Forever (Popcaan album)

Forever is the second studio album by Jamaican musician Popcaan. It was released on July 20, 2018 via Mixpak Records. Production was primarily handled by Andrew "Dre Skull" Hershey, who also served as executive producer. It features a sole guest appearance from Davido.

Forever
Studio album by Popcaan
Released	July 20, 2018 (2018-07-20)
Studio	Unruly Ent. Kingston Mixpak Studios (Brooklyn, New York City)
Genre	Dancehall reggae fusion pop
Length	56:58
Label	Mixpak Records
Producer	Dre Skull Bless Beats Markus Records Mini E5 Notnice
Popcaan chronology
Where We Come From (2014) Forever (2018) Fixtape (2020)

In the United States, the album entered the Billboard 200 at number 171 and reached number 2 on the Reggae Albums chart. Popcaan headlined Reggae Sumfest on the day of the album's release,^[1] and toured in support of the album to arenas across the United Kingdom and Canada.^[2]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	6.3[3]
Metacritic	74/100[4]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Crack Magazine	8/10[5]
HipHopDX	4/5[6]
NME	[7]
Pitchfork	6.9/10[8]
The Independent	[9]
The Observer	[10]
The Times	[11]
Tom Hull	B+()[12]

Forever was met with generally favorable reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 74 based on six reviews.^[4] The aggregator AnyDecentMusic? has the critical consensus of the album at a 6.3 out of 10, based on eight reviews.^[3] The aggregator Album of the Year assessed the critical consensus as 68 out of 100, based on 6 reviews.^[13]

Accolades

Publication	List	Rank	Ref.
Complex	The 50 Best Albums of 2018	41	[14]
Esquire	The 50 Best Albums Of 2018	*	[15]
Noisey	The 100 Best Albums of 2018	65	[16]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Silence"	Andrae Sutherland Andrew Hershey	Dre Skull	3:36
2.	"Call Me"	Sutherland Hershey	Dre Skull	3:29
3.	"Wine for Me"	Sutherland Hershey	Dre Skull	3:07
4.	"Superstar"	Sutherland Hershey	Dre Skull	2:56
5.	"Happy Now"	Sutherland Hershey	Dre Skull	3:48
6.	"Naked"	Sutherland Mark Myrie	Markus Records	2:54
7.	"High Drive (Louis Out)"	Sutherland Ainsley Morris	Notnice	2:14
8.	"Foreign Love"	Sutherland Hershey	Dre Skull	3:58
9.	"Body So Good"	Sutherland Hershey	Dre Skull	3:37
10.	"Lef My Gun"	Sutherland Hershey	Dre Skull	3:07
11.	"Mi Luv Yuh"	Sutherland Hershey	Dre Skull	2:27
12.	"Deserve It All"	Sutherland Morris	Notnice	2:21
13.	"Dun Rich" (featuring Davido)	Sutherland David Adedeji Adeleke Hershey	Dre Skull	3:23
14.	"Strong Woman"	Sutherland Morris	Notnice	3:23
15.	"Through the Storm"	Sutherland Damian Gager Gareth Keane Ryan Griffiths	Mini E5 Bless Beats	3:30
16.	"Firm and Strong"	Sutherland Hershey	Dre Skull	4:58
17.	"A Wha Suh"	Sutherland Morris	Notnice	3:25
Total length:				56:58

Personnel

• Andrae "Popcaan" Sutherland – vocals, A&R
• David Adedeji "Davido" Adeleke – vocals (track 13)
• Andrew "Dre Skull" Hershey – producer (tracks: 1-5, 8-11, 13, 16), executive producer, A&R
• Markus "Markus Records" Myrie – producer (track 6)
• Ainsley "Notnice" Morris – producer (tracks: 7, 12, 14, 17)
• Damian "Mini E5" Gager – producer (track 15)
• Gareth Keane – producer (track 15)
• Ryan Griffiths – producer (track 15)
• Mark "Exit" Goodchild – mixing (tracks: 1-8, 10-12, 14-17)
• Leslie Brathwaite – mixing (tracks: 9, 13)
• Chris Athens – mastering
• Susannah Webb – creative direction, A&R
• Phillip T. Annand – art direction
• Ivar Wigan – photography

Charts

Chart (2018)	Peak position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[17]	195
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[18]	72
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[19]	139
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[20]	100
US Billboard 200[21]	171
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[22]	21
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)[23]	6
US Reggae Albums (Billboard)[24]	2

References

1. "2018 Lineup". Reggae Sumfest. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
2. Kent-Smith, Jasmine (2 June 2018). "Popcaan is heading on a UK tour". Mixmag. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
3. "Forever by Popcaan reviews | Any Decent Music". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
4. "Critic Reviews for Forever - Metacritic". Metacritic. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
5. Needham, Jack (13 June 2018). "Popcaan – 'Forever' review". Crack Magazine. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
6. Chintaluri, Narsimha (9 August 2018). "Review: Popcaan Strives For Timelessness On "Forever"". HipHopDX. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
7. Bassett, Jordan (23 July 2018). "Popcaan – 'Forever' review". NME. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
8. Wei, Whitney (21 July 2018). "Popcaan: Forever". Pitchfork. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
9. Shepherd, Jack (18 July 2018). "Album reviews this week: Daron Malakian, Popcaan, Skeletonwitch and Punch Brothers". The Independent. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
10. Morris, Damien (22 July 2018). "Popcaan: Forever review - dreary and deracinated". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
11. Hodgkinson, Will (20 July 2018). "Pop review: Popcaan: Forever". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
12. Hull, Tom (25 February 2019). "Tom Hull: Streamnotes: 2019-02-25". tomhull.com. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
13. "Popcaan - Forever". Album of the Year. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
14. Black, Adrienne (5 December 2016). "The 50 Best Albums of 2018". Complex. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
15. Ovenden, Olivia (7 December 2018). "The 50 Best Albums Of 2018". Esquire. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
16. Corry, Kristin (5 December 2018). "The 100 Best Albums of 2018". Noisey. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
17. "Ultratop.be – Popcaan – Forever" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
18. "Popcaan Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
19. "Dutchcharts.nl – Popcaan – Forever" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
20. "Swisscharts.com – Popcaan – Forever". Hung Medien. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
21. "Popcaan Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
22. "Popcaan Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
23. "Popcaan Chart History (Heatseekers Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
24. "Popcaan Chart History (Reggae Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 6 March 2019.

External links

• Popcaan – Forever at Discogs (list of releases)