A Quick Breakdown Of Save Me By Future: A Forgotten Masterpiece

     Save Me is a 7 track EP released by Future on June 7th, 2019. After releasing The WIZRD in the middle of January, Future announced Save Me on June 5th, just two days prior  to release. Future has consistently garnered chart-topping albums on the Billboard since his breakout hit iconic trap album DS2 in 2015. With this in mind, why did Save Me chart at five and only sell 42,000 units in it's first week? Future consistently gets up into somewhere around 100 thousand. It certainly isn't because it is lacking in any regards; this is some of Future's greatest work. In some part, it must be due to the little amounts of marketing and hype it had. Future has become a staple of "misogynistic trap", but this EP mostly strays away from that. Maybe listeners have gotten so used to that that they were turned off by this difference. Me? No way. This album is fantastic throughout its short run time of 20 minutes and 14 seconds. If this was a fully fleshed out album with the same themes and feel throughout and had more marketing, Save Me would not be talked like it is now. It would not be seen as a "sleeper", but rather in his top-tier right alongside DS2. Possibly in the realms of emo-trap like Goodbye and Good Riddance by Juice WRLD, 17 by XXXtentacion, or Luv Is Rage 2 by Lil Uzi Vert (these aren't what I think are specifically good albums, they just had a big impact. I despise anything X related, but 17 really propelled the genre forward). Here's a breakdown of the EP and what is so different and beautiful about it.

The Cover

    Before even getting in to the actual music, the cover art starts off the story. The girl on the cover is important to how Future is trying to convey himself and the recurring themes throughout the whole project. The girl depicted is Babette "Babsi" Döge, the youngest documented victim of a drug overdose in Germany in 1977 at the age of 14 to heroin. This got public attention from a book titled "Wir Kinder Vom Bahnhof Zoo" (something along the lines of "Children From Station Zoo" in English), being an autobiography of a teenage girl suffering from drug addiction. It was one of the first books in Germany to really delve into the topic of drug abuse of teenagers and is still used in schools to this day.

    What does this have to do with Future? Well, most of it is seen in the actual music, but we can already make inferences. Future is a known drug addict; consistently talking about codeine, xanax (which will be seen in the intro to this album), and many others. For god's sake, he has two albums (Dirty Sprite and DS2) named after lean and an album with Juice WRLD titled WRLD on Drugs. This man is a drug fiend. We know this. We will find out more about it and his fight throughout the seven songs on this EP. 

XanaX Damage

    Just by the title alone, Future knows what he is doing to himself. He knows that the xanax he takes are damaging him, physically and mentally. Throughout the song (which unfortunately only clocks in at one minute and 44 seconds), Future goes from a deep and dark chorus to lighter more pleading vocals. The whole EP's vocals are reminiscent of his 2017 album HNDRXX. You can tell just in his voice how he needs help, especially in the line where he name drops the album title: "Your arms around me come and save me". The song describes his troubled relationship with women and how the xanax pills have an affect on it. He starts off by saying he's not himself when the sun's out, but when he takes a xanax, it's almost as if it becomes night and he can finally connect with her. He can only feel these emotions for the woman he loves when he is intoxicated, also seen with the lyrics "I only call you when I'm faded" and "When I'm drunk and I'm down and depressed | I just need to confess to you". He struggles with his feelings for this girl. He believes that he ruins everything when they are together alone, he's not at his best when he's around her even saying he feels depressed, but ultimately, he could not exist without her. This is just the beginning of Future crying out for help and expressing how he really feels.

St. Lucia

    St. Lucia is the first of only two songs that take his typical approach: an almost misogynistic style of trap. St. Lucia is an actual place; an island in the Caribbean Sea famous for its views and attractions to tourists. It's almost as if Future is saying he himself lives a lavish life akin to how St. Lucia is viewed lavishly with him even pronouncing that "I'm gettin cocky". He boasts about all the money he has and all the girls he can get; saying he has a Chinese girl that's a 10 and even comparing himself to Tommy Lee who married Playboy bunny Pamela Anderson. Future is acting like he always does, that he fucks his fans who want it so bad that they will do it in a van, and he knows that he will never see her again. That's just how he lives. Future thinks that even when the girl finds out he cheats on her, she'll still "feed him grapes". He knows this isn't a good thing, so he turns to a pastor. Pastors are supposed to be holy, be good, but he finds out that this pastor is also having an affair. Because of this, Future does not care anymore. If someone who is seen as holy is doing the same thing, then why can't he be seen in the same light? This shows the toxicity that Future possesses and wants to stop. This song contrasts to most of the rest of the EP. To me, Future may possibly be putting these songs in because him being vulnerable is hard for him to do. He must mask his true feelings by adding this in, possibly throwing the listener off.

Please Tell Me

    Although Future continues to brag about his expensive lifestyle, it is now in a different sense. Then, he was just doing it because he can and it makes him feel like he is better than others. On Please Tell Me, Future wants to spoil his girl. He realizes that he can do so much more with all the money he has made and all the fame that has come his way. He is begging this woman to let him shower her with expensive items like watches, cars, and diamonds. Future wants to give her a reason to stay. Described on XanaX Damage is how he didn't believe that he was good enough for anyone, so he must give material worth in replace. As he says: "And all I really want is for you to hold me down". It comes off as him being selfish; he is only doing this so he feels better, not for her. Future wants her to see these material things to come off as one of a kind, that no one else could have given her this, Future deserves all of the credit, it's all about him. He's trying to make himself better, but he still isn't quite there with his intentions coming off as selfish. 

