Premiere: King Kaiju Drops A Burst Of Insight On Thinking Out Loud
Time might be the universe’s greatest joke, or at least the way we try to contextualize it as fixed and linear. Most of the time, it slips by faster than we realize. Days blur into weeks, weeks become months, all swallowed by the rush of routine and the endless brutal churn of daily demands. But every so often, the opposite happens. A flood of experiences that slows time to a crawl. Days stretch into a fortnight, a month becomes a perpetual season, and a single year can hold enough emotion and memory to feel like an entire lifetime. It’s an overwhelming quandary to be put in, paralyzing even, trying to process in one short moment what should have unfolded gently over a lengthy span.
This predicament is where time becomes the grand illusion. When you’re forced to contend with everything life throws at you, all at once, it feels impossible. Yet making sense of it all, trying to frame it in some loose context, is something our minds can’t help but crave. Finding the order in chaos. Uncovering for clarity within confusion. You can win big, lose everything, and rebuild it all again within the span of a single sunrise and sunset. One moment, you’re laughing with friends, and the next, you’re grieving alone. Life doesn’t move in straight lines the way we imagine time does. It folds, and collapses, and loops back on itself until moments that should feel separate start to blur into one continuous reel. Not the kind trimmed and polished for social media, but something far rawer and more genuine.
Within that perpetual flow, moments of profound depth emerge, just as King Kaiju reveals on his new EP, Thinking Out Loud. Across five tracks, each clocking in at under two minutes, he condenses emotional turbulence into sharp burst of insight, turning what could feel like disorienting whiplash into a precise, deliberate rhythm. While the rest of us struggle to stay on-beat in this wobbly world, the Richmond MC offers a tight tutorial on how to ride the unpredictable wave with poise and prudence, and take advantage of those crests that allow for the best launch. Set for release on Saturday, November 1st, this new EP is yet another stellar entry in King Kaiju’s growing catalog and an essential listen for anyone looking to not drown out the noise, but harness it. Today, The Auricular is proud to premiere this record ahead of its official release with an exclusive stream below and a deeper look into its compact genius.
King Kaiju kicks off the record directly, flowing with an urgency on “Manifesto” that dashes past any semblance of a hook in order to capture all the swirling emotions driving this short but impactful push. A smokey instrumental wisps through the background, as Kaiju injects a moment of contemplation with manifestation, turning ambition into action. “This just the intro\ A warmup\ Just like a trip to the Citgo,” he rhymes later in the song, setting the stage for the theme of the record with a scurrying feel (“You’ll prolly want advice cuz in this life\ Some shit can get cold\ And sometimes it feel like it’s time to just let this shit go“) and jaw-dropping bars (“Luigi on the beat this verse my murder manifesto“). Most striking is how cool, calm, and collected Kaiju remains, retaining that firm control over his words and emotions, to let his mind dictate the pace leaving the heart to just tell its story.
“I’ve had a few very surreal experiences in the past couple years of my life,” King Kaiju said about the record. “Experiences that sometimes don’t even happen to most people. And if they do, it’s one instance and that’s enough to stick with them for a lifetime.” That sentiment comes to life on the next track, “Clarity,” as Kaiju boldly declares, “Had to climb up out of my grave, what y’all know about that?” over a striking beat with a grave tone. Kaiju’s inflection carries a bit more bite, but still retains the composure of “Manifesto,” operating in total control even as the horn samples come in underneath and allow him a proper platform to spring off of. But Kaiju keeps his stance fixed within this terrain, never losing the plot for the performance (“Get ya mind right\ And never forget that we making art“).
“Through all of these situations, I’ve really had no choice but to keep going,” Kaiju continued about his recent turmoil, “because life stops for no one. This EP is called Thinking Out Loud because… that’s exactly what it is. It’s me processing the emotions and accepting that these things happened so I can continue living, and move forward.”
The record’s title track sums up that feeling perfectly, opening with a declaration of “I done lived a couple lifetimes” proclaimed with a sense of acceptance rather than bragging. Here, his flow switches up over a beat built on a soulful vocal sample, taking on this shifty and cagey cadence that mirrors the way we dart through life, never in a straight line.
