'CHROMAKOPIA' by Tyler, the Creator - Album Review

Tyler's most open and revealing album yet

★★★★½

Tyler has famously had one of the most impressive artistic evolutions ever. From the bratty, ignorant kid on his earlier records 'Bastard' and 'Goblin' to gradually maturing across his music, and I believe it has all lead up to his most recent effort, 'Chromakopia'.

I thought he couldn't express any more about his personal life than he did on 'Flower Boy' or even 'Wolf', however on this record we see him completely unload everything he has been dealing with personally. But before we get into the topics discussed farther into the album, I think we should start from the top.

'St Chroma' is the opener of this album, and not only does it set the tone of the album perfectly, I believe it could be Tyler's best opening track to date. It's super cinematic with the marching drums corrupting the first verse and chorus, building up to a stark beat switch into a more recognisable, synth heavy instrumental we are used to hearing from Tyler. This track introduces the character of St Chroma, the masked figure who as the album progresses will represent a more open version of Tyler that doesn't feel confined both in his mind and in his music. Tyler's mom 'Bonita Smith' also acts as his guiding light throughout this album, which can be heard as the voice right at the beginning telling Tyler not to "dim his light for nobody", which Tyler goes onto question himself as his last line of the song "I just need this time to myself to figure me out-out, Do I keep the light on or do I gracefully bow out".

As this album continues you do get the occasional eccentric, hard-hitting track such as 'Rah Tah Tah', 'Sticky', 'Thought I Was Dead' and 'Balloon', but these tracks are always highlights to me. These tracks, with the exception of Rah Tah Tah, are the only songs on the whole album that contain proper rap verses, a major stand-out being Doechii on 'Balloon', she brings so much character and charisma to already such a vibrant, almost whimsical song. All of these songs are amazing in their own right, all portraying Tyler's more chaotic side, with some reflecting on his success whilst rejecting his past self.

Now getting onto the real meat of the album, Tyler airs out so much of his personal life on this album it feels like a sit-down therapy session. Starting off with 'Noid' where he feels constantly watched and creates scenarios in his head of people pretty much stalking him. 'Darling, I' is about Tyler's infatuation with polyamory and how deep it digs into him. Tyler is intimidated by the thought of a long-term relationship, but it's more than that. He feels that one person can't satisfy him in every way so he feels inclined to find someone who will satisfy all of his individual needs. The message of this song is portrayed in a very up-beat, danceable tempo which can almost mask the true message of the song, especially due to the misleading chorus "Darling, I keep falling in love".

'Hey Jane' Tyler details the emotions felt by both the potential mother and father through the event of an unexpected pregnancy. In the first verse it shows that the father is disappointed in himself but cares more about the potential mother's decision on what to do with the baby and how he'll support her through either decision. In the second verse Jane's perspective is shown, detailing the frequent mood swings pregnant women go through and showing that Jane does not want to burden Tyler with the baby. The track is minimally produced in order to emphasise the severity of the topic discussed, allowing you to dissect every word Tyler is saying. The next track is titled 'I Killed You', the placement of these tracks may be alluding to Jane and Tyler aborting the baby, however the subject matter has nothing to do with that. This track is about the struggle black people have with styling their hair, using this metaphor to represent the struggle between societal expectations and their own identity. He describes how society looks down upon natural black hairstyles and how the pressure that brings the people themselves causes them to 'kill it' by chopping it off.

Track seven is 'Judge Judy' where Tyler tells a story about a girl (Judy) that he quickly clicks with and grows close to. Judy becomes distant and writes Tyler a letter saying how she had cancer and that it had made it's way to her head and killed her. 'Take Your Mask Off' is exactly what the title suggests. In the first three verses Tyler tells the story of three different people living a facade: a kid that was pressured into being a gangster, a priest that is a closeted homosexual and a stay-at-home mom that wants to live out her dreams. The final verse is Tyler taking his own mask off and just exposing everything he feels guilty about, but instead of just expressing these thoughts he writes a verse directed towards him as if it were written by someone else. He exposes that he often deflects blame, gets involved with married women, how he believes he isn't successful enough and even referencing back to 'Hey Jane' by saying he's scared to be a father. This is all accompanied by the most beautiful hook on the album where Tyler is joined by Daniel Caesar to create some ethereal harmonies.

