Destroy Lonely Talks Fashion and Hints at Unreleased Opium Collabs

Destroy Lonely still doesn’t need a stylist .

With a cigarette in hand, he exudes confidence while attending the first day of his Love Lasts Forever popup at Complex LA. As fans line up outside to cop exclusive merch from the collection , the Atlanta rapper is wearing gray oversized jeans, a stack of platinum chains, and a custom jersey. As he explains, his panache is simply a reflection of each of his musical eras so far. While his 2023 debut album If Looks Could Kill was grungy and moody, the 23-year-old steps into a more rambunctious energy over distorted and trap cuts on his freshly released LP Love Lasts Forever, and his clothing reflects that attitude.

“It’s important for me to be hands-on with my merch just like it’s important for me to be hands-on with my creative process in everything I do with my music,” Lone tells Complex. His latest collection, which is available now on the Complex Shop , is a direct extension of his individuality. As he puts it, “I always wear everything to be a reflection of me and my brand as an artist rather than a team, or what other people think I should be, or a trend. I always want everything to come from me and my heart. Whether people like it, love it, think it’s trash, it’s ugly, whatever it is, it’s always just going to be a reflection of me.”

Of course, music still takes up the majority of his time. On the heels of his new album (and two months ahead of his Forever 2024 tour), Destroy Lonely sat down with Complex to discuss his current style, the influence of his Opium label boss Playboi Carti, the possibility of the crew releasing a group album someday, and more. The interview, lightly edited for clarity, is below. The merch collection is available for a limited time here .

Now that it's been a full month since Love Lasts Forever dropped, how do you think the album reflects how you’ve grown as an artist?
Personally, I just think that Love Lasts Forever is a reflection of me trying to hone in my pen and my craft in terms of making music. Going into the album, I wasn’t trying to make anything extraordinary or weird or different. I just wanted to show people that if they love me for my original work, like “NOSTYLIST” or anything before, that I’m still capable of making somewhere near the same type of music, even though I’m evolving.

Complex just crowned Playboi Carti as the best rapper in his 20s. What do you think he brings to music that no other rapper has?
Well one, I wanna say I appreciate Complex very much for everything that they’re doing for me today, but fuck y’all for not putting me on that list, even though I really appreciate y’all for putting both my brothers. But honestly, I feel like Carti, as everybody can see, has influenced almost the entire next generation of music, and he’s always doing his own thing. He's always staying in his own lane, and having his own style and the ways that he does things. I feel like that is the main reason why he's revered as much as he is, and that’s why I respect him and I love him as my good brother.

We’re going to do our best to have you on the next one. When will Opium have a group album?
Always on the way and always in the works. It's very hard to put a date or a time or even tell y'all where or when that would ever happen. We’re always working on music together. It's just a matter of when all of our careers mesh up and when the stars align for it to happen. But we’re always making music together. Us as a collective or label, whether it be from me and Homixide Gang, Homixide and Ken [Carson], me and Ken, me and Carti, or all of us together, we’ve recorded so much music and so many songs.

Since you’ve been famous, what’s been your biggest splurge?
I’m famous?! The biggest splurge… I bought two of my dream cars recently. I’m not gonna tell y’all what they are because I don't like putting all of my business out there. But definitely just buying cars and taking care of my girlfriend, those two are probably my biggest expenses.

Let's talk a little bit more about style, too. Why is it important for you to be hands-on with your merch?
It’s important for me to be hands-on with my merch just like it’s important for me to be hands-on with my creative process in everything I do with my music. Just because I always wear everything to be a reflection of me and my brand as an artist, rather than a team, or what other people think I should be, or a trend. I always want everything to just come from me and my heart. Whether people like it, love it, think it’s trash, it’s ugly, or whatever it is, it’s always just going to be a reflection of me.

What's one of your favorite pieces here today?
This jersey I got on, in every color, it’s the absolute sickest shit. And I will be completely honest, this was something that was created—I just spewed out a couple ideas. The person that made this isn’t the same person that always makes my merch, but I sent an idea out to my manager and team and they came back with me on this. So I guess that contradicts what I said, but I trust people to see my vision and make it [happen] in real life. But everything starts with me, as if you had a prompt for AI, or writing an essay or something—it starts with me just spewing out a bunch of random bullshit and people coming back and creating it for me.

How would you describe the style era that you're currently in right now?
I guess I'm just trying to show people who I am individually, even outside of Destroy Lonely, more or less, just as Bobby. I’m tired of stigmas or stereotypes that people would expect me to look like or act or sound, and I just want to show people who I really think I am on the inside, rather than what I showed before or what I stuck to, or what people think of Lonely to be. I wanna show people exactly who I am. So style-wise, every outfit, every song, every piece of merch right now is a reflection of me not getting fuck about nothing no more, and just showing exactly what I want to do.

You’ll be heading out on tour next month for the Forever 2024 tour. Are there any cities that you enjoy visiting the most?
I love everything on tour, personally, just because touring means so much to me outside of festivals and one-off shows. Because that’s when you see the people that are literally only there for you, and love you so much. I haven’t been on tour in two years, so I don’t know what to expect, but every state, every city, every stop on tour is always my favorite, because my fans personally show me so much love and I really appreciate that, all of them, all over the world.

Do you remember what city stood out the most?
Randomly, I would say Amsterdam because that was the time… Coffee shops, shrooms, everything, I was on that.

What do you think fans are going to be most hyped to hear on your current tour?
Honestly, no disrespect to the album that was created, but I never got a chance to tour my last album [If Looks Could Kill] and I see a lot of people just waiting to hear some of those songs live. So I'm trying to put together a set list and kind of merge both of them together to make everyone happy, but I feel like a lot of people are very much excited to see If Looks Could Kill live as well as this album.