Voir Dire (/ˈvwɑːr dɪər/; Latinate Old French for "speak the truth") is a collaborative album by American rapper Earl Sweatshirt and record producer the Alchemist. It was released via Gala Music on August 25, 2023;[1] a further release on streaming platforms followed on October 6.
Background
On May 22, 2021, The Alchemist published a tweet saying "[Earl and I] hid a whole album on YouTube under a fake name and YouTube page. Fake album cover, song titles, the whole 9. Nobody found it yet."[2]
In August 2023, fans discovered a link on Earl's website that leads to a page on Gala Music's website which updates everyday with a new puzzle that, when solved, reveals a new hint about the album. The first puzzle asked "When did Al[chemist] start snitching?"[3] and allowed users to select a specific date. Upon entering the date the aforementioned tweet was published (05/22/2021), the first clue, consisting of another Alchemist tweet, was revealed. This tweet read "Speak the Truth", the English translation of the phrase "Voir Dire".
On August 22, the Alchemist posted a picture containing the album's track list to Instagram. The feature listing next to the track "Sentry" was blurred on the post.[4] On August 24, it was revealed that this feature is New York-based rapper Mike after a music video for "Sentry" was released on the Gala Music website.[5]
A flyer for a listening party, to take place in London on August 25, was posted to The Alchemist's Instagram on August 23.[6]
On August 25, Voir Dire was released for free on the Gala Music website along with 11 NFTs, one for each of the tracks.[1]
On September 15, it was announced that Voir Dire would be released on streaming platforms on October 6, featuring a slightly altered tracklist which includes two songs with fellow collaborator Vince Staples.[7]
In September 2023, the Voir Dire Tour was announced in support of the album. Black Noi$e and MIKE are set to join the tour alongside Earl Sweatshirt and the Alchemist.[8]
Voir Dire was met with critical acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 83, based on nine reviews.[9]
John Wohlmacher of Beats Per Minute wrote: "The dire gloom of the early years is gone, and the garbled mutations of Some Rap Songs and Feet of Clay have grown in clarity without losing any of their labyrinthine and gothic dynamics. Without calling a masterpiece just yet: this is a very special moment, both for Thebe and his fans. I leave the rest to Two-Face and the flip of his coin".[11] Robin Murray of Clash stated: "together, this project might rank as a career high, a work of breathless yet intoxicatingly accessible complexity".[12] Noah Barker of The Line of Best Fit wrote: "if anything, Voir Dire is a record that pulls itself apart as it continues, subtly dredging the listener in philosophical bile and pause-the-track one-liners".[17] Dean van Nguyen of Pitchfork found it "a little disappointing that Alchemist doesn't push Earl even further out of his comfort zone" but found their "chemistry [...] comes from how naturally their styles blend together, as if Voir Dire is some kind of prophecy being fulfilled by the universe. It's a record that was meant to be: simple, elegant, and always true".[15] Ben Devlin of musicOMH wrote: "By the time Free The Ruler's soulful loop fades out, we've only concluded in the loosest sense. The listener enters Earl's world in medias res and 25 minutes later he's still maintaining, still working everything out, but the journey's been nuanced and engaging".[14]
In the review for AllMusic, Fred Thomas concluded that, "Voir Dire pushes the bounds of both Alchemist's old school warmth and Earl's heady verses, landing someplace new that neither would have gotten to on their own."[10]
