In a time when love, dating, and general rank misogyny feel pretty dismal, multi-hyphenate creative Duckwrth is turning inward. His latest LP, “All American F*ckboy,” out Spring 2025, promises to be his most personal work yet.
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“To put it simply, the album deals with a lot of the ills of patriarchy and male toxicity,” Duckwrth told PLAYBOY. Despite learning from his past mistakes in the arena of love, the rapper is honest when it comes to occasionally exhibiting the fuckboy traits he plans to rail against in his upcoming LP.
Today marks the release of his newest single, “Toxic Romantic,” one of the intense confessionals from the forthcoming release, which comes packaged in a catchy alt-punk wrapper. Duckwrth sat down with us to discuss the new album, his upcoming tour, where he sources his inspiration from, and how confronting yourself through music can be incredibly therapeutic.
PLAYBOY: So, we’ve got to talk about your new LP, “All American F*ck Boy.” Can you tell me what inspired it?
Duckwrth: I pretty much felt like I hit a ceiling with just who I was as a writer and an artist and I wanted to find a way to write something that has some purpose to it. And I felt that commitment and modern dating is pretty much in the shithole. And I’m one of the reasons it’s there. I was one of the ones just being toxic and doing all the wrong and stuff. I feel like it would be good to kind of show some of the mistakes that I’ve made in order to bring about a new conversation, and accountability with all the ills of modern dating.
PLAYBOY: Does “All American F*ckboy” feel like your most authentic work?
Duckwrth: All my works are authentic. I just feel that this is the most vulnerable I’ve ever been, and I don’t think I’ve ever gone this deep before. I have a song on my album called “Permanent Vacation,” talking about my father. The chorus is “My dad said he was on permanent vacation/He said he’s never coming back/Hawaiian shirts and some side relations/I don’t know how I’m supposed to deal with that.” And even writing that was painful. It just feels like my raw ass is just out for the world to see.
PLAYBOY: Considering that it’s coming from a place of vulnerability, do you consider the album therapeutic to some degree?
Duckwrth: Extremely. And I was going to therapy while I was writing this album. But yeah, it’s very therapeutic, because of the confessions that I get to make. And I don’t know, just being privileged in general to have an outlet to put so much deep feelings.
PLAYBOY: Can you walk me through your creative process particularly when it comes to writing a new song?
Duckwrth: I like being in a studio with producers. For this album, it was just interesting to go into those sessions saying, “Hey, I’m working on an album called ‘All American F*ckboy.'” And a lot of these producers are men. But yeah, when I would have these conversations with these different male producers, we would go to an hour long confessions and they would tell me shit that they’ve done.
This one dude told me that he was in a marriage for 15 years and 10 for years of it, he was cheating. It was very interesting. I was like, “Damn.” And he said he’s been working it out in the past five years. But the amount of confessions that I had with different men, I feel like I had no other choice but to work on myself.
I think that kind of added to the process…having these long conversations. The lyrics would kind of write themselves.
PLAYBOY: So the LP is called “All American F*ckboy,” but does it encompass stories from more than one fuckboy, as it were? Are you working in other stories aside from your own personal experiences?
Duckwrth: They’re my stories, but they’re inspired by other people as well. There’s little moments like “LA Traffic” that are more so just stories, and less of something that happened in my life. But I really didn’t try to pull from anybody else. I feel when I had these conversations, it was more kind of seeing eye to eye, and maybe it was just like a letting down your guards, cuz it’s hard to talk about this in a song. You feel a bit judged. But if you know that everybody in the room kind of feels the same way, then you’re just like, “I can write freely.”
PLAYBOY: What inspires you?
Duckwrth: I know I sound like some tech person, but I think what inspires me is the undiscovered. “What hasn’t been done? What have I not done yet?” I’m never trying to repeat what I’ve done before, it’s just like, “What’s the next frontier?” I suppose other than that just being on earth. Walking in nature—nature inspires me a lot. The color palettes that nature has. It’s just, “Damn, I can use that.” I sound like a tree hugger, but I’m okay with that.
PLAYBOY: That’s awesome. You’ve performed around the world to some massive crowds. Was there a night or a show that you will never forget?
Duckwrth: Any of my shows in London. Those are always great. The most recent one I had was in 2022. I forgot what venue, but we sold it out. The energy was at its highest from beginning to end. They were singing the lyrics, and if they didn’t know the lyrics, they didn’t hold back.
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PLAYBOY: Do you have any theories as to why London shows go a little harder?
Duckwrth: I’ll say first, if there’s anything that’s equatable to London in America, it would be New York. It also gives a lot of energy. I do have a big fan base in London, but I think London just appreciates music differently. I think it’s because America is the Mecca of entertainment that inspires the world. We’re spoiled, we get everything. So, it’s like we don’t have that high level of appreciation, You can fucking close your eyes, throw a rock, and hit an artist, And, there’s a lot of artists in London, but I don’t know, maybe they just appreciate American art more.
But like I said, New York also appreciates art on a different level. But yeah, I don’t know. Those are my theories, anyway.
PLAYBOY: You’ve collaborated with Shaboozey, YBN Cordae, toured with Billie Eilish…that said, are there any dream collabs on your vision board at the moment?
Duckwrth: I’d love to work with Doechii. Kevin Parker (Tame Impala). If they ever come back…The Neptunes. But that’s more of a teen dream, But I would love to work with them.
PLAYBOY: What’s next for Duckwrth?
Duckwrth: This album will be my life for the rest of the year and next year. I haven’t toured in two years, and I’m nervous. I don’t know what it’s going to feel like. I’m excited, scared, intrigued.
I don’t know it’s going to look like at all, but this album has alt rock elements to it. So, this would be the type of show I would want to put on. Now that I’ve done the music, now that I’ve done the videos, there are more videos to be made.
But the most exciting thing is just getting back on stage and going insane. I think that’s what I think about a lot. And then making merch for it, that’s going to be fun.
We even have a actor—I won’t say his name now—but we have an actor narrating the album. It’s presented in that sense where just you press play and you just listen to the story unfold. Take it in as if you’re watching a film, and come back to me with your thoughts. Tell me your thoughts, because I’m so intrigued. I’m here for the conversations.
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