Rod Wave Clears Up “Sad Artist” Label While Teasing New Album

Rod wavewidely known for pouring raw emotion and pain into his music, has sparked yet another controversy online. If you remember back in 2022, he told fans ‘Beautiful Minds would be his last “sad” album. Since then, he has dropped three more bodies of work, each showing growth, new emotions, and deeper storytelling. Now, social media is buzzing about whether Rod Wave is truly a “sad artist” or just one of the most relatable voices of his generation.

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Rod Wave talks about his desire to move beyond the “sad artist” label.

On Friday, a clip of Rod Wave sitting down with The Joe Budden Podcast surfaced online. In the interview, the rapper said he no longer wants to be called a “sad artist.” When the conversation started Joe Budden asked“Excuse my ignorance, but do you have happy songs?”

“Look, it makes you look like, ‘I don’t want to be sad,'” Rod answered frankly, saying, “Every time I walk in the room, B******* be like, damn… I don’t want to stay sad. He also explained that he is hesitant to move away from that sound completely, knowing that many fans still connect deeply with his pain and feel they need that from him.

Roadwave says he doesn’t want to be known as a sad artist anymore📍

Joe Budden: “Pardon my ignorance but do you have any happy songs?”

Rod Wave: “Look, this is going to make you feel like I don’t want to be the sad one… Every time I walk in the room, the bitches are like motherfuckers… I… pic.twitter.com/DyZkNxhbHy

— Audio | Victor Baez (@itsavibe) October 17, 2025

Social media weighs in

Across social media, fans have joined the debate over the type of music Rod Wave creates. While some listeners claim that many of his songs lean toward the sad or depressing side, his loyal supporters were quick to weigh in. They explained that although Rod initially exploded in emotional tracks,…

Instagram user @theteeta wrote, “It’s not sad, it’s just real, what else is he going to talk about? Slip and turn on operations and 505’s How much money did he get? Don’t switch…”

Instagram user @dontpaniccccc5 added, “Rod Wave’s music is so relatable to everyone going through things I don’t care how strong you think you are.”

Instagram user @jassyblackgirl wrote, “His music isn’t even sad, just don’t listen to it, it’s real music.”

Instagram user @_bigtoy then added, “It’s not sad, it’s healing.”

Instagram user @banods_ wrote, “He blasts sad music because that’s his passion and that’s what God uses him for. He says how pissed off he feels but he’ll never say.”

Instagram user @kdgdoji added, “There’s no peaches and ice cream, we need a TS gang.”

While X user @NasirAMubarak wrote, “Why does he go on a podcast where no one listens to him, Bra has a lot of happy/motivational songs?”

User X @ZooFTG_XB wrote, “ “You’re not a real Rod Wave fan if you think the nigga only sings about sad times. Even though that’s what we like from him. He has other bands that don’t give off a sad vibe. He’s also motivational. He’s knocked me off my feet a few times with a lot of his music.”

X user @sayjuhnay added,Turks and Caicos Islands, Smile, Grab a Bag and Squeeze to name a few.

Roadwave has a new album on the way

Despite what fans say, Rod Wave is ready to let his music do the talking. Earlier this week, he released his new single “Leavin'” and announced the dates for his upcoming Redemption Excellence Tour. but Rudd did not stop there. He also took to Instagram and captioned the photo, “I just delivered my album.” Sending fans into a frenzy and building excitement for what’s next.

RELATED: Roadwave says after his upcoming album he’s done making sad music