24kGoldn - El Dorado (2021) Hi-Res

“El Dorado is an album about love—and loss, too—because one cannot exist without the other,” 24kGoldn tells Apple Music of his debut. “There's no light without darkness. There's no yin without yang.” That kind of duality also extends to its creation, most of which took place when life was largely put on pause by the COVID-19 pandemic, as the San Francisco rapper sought to create an alternate world that could offer respite from the bleak reality. “I wanted it to be something that people could escape to, or that people can listen to the music and watch the videos and forget about whatever problems they were dealing with in their life,” he says.

The album, titled after the mythical golden city as well as a reference to his hometown and his nickname, easily traverses the lands between pop and rap. Blissful melodies and longing guitar lines are in abundance, providing a backdrop for 24kGoldn’s musings on love, lust, heartbreak, and whatever obstacles arise in between. It isn’t self-serious, though. The 20-year-old, after all, has much to celebrate coming off the success of his smash hit “Mood,” and the songs—some of which he explains below—reflect accordingly. Not even the complexities of romance can bring down this gilded empire.