“euphoria” serves as Kendrick’s highly anticipated response to Drake’s April 2024 diss tracks, “Push Ups” and “Taylor Made Freestyle,” which came after Kendrick targeted Drake and J. Cole on Future and Metro Boomin’s March 2024 single, “Like That.”

His first solo release since his 2022 album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, this surprise dropped via YouTube on April 30, 2024 at 8:24 am Pacific Standard Time as a subtle nod to fellow Los Angeles legend and former Laker, the late Kobe Bryant—8 and 24 were Kobe’s jersey numbers. “euphoria” became available via streaming services a few hours later.

The song has three distinct parts, playing off his bar on the previously mentioned “Like That”:

Fuck sneak dissin’, first-person shooter, I hope they came with three switches

Kendrick’s tone becomes more hostile with every switch, and the instrumentation similarly becomes more eerie and aggressive. He attacks Drake on numerous fronts, including his behavior, psychology, life choices, public perception, and appropriation of and disconnect from an authentic Black cultural experience.

The single’s artwork is a screenshot of the definition of “euphoria” with two example sentences, originating from the online dictionary Merriam-Webster; euphoria became the most searched word on Merriam-Webster when the song dropped. The second example sentence is:

They had almost a week to recover from the euphoria of Tuesday’s series-winning victory.

With the single released on a Tuesday, Kendrick is inferring this track is a victory in their feud. It’s also speculated that the song’s title references HBO’s Euphoria, the popular teen drama that Drake executive produces. Incidentally, the show has been repeatedly criticized for sexualizing teenage girls, coinciding with the many rumors of Drake’s odd relationships with girls; Kendrick’s subsequent diss tracks “meet the grahams” and “Not Like Us” focused heavily on such allegations.

Notably, “euphoria” temporarily crashed the Genius website when it dropped as fans rushed to decipher the lyrics.