. It serves as the fourth installment in the A Love Letter to You mixtape series. The project came into existence after Trippie Redd's break-up with Coi Leray, and was released on November 22, 2019.

On November 25, 2019, Trippie teased the deluxe edition of the mixtape, stating that it would include the previously released track "TR666" (with Swae Lee) and the previously teased track "Hell Rain" (featuring Lil Wayne and HoodyBaby), and two more new songs. However, neither of these tracks appeared on the officially released version; rather, they both appeared on Pegasus (2020). The deluxe edition of A Love Letter to You 4 was released on February 21, 2020 and includes 8 bonus tracks. Erika Marie of HotNewHipHop noted that the "songs were added to the beginning of the album so listeners can ease into the new music right away." The 5-year anniversary edition was released on November 22, 2024 with the tracklist rearranged.

Songs

Overview

Of the project's organisation, Redd stated in an interview with Lyrical Lemonade: "I studied the way I put all of my projects together and that's how I came up with the concept for this album. To make it be one section about love, one section is alternative rock, one section is rap." Interviewed by Music Connection, Redd said that "basically the concept behind this mixtape is all aspects of love. The grunginess and the heart and the music together make it a work of art. It makes it sound like an album." Redd also used memes in some of the songs on the project, and makes frequent reference to popular culture, and elements of his childhood (including the Grinch and The Jungle Book).

Standard edition

Tracks 1–7

The opening track, "Leray", begins with a spoken-word message to his ex-girlfriend Coi Leray over an acoustic guitar instrumental. AllMusic described the song as "the scathing takedown of an ex"; similarly, Afterglow called it "practically a diss track to his ex-girlfriend". The second track (and third single), "Who Needs Love", was previewed by Trippie Redd in an Instagram post on September 1, 2019, one day after the album's announcement. Thematically, the song concerns Redd's desire to refrain from chasing love after his past relationships. In the third song, "Love Sick", Redd asks his significant other to forget that he ever professed his love for her. Music Feeds described "Love Sick" as "throwback '90s R&B – K-Ci & JoJo for the Bryson Tiller gen." The album's fourth song and lead single, "Love Me More", details a relationship that Redd is unsatisfied with. Its refrain conveys his wish that his partner would love and appreciate him more. The song was originally due to appear on Internet Money's B4 the Storm, but Taz Taylor gave the song back to Redd for A Love Letter to You 4. Niles West News described the sequence of tracks 2-4 as "showing denial, bargaining, and redirected hope."