PARTYOF2 Is Bringing the House Down
This dynamic double act gate-crashes genre like it's a VIP-only function—and we're invited. Let's meet the LA duo injecting the hip back into hip-hop.
PARTYOF2 in 2025. Image property of Evers Pund.
It's hard not to root for PARTYOF2. Blending haywire creativity with calculated precision, the duo crafts music that resonates, whether you're in a meditative state or caught in the gravitational pull of their dancefloor-ready rhythms.
PARTYOF2's new album, AMERIKA'S NEXT TOP PARTY! is tightly cohesive, wrapped in striking visuals and a post-Americana, stripped-back colour palette that lets the music fill in the hues absent from its monochrome visuals.
Their sound is unmistakably shaped by Los Angeles—you hear the city ricochet through their loungey electronic beats, perched alongside sunny guitar licks, R&B-glazed caverns and boom bap-inspired rap volleys. The duo play to each other's strengths but aren't afraid to challenge each other, as Jada's velvet tones and melodic intuition meet Swim's sharp lyricism and conceptual vision.
AMERIKA'S NEXT TOP PARTY! also marks the first time that Jadagrace and Swim are branching out on their own. After years spent working in their former creative collective GROUPTHERAPY. (previously a party of four), the shift feels less like a departure and more like a natural evolution.
Their viral breakout single "POSER" cracked open a new audience, but this record feels like the moment they step into their final form: fully in control and unbound by compromise.
Across its runtime, the album moves with effortless intent. PARTYOF2 pluck out sounds the way someone cycles through outfits in a well-curated wardrobe—switching up silhouettes, fabrics and moods, but always keeping a precise sense of style.
AMERIKA'S NEXT TOP PARTY! is a record built to be felt as much as heard: so, The Culture Crypt pulled up to their doorstep to unpack it with them.
The Culture Crypt: The album's been out for a little while now. How do you feel about its reception?
Jada: "I feel really good. We've had overwhelmingly positive feedback. I really love how people are really listening to the lyrics and paying attention to the concept of this project. I've even seen a few people who have listened a few times over to really digest everything. I really appreciate everyone listening to all the hard work that we put into the album."
Swim: "It's been pretty overwhelming. This is the first project we've made where I don't care too much about the reception—in the sense that it's been a really hard journey for us to get to this point. I'm so proud of this project and making it was a very cathartic and fulfilling process.
Obviously, the fans' reaction and perception of it is important to me, but I felt free when we released it because we were satisfied. It's a lot like having a baby, and everyone looks at your child and tells you that they're so cute."
How would you describe your growth from GROUPTHERAPY.'s 2020 project, this is not the album. to AMERIKA'S NEXT TOP PARTY! today?
Jada: "We're really lucky to have been able to do this for so long. this is not the album. was so long ago, and we've learnt so much with every drop. This is technically PARTYOF2's debut album, even though we've been making projects for a while, and each time we just get better and better."
Swim: "This sounds like a silly analogy, but it's kind of like the story of Goldilocks. If you look over our discography from the past few years, you can see that we've definitely been trying to discover ourselves and find what feels right and what fits. I'm proud of the fact that we have been unapologetic in our growth and experimentation, and I think coming together as PARTYOF2, we found the right fit."
You've made intentional choices like changing the blue on the US flag to black, and the name PARTYOF2 nods to the two-party system in the States. How central is this kind of attention to detail in crafting the creative side of your work?
Swim: "When we decided to go with AMERIKA'S NEXT TOP PARTY!, I knew we had to be very intentional about our messaging during this time. People are very nitpicky—in a good way. I tend to overthink sometimes because I want to make sure our intention is extremely clear and never want anything to get misconstrued. We decided to change the C to a K. I was worried because we had already shot everything, but this is not a patriotic project.
This flag is not represented in a celebratory way… it's definitely a critique of the flag. All of my favourite artists reflect the times. When making this project, we wanted something that was timeless, and it didn't really matter to us if it fit in or was trendy today, but more so just reflected today. Ten years from now, we want people to still be able to listen to this album, take in the messaging, imagery and nuances we built, and fully understand and digest it still."
Jada: "This was also our first time having the space to build a whole world around a project. That was really important to us because before, we were never too focused on building a world around a record, but more focused on making sure we had great tracks from beginning to end. This time we made sure we had a lot of intention behind every single detail, and I'm really proud of that. From the very first single to the visuals we put out—everything fits inside the world of the album."
Swim, you've spoken about the trust you and Jada have built over 15 years—does a little friendly fire ever spark creativity, and how do you navigate that dynamic as a duo?
Swim: "There's a lot of friendly fire, and I think that shit is important."
Jada: "There's got to be some discord, there's got to be some disagreements, otherwise I feel like ya'll ain't being real with each other."
Swim: "It's like being in the gym with someone that you want to see get better. Leave your ego at the door, and do another push up, add another weight, because I know where you can do this. You need that competitiveness… especially in hip-hop. This is not a game where you hold hands and sing kumbaya, it's hip-hop."
Jada: "We were essentially showing how close we are on that track. Some people were asking if we were really beefing. With the process of writing and being cool with releasing that track with everything we say, it shows how locked in we are and how close we are. Fifteen years—we can really be real with each other and not take it too seriously."
“This flag is not represented in a celebratory way… it’s definitely a critique of the flag. All of my favourite artists reflect the times. When making this project, we wanted something that was timeless, and it didn’t really matter to us if it fit in or was trendy today, but more so just reflected today.”
You start the album with "SURVIVOR'S REMORSE" and you guys end with "HEAVEN ON EARTH"—how would you sum up the journey of this record in a few words?
Swim: "It's funny because the first two tracks we had locked in were 'SURVIVOR'S REMORSE' and 'HEAVEN ON EARTH'."
Jada: "We only had the chorus for 'HEAVEN ON EARTH' but we knew that was the feeling we were going for."
Swim: "'SURVIVOR'S REMORSE' feels like digging yourself out of a grave and literally re-building yourself from scratch. 'HEAVEN ON EARTH' feels like that elevation—no longer are you on the ground, but you are beyond this planet. You have excelled past this and you're onto something newer and bigger. It's interesting because it was almost like setting a marker or pinpoint or goalpost to reach, where it was like 'I don't know if I'm experiencing heaven on earth yet,' but I have to."
Jada: "Sometimes when you reach those new levels it's really scary. And that's honestly what we've been experiencing. We've experienced success in a short amount of time with PARTYOF2. I feel like that's the human experience. When you reach those new levels, you don't really know how you ended up there and you know there's more to come, but it's also about trying to enjoy the moment and be in the present."
What's next for PARTYOF2?
Jada: "We just performed at Camp Flogg Naw, which I can't believe, and we've just started our tour—this is our first headline tour ever. We're so excited to take this project to the stage. When making it, we thought about the live shows and the live instrumentation. I love seeing everybody and hitting the stage. One of my favourite things ever, besides making the music, is performing it."
Stream AMERIKA'S NEXT TOP PARTY! below: