I want to compare chromacopia Go to Kendrick Lamar Mr. Morale & the Big Steppersthe last event rap album that doubled as a 73-minute therapy session. (Tyler the Creator, always punctualexit before the time ends. ) But it’s also easy to forget that 15 years ago, mere seconds into his debut record, Tyler Okonma lowered his voice and introduced the first of his characters. Bastard: Dr. TC, a therapist. The first piece of information he reveals about himself? His father is dead, or could be dead. The fact of Tyler’s absence has become a pervasive theme in his discography. Despite tweeting that he had already recovered from the trauma during the recording of his 2013 album. wolfhe still spoke directly and passionately to him on songs like “Answer”, suggesting it was more about story progression than personal calculation. That image of Tyler, the Creator seems distant now, but it’s also inescapable for fans as old as the man himself. He cites early Odd Future on his new album, declaring: What you knew was a memory. ” But his characteristic rawness in addressing his contradictions, always somehow slipping into self-mythology, remains essential to his growth as a lyricist and performer.
build up to chromacopia It got us ready for a new era of Tyler, the Creator. Sepia-toned visual aesthetic, depicting the protagonist from Norton Juster’s 1961 children’s book phantom tollgateand seemed to have a new personality. All of his recent alter egos, from Tyler Baudelaire to If in doubt, please call me to the title characters of igor and flower boywas softer, more introspective, and allowed for paranoid aspects of himself as an extension of his celebrity status, except that they served as a window into his own psyche. It’s not that different from his early work. However, after killing his former self in a music video in 2023, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”Tyler has no choice but to lift the veil on his character study. He gives shape to the military-jacketed, masked character St. Croma, hinted at in the same video, but stops short of weaving him into the album’s narrative structure. The surface is thinner than ever, and he has no one to turn to but himself. Album highlight “Take Off Your Mask” cuts into the lives of several characters who pretend to be something other than their true selves, from a secret Christian preacher to a stay-at-home mom burying loneliness and depression. There is. But in a classic twist, he confirms his suspicions that his ultimate target is actually himself. That’s true, but you’ll lose the bet. ”
So chromacopia More than actual therapy, I dare to scan, stare in the mirror at my early midlife crisis, and ultimately see myself stripped to the core through fear and anxiety rather than apparent healing. is. What was supposed to be another victory lap shines as an attempt to reconcile his contradictory personality and the disparate styles that come with it. chaos of sound If in doubt, please call me It’s echoed in these songs, but instead of feeling celebratory and colorful, it feeds into the record’s closed-off, anxious flow. The banger is also outstanding. That’s because not only is Tyler at his most naughty and electric, but he’s also well-tuned to his guests. The sold-out “Sticky” explodes with verses from Glorilla, Sexy Red, and Lil Wayne. ScHoolboy Q and Santigold join him in swagger on “Thought I Was Dead,” and Doechii stands out as the best match for his manic energy on penultimate “Balloon.” But his flex is chromacopia It sounds equally disturbing, as if the boasting is just a form of self-preservation that ultimately won’t save him from himself. “All I got was a picture of Lari and some ridiculous suit,” he realized on “Tomorrow.” “So when it’s all over, I’ll be alone with the Grammys,” is his conclusion after eschewing monogamy on the extravagant “Darling, I.”
In addition to reducing the shock factor in favor of confessionalism, Tyler’s postcherry bomb The works tend to eschew the brash, rambunctious style of their earlier works to create an immersive, if overwhelming, listening experience. chromacopia He pulls this off despite being more conceptually and musically messed up than anything he’s released since. flower boybut only because it reflects his eventful journey. It shouldn’t be this cohesive, but the jubilant fury of “Rah Tah Tah” is so strong that “Noid,” which samples “Nizakpanga Ngozi” by 70’s zamrock band Ngozi Family, makes a world of difference. This naturally leads to constant anxiety about being the center of attention. ‘; The frenetic pulse of “I Killed You” eases into the sexual euphoria of “Judge Judy.” And the hope he expressed in “Take Your Mask Off,” not just for other characters, fictional or otherwise, but for himself as well, ripples through the beginning of “Tomorrow.” It’s expanding.
But perhaps nothing unites these songs more than Tyler’s attempt to turn this self-exploration into something lighter: empathy. It doesn’t always succeed, and often it succeeds self-consciously. The ending of Judge Judy is darker than anyone expected, and even Tyler himself doesn’t know how to handle the conflict musically. “Hey Jane” shares the name of a telemedicine abortion provider and is structured as a conversation between him and a woman in the midst of a pregnancy scare. His perspective includes lines like, “You have to deal with all the mental and physical changes/You have to deal with the heaviest emotions and physical pain,” but his words is short-sighted. Here’s what you can really relate to until you incorporate a female perspective and flip the script again. “I’m 35 and my ovaries may never reset/I don’t want to live my whole life with regrets/Damn, a feeling you’ll never understand”/I just hope I get my period again. ” no pressurethey both affirm phrases that echo elsewhere on the album, but of course can’t quite shake it off.
Tyler, the Creator may not be ready to accept fatherhood or any other kind of commitment, but his worries about them also set him apart chromacopia From an album like Mr. Moral. More importantly, the level of vulnerability on display justifies Tyler’s choice to have his mother, Bonita Smith, serve as the album’s Greek chorus. If in doubt, please call me. She is the first voice we hear in Chromacopia, and he knows that her advice will not only guide him, but also reveal his own shortcomings. But the real shock comes in “Like Him,” which ends with her admitting that her father was a “good man” and even claiming responsibility for his absence. The question that plagues Tyler throughout the track, and which lurks behind so many others here, is how much does he actually have in common with this person he’s never met? takes on new meaning. Tyler didn’t investigate further. There is no suggestion that this revelation changed his attitude in any way. But at least it motivates us, especially when there are so many of us, to stop perceiving and constructing ourselves through the lens of others. He’s the only one who knows what happens to Tyler, the Creator.