Shotgun

    Even before getting into the actual track, there are sad undertones. This was one of the final times Future worked with audio engineer Seth Firkins, who passed away in his sleep on September 23rd of 2017. He had previously worked with Future on Pluto 3D, his feature on Rihanna's song Loveeeeeee Song, and his back to back albums FUTURE and HNDRXX among others. In this, Future starts to recognize that maybe she does want to ride with him, take the passenger seat in his life. At the end of the second verse, Future realizes that she could have quit on him, but yet she is still there, she didn't give up on him. This is a song that will hit you no matter what type of mood you are in. The vocals, lyrics, and beat on the chorus really take you to another level.

Government Official

    Government Official is the other song that really strays from the main theme of this EP. Yet another typical Future song where he raps about girls, money, and drugs. This continues for most of the song, keeping the feeling that this is just another Future trap song that has nothing to do with the supposed theme of this EP, until the end. I'll start with just putting the whole verse here then explain it as a whole: "When I drink codeine, I get in my feelings | All I wanna see you in the same place as I'm in | I like takin' ecstasy, it made me a millionaire | It made me get emotional with the bitches". This falls directly in line with everything. Future once again is showing that the only way he can talk about himself for real is when he is drinking codeine, taking a xanax, or abusing any other type of drug. He wants someone he can talk to and be with, but the only way he can get himself to do that is by taking more and more drugs and getting more and more intoxicated, freeing himself up to talk about his emotions. This song made me feel like it could have been on The WIZRD, but I still think being on Save Me is a good place for it to be because of that last verse. 

Extra

    The song starts off with Future really taking a look into how he views women and how he is to them, stating "Need a big booty bitch to fall in love with me | I can make it hard for you to fall in love with me". He goes for the physically appealing women, AKA the ones with big booties, but deep down he knows that he is not right and is ultimately the reason why he is not truly loved; he makes it hard for them to fall in love with him. His girl criticizes him for his lavish lifestyle, calling all he does extra (hence the song name). With a post-chorus done by FreeBandz labelmate FXXXXY (who passed away due to complications during a routine medical procedure at the age of 25 in September of 2020), Future is yet again showing that he needs the drugs and alcohol to help him cope. He keeps going back in order to make the pain subside. In the second verse, Future finds out that this girl has a new man. He keeps calling her and hasn't felt the same since she left him for someone else. To forget about her, he resorts to calling her a hoe and going out to clubs to have one night stands. Future continues to spiral down a bad road and cannot find the right way to deal with pain.

Love Thy Enemies

    Personally, my favorite Future song of all time. He starts with a metaphor in the refrain: "Roses, roses I sent, they forever died, oh | Chosen, frozen, livin' in paradise, woah". The roses represent the love he gives, but yet it is not reciprocated by anyone. Throughout the only verse, Future has a lot to look back on in his life. He needs her love in order for him to live, but yet she doesn't care how he feels. How is he supposed to tell his children about this, he says. Future is trying to find the words for how he feels, but he does not know how to do it without looking stupid. The line ends. The beat continues. Future coughs. FXXXXY himself said that that cough was not originally intended to be put in the song. Future had coughed while recording, but FXXXXY told him to keep it because "It’s beautiful. It’s pain. It’s honesty. Let it be natural. And he trusted me and kept it". The cough also resembles how he is still abusing drugs. The cough was because he continues to smoke weed to numb the pain, with the smoke going into his lungs causing him to cough. He returns to say that he is being treated like property; nobody cares about his feelings or who he really is. He's not Nayvadius Wilburn anymore; he is Future: the trap and mumble rap icon who will fuck your bitch and leave her. The song is filled with many biblical references, such as how he believes that he needs angels to help him recover and find who he can really trust in life through these breakups, revelations, complications, and obligations. He ends the song, and the EP, by referencing a bible verse by saying "Love thy enemy | Walk through the valley of the shadow of death". Future realizes that all this pain he has endured is what you must do in order to find true happiness, or to make it into heaven in regards to the bible verse. The song ends with one last guitar note.

Conclusion

    Save Me took a dive into how Future really feels about his life. At least that is what I think. This whole article is strictly based on my opinion. Maybe there is no theme. Future really isn't trying to say anything; it's just music. Maybe I'm in way over myself. The only person who really knows is Future himself. I don't believe that he did this for no reason. This wasn't too long after his collaboration with Juice WRLD. During that time, Juice said he looked up to him. He took up drugs like xanax and lean because of him. This killed Future. He didn't want to be the reason why others took up these bad habits. He felt guilty and knew Juice had so much potential, which was eventually cut short just under a half a year after the release of this EP. Maybe Future really wanted to show to the world that he really wanted to stop his self-destructive and hurtful ways. He didn't want other people to end up doing all the wrong things he had done. Ultimately, this EP felt to me like Future wanted to experiment some more and really wanted to get his feelings out one way or another and take a long hard look at his life and what he has done. I don't base an artist's likability on if he changes or not; I just base it on whether the music sounds good or not. Save Me spoke to me and is some of the greatest music I have listened to. If you're a fan of Future or not, I highly suggest at least taking one listen from front to back, especially since it is only just barely over 20 minutes long. Save Me will most likely go down as an under-appreciated work of music, but nonetheless, it will still leave a mark on those who actually do listen to it.