“Look like we forgot the point of why we started\ And we lost the love for everything it brought us,” he states on the track, keeping a tight grasp on the permeating feeling around while he continues to dazzle around the beat. In the same breath though, he contrasts that initial jumping off point with the reality of today, pointing out the progress (“Now we got interviews\ They see em daily\ Playing these shows cuz I know they gon pay me“) while still acknowledging that it’s not enough (“That I thought would be happy\ I heard they been hating“). It’s a document of the cost of growth, the strange space between gratitude and grief that comes when your dreams finally begin to materialize. The wins are real, but so are the wounds they leave behind.
That tension between victory and vexation is paramount on the record, something the runtime helps to amplify with songs that feel complete, yet sometimes lack a true resolution. “It’s a very short project,” Kaiju explained. “But so are most thoughts one has throughout the day, which comes full circle to the name I gave it.”
Kaiju traverses that circle in different paces and rhythms throughout the record, with “FYN” bringing a manic sprint to the proceedings over a palpitating drum beat that is the record’s most tense moment. Here, the thoughts fly by as a flurry of punches, enough that they blur together into one huge blow that captures its authentic grit, which he affirms by lining up with Virginia’s storied lineage (“I’m from the land of the Clipse, Pharrell, Missy and Pusha T\ Where n***** up the chrome to ya dome and snatch the kicks off ya feet right on the beach“). The affirmation continues as he moves from the 757 to the 804 in the lyrics, but still retains his caliber with few concessions: “MVP in this shit, just ask the rappers that featured me\ I’ll pop up on a track and straight spazz, no common decency.”
As “Stress Makes Diamonds” comes into focus though, that bravado takes a step back and merges itself with the introspection found earlier in the record, presenting a more focused version of King Kaiju that is ready to handle the weight of the crown and reign forward. “We all heard it before\ That stress makes diamonds\ It’s perfect timing to show you why I’m the one that’s been shining,” he declares, turning his personal struggle into a universal mantra of resilience and reflection. It reminds listeners that pressure isn’t just an obstacle to overcome; it’s the forge where strength and creativity are truly refined.
It’s here where the EP’s duality crystallizes: the energy of “FYN” and the urgency of “Clarity” tempered by the patience of “Thinking Out Loud” and the control of “Manifesto. Kaiju demonstrates that mastery is about knowing when to push forward and hold back, a stunning artistic statement but more importantly, an inspiring ethos to live your life by. It’s understanding that you can’t always hold your emotions back, but you also can’t let them run amok. What “Stress Makes Diamonds” and Thinking Out Loud as a whole offers is a case study on when to let the emotion simmer beneath the surface and when to finally unleash it so you can harness it to the best of your ability.
The theme of constant commotion that drives Thinking Out Loud has been a consistent thread in King Kaiju’s recent output, following the immediate impact of his Feature Film record in December of 2024 and the surprise delight of Joints In 4th Gear, his 2025 collaboration with Ty Sorrell and M.P. Alongisde these records, Kaiju released a string of singles and collaborations, captivating crowds with his sharp presence and turning heads with bold verses alongside scene heavyweights like Johnny Ciggs, CJ The Profit, Hernbean5150, DuctTape Jesus, tso ghostly, and more.
While each of those releases showcases King Kaiju’s musical might, it’s Thinking Out Loud that captures the full force of his artistry and the insight he delivers with sharp precision. Across each track, the inseparability of growth, struggle, and reflection becomes clear, reminding us that life never truly follows a straight path, no matter how badly we wish it would. The most profound revelations don’t come when we expect them, only when we remain open, and Thinking Out Loud keeps that space stretched wide by packing years of enlightenment into just under ten minutes. It reminds us that while life may be unpredictable, it’s the steadiness of our response and the composure of our resolve that ultimately shape the story we all want to live.
Thinking Out Loud is set for release on all streaming platforms on Saturday, November 1st. To stay up-to-date on future releases and announcements from King Kaiju, make sure to bookmark his website and follow him on social media.