These next two tracks are the emotional and narrative climaxes of the record. Tyler deals with the, ironically, age-old problem of change and aging in 'Tomorrow'. The beginning shows Bonita Smith express that she wants grandchildren and as the song progresses, Tyler deals with the dilemma of whether he should finally settle down and have kids or if he should continue making music. He procrastinates this idea by repeating in the post-chorus "Worry 'bout it tomorrow", hence the track's title. The theme of change also reflects the change in his music's patterns up until this point. This being track 10, where Tyler would usually put a double-barreled track, emphasises his effort to change as told in this song. This change along with the fact he released an album during an even year, whereas previously he would only release in years that end in an odd number, further reflect the theme of change throughout the album. These topics are first alluded to in the emphatic opener where he states "Give a f*** about tradition, stop impressin' the dead".

'Like Him' is a track about Tyler's absent father. He lays out how he shares his dad's features and how he still wishes to have him as a part of his life, despite the fact he left. The end of the song reveals a major twist however. This anger shown towards his dad has been evident throughout most of Tyler's career as first shown in the song 'Answer' from Wolf. Tyler has always given the impression that his dad was a deadbeat, however his mom reveals at the end of the song that it's her fault that his dad has not been present. His dad wanted to be present but his mom didn't allow it for whatever reason, and she acknowledges that she messed up. This shows that all the resentment Tyler built up over his whole life and career was all due to a false narrative pushed by his mother.

'I Hope You Find Your Way Home' feels like a perfect narrative conclusion to this whole album. He sums up some of the core themes of the album such as whether he wants a kid or not and the reality of growing old. It also wraps up the whole Bonita Smith narrative by showing how his mom is truly proud of what he has become. This concludes the album with a lovely moment, instilling hope and joy in the listener.

Another interesting narrative found with this album is that it loops. At the end of 'I Hope You Find Your Way Home' you have a monologue from Bonita Smith followed by fading chants of 'Chromakopia'. Which reflects the opening of the album where the first thing heard is a monologue from Bonita Smith which happens to be followed by 'Chromakopia' chants. A reason for this that I have came up with (have no clue if it is right I'm just theorising) could be that the loop is representative of the tough times that everyone consistently endures during life, and by expressing your feelings and emotions earnestly you will always end up feeling better, hence the positive, almost euphoric feeling at the end of the final track. Again this is just a theory so don't run with this narrative, it's just some food for thought.

Now that I have finished with the conceptual analysis, I'm going to move on to some gripes I have with the album. Although I appreciate the story and sympathise with whether it is true or not, 'Judge Judy' just doesn't really hit sonically. I can't quite get into this style of Tyler's half singing, half rapping. The way he executed it on 'Wharf Talk' was much more effective to me. Also I don't quite understand the narrative connection 'Rah Tah Tah' has to the rest of the album. I love the song, I think it brings so much energy and hype to the beginning of the album but it kinda just feels like a brash, braggadocio extract with no real deeper connection to the rest of the album. My last gripe is with the singing at the beginning of Tomorrow. I get that he sang this way to emphasise his emotions, I just don't like how it sounds.

The rest of the album sonically is beautiful. Tyler's singing on songs like 'Take Your Mask Off' and 'Darling, I' is absolutely fantastic, the more brash and energetic songs that I previously mentioned are all unbelievable and his production is more unorthodox and innovative than ever like shown on 'I Killed You' and 'Balloon'.

To conclude, this is a beautiful look into Tyler's true being. Tyler is more open and honest than he has ever been before. And whether all of these topics and stories discussed are true or not (I would assume they are), we get a good look into Tyler's morality and true character. This is Tyler's boldest, most personal and introspective effort yet, incorporating the theme of change into every aspect of it whether it's the changing of tradition in 'Tomorrow', a change of perception in 'Like Him', a change of lifestyle where more responsibility is required in 'Hey Jane' or even a change of perspective as shown in 'Take Your Mask Off'. This is by far Tyler's most ambitious work conceptually whilst still taking stylistic and artistic risks at the same time, which I commemorate highly.