"Demeanor" is a song by American rapper Pop Smoke, featuring English-Albanian singer Dua Lipa, from the former's posthumous second studio album, Faith (2021). The song was written by the two artists alongside Daniel Mlzrahi, Michael Gomes, Dru Decaro, Sarah Hudson, and Coffee, while the production was handled by Mantra. It was released to rhythmic contemporary and contemporary hit radio formats in the United States on July 20, 2021, as the second single from the album. A disco-pop and electropop track, it features a rhythm guitar, bassline, drums, funky groove, and bounce, alongside rhythmic verses.
On "Demeanor", Pop Smoke discusses suffering from poverty, while mentioning how women like how he acts and being heavily intoxicated. Lipa pays tribute to him in her verse. Several music critics criticized the lyrics and thought the song was not something Pop Smoke would make. Commercially, it reached number 86 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 62 on the Billboard Global 200. Outside of the United States, the song peaked within the top 50 of charts in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
A Nabil Elderkin-directed music video for "Demeanor" was released on July 29, 2021. The video features Pop Smoke as a ghost and being seen on a painting that comes to life and depicts different versions of him, as well as showing white doves flying around. Lipa wears a vintage corset-style lace-trimmed ballgown from Jean Paul Gaultier's Spring 1998 couture collection, which was inspired by Marie Antoinette and the Age of Enlightenment, as she does different activities and dances throughout. Several critics complimented its theme and production.
Background and release
On July 9, 2021, Dua Lipa teased a collaboration with Pop Smoke by posting a video on social media of the rapper listening to her 2018 single "One Kiss". The video was accompanied with the caption "You can't say Pop without Smoke" in all caps, along with specifying the album's release date. The track listing for Faith was later revealed on July 15, 2021, confirming Lipa's feature on the song. The lyrics and composition were written by Pop Smoke and Lipa alongside Dru Decaro, Sarah Hudson, and Coffee with Daniel Mlzrahi and Michael Gomes also credited as composers. The production was handled by Mantra. Recording took place at Quad Recording Studios in New York City by Corey "Cutz" Nutile. The song was mixed by Jess Jackson, who also handled the mastering with Ciel Eckard-Lee and David Bone; both duties were done at London Town Studios in Los Angeles.
Pop Smoke's second posthumous studio album Faith was released via Victor Victor Worldwide and Republic Records on July 16, 2021, with "Demeanor" as the sixteenth track on Faith. The song impacted rhythmic contemporary and contemporary hit radio in the United States on July 20, 2021, as the album's second single. It also sent for radio airplay in Italy on July 23, 2021.
Music and lyrics
Musically, "Demeanor" is a disco-pop and electropop song. The track features a rhythm guitar, bassline, drums, funky groove, and bounce, accompanied by "woozy" vibes, and rhythmic verses. It contains a spliced-in verse from an unreleased Pop Smoke track called "Face2Face". Writing for The Ringer, Micah Peters opined the song is about "popping Perc 30s and shooting people". Mankaprr Conteh for Rolling Stone said Pop Smoke raps about "asserting a will not only to survive, but to thrive".
On the song, Pop Smoke sings about his "baba treesha", which is Brooklyn slang for a promiscuous woman. In connection with the slang, the rapper sings about how women like how he acts, and being heavily intoxicated. The late rapper then raps about suffering through poverty: "Look, eleven dollars a hour ain't enough to live/So I'ma go in every store and I'ma swipe this shit/They tryna lock a nigga up and I'm like, 'Fuck a pig'/'Cause either way, mommy still gon' love her kid." Lipa has her own verse, as she sings: "You can't say Pop without Smoke/So fill up your lungs, my diamonds'll make you choke/You like the way I move/My demeanor is meaner than yours/So clap for the encore", referring to Pop Smoke's line "You cannot say Pop and forget the Smoke" in his 2019 song "Gatti" with JackBoys and Travis Scott.