Released: 2024
“Tennessee” by Kevin Abstract is a fresh exploration of self-love, desire, and relationship dynamics where the focus is on being appreciated entirely and without conditions. Kevin and Lil Nas X share vivid accounts of a relationship that’s intimate, uninhibited, free of past baggage, and filled with rich imagery and clever wordplay.
Kevin starts the song with “Never been somewhere like this, never met someone like him” asserting a sense of novelty and excitement in his current relationship, an element not seen before. He goes on “I’m the God of my life like a Sim, walk around this bitch with a limp”, here he’s claiming his control over his life like in the game ‘The Sims’, and the following sentence might be a nod to his audacious character.
The second part of the verse: “Picky eater, he like rice, huh, pussy lover, that my vice, uh” shows Kevin openly expressing his sexual preferences. The line “He Paul Atreides on spice, but he only listen to Latto, huh” references the main character from Dune, implying his lover is visionary and not bound by norms, while also expressing their shared love for the rapper Latto.
In the hook “Meet him out in Tennessee, uh; He don’t know his ancestry, uh” Tennessee might be a metaphor for an unknown or new emotional state. The ignorance about his ancestry suggests a detachment from the past, which Kevin finds attractive.
Throughout the song, both Kevin and Lil Nas X celebrate the present moment and express a desire to be loved in their entirety “He loves me for me, me, for me, all of me”, reinforcing the theme of uninhibited, unconditional love. Kevin further adds, “I don’t wanna know past lovers and relations; I just wanna go to the bedroom, get you levitatin'” implying the focus of their relationship is on the present intimacy as opposed to past attachments.
In summary, “Tennessee” is wildly modern in its explicit take on relationships and self-acceptance. Here, in the ever-evolving hip-hop landscape, Kevin Abstract and Lil Nas X are pushing boundaries, touching on themes of sexuality, love, desire, all while highlighting the importance of being loved and accepted as one is.
