Songfacts®:

• "Rather Lie" is a collaborative single between Playboi Carti and The Weeknd. The track blends Carti's signature mumble rap style with The Weeknd's melodic pop sensibility.
• This is the third time Playboi Carti and The Weeknd have worked together. They previously joined forces on the 2023 track "Popular," recorded for The Idol soundtrack, and "Timeless," laid down for The Weeknd's 2025 Hurry Up Tomorrow album.
• "Rather Lie" is a somewhat tortured love letter. On the hook, The Weeknd croons that he'd rather "lie than lose," opting for deception over heartbreak.
  
  Carti's verses are a confessional blend of bravado and insecurity, where lies become a means to preserve love, and the trappings of success are both a shield and a source of tension.
• Carti would rather lie than tell the truth and break his lover's heart, because deep down, he doesn't want to lose her.
  
  It wasn't you, it's me, it ain't me, it's you
  I know it's hard to see, but I'd rather lie than lose
  I'd rather, I'd rather, I'd rather lie than lose you
  
  Carti delivers these lines in a noticeably higher, more melodic register, signaling a rare moment of emotional clarity. Stripped of his trademark bravado and swagger, he sounds like he's speaking straight from the heart with genuine love for this girl.
• Carti's vocals (except for the ad-libs, which remain his own breathy, barely-there exclamations) are run through a thick, shiny AI filter. It's not entirely him you're hearing, but a sort of ghost of Carti, interpreted and performed by Keith Lawson, a ghostwriter from New York. So, in essence, Carti is present but in a distinctly metaphysical way.
• "Rather Lie" is included on Playboi Carti's Music album. It stands out as one of its most accessible, polished, and radio-friendly tracks. The F1lthy, Ojivolta, Jarrod "Twisco" Morgan, and Ramzoid-produced song provides a sharp contrast to much of the album's chaotic, experimental, and sprawling nature.
• Carti first previewed the song on December 15, 2024, during Rolling Loud's 10th-anniversary festival, where the rapper also debuted four other songs from Music.