Man, Tyler's production. Feel like it's got so mature and crispy over the years. He knows exactly what he wants. Sometimes that's annoying. Feel like every album has a song like Hey Jane where he just goes in on some concept over a sparse beat. He has his ways, he creates his worlds, sometimes it feels formulaic but this album really surprised me. As someone whose not really a fan of the character thing he does like on Igor, I was hesitant about this when the first video dropped, but pleasantly surprised when the character was just a masked up version of himself. He calls this his most personal album and you can tell.
What do you do when your victory lap earns you another Grammy? Tyler, The Creator’s latest album delivers an undeniably personal experience—a raw, unfiltered invitation into his world, his Chromakopia.
In this album, Tyler embodies a new persona that walks us through an existential journey, colored by the pressures and milestones of an artist nearing middle age. From grappling with a pregnancy scare and the looming possibility of fatherhood to the relentless drive to create, Tyler confronts the expectation to distill his most intimate moments into art for immediate online scrutiny. Themes of mortality, creativity, and vulnerability weave together in what feels like his most expansive work yet.
In the end, I’m left wondering whether this album… More
(listens to a pretty heavy album while having a hard day and doesn't know what to think about any of it) ... (gets to "Balloon") ooh this is fun! I'd better add it to my playlist
I keep expecting Tyler to serve the immeasurable high that was Flower Boy but end up being somewhat disappointed. He is a visionary, granted, but 2017 had something magic for music released that year. That, or everything was great because I was 18.
For me, to give an opinion on hip-hop is like giving an opinion about a private joke of a group of friends you’ve just joined. I’ve yet to go with the Genius booklet to layer albums like this one.
That said, the whole campaign and art direction pointed to a masterpiece and it’s been a little disappointing for me. The first half is as pompous or more so as you’d expect from Tyler, but the soul and RnB skirmishes are still good.
It’s just that, lyrically and thematically, I think I was going to sense more intense depth charges than I’m getting on several listens. Still, Tyler’s voice is one of my favourites… More
it’s undeniable that Tyler is a musical and creative genius and production-wise, i massively enjoyed the arrangements, the exploration and versatility of his bars. maybe he set the bar too high with the flower boy-igor-cmigyl run because this didn’t hit the way i wanted it to.
I'm not enjoying it as much as his last three records but what I always love and appreciate about Tyler is that you can see he's not just a rapper or a good producer, he is a music lover and is not afraid to mix genres and take ideas from here and there in a way that sounds cohesive, natural, original and impessive at the same time.
Just maybe this time the flow's a bit heavier or gets a bit lost sometimes but maybe with more listens I'll end up living It more.
I think that Chromakopia is a very good album, reflecting on a lot of his life conducted by his mother’s advices. It has a great opening with very very smooth transitions for the 3 first songs: St. Chroma, Rah Tah Tah and Noid.
My favorite out of them all has to be Darling, I, which could hypothetically be the new See You Again previously released on Flower Boy.
I've heard that this is Tyler's Mr. Morale, and from a vulnerability perspective, I sort of agree. This record is definitely chalk full of experimentation, but is not overall pushing any envelopes forward like his last trilogy did. I'm a big fan of how the album starts out with "St. Chroma" through "Darling, I", with "Take Your Mask Off" and "Thought I Was Dead" being other highlights, which showcases Tyler's ability to get the most out of his features. Unfortunately, where this album falls short of his last three: it's actually more scattered and inconsistent in flow and is lacking some of Tyler's magic, which is surprising given how intentional he usually is in crafting his music as an album… More
I have to admit that I wasn't really into Tyler when he first burst on the scene, I really did not get the whole thing and resisted the hype way too much, but he definitely won me over with some impressive muisic over the years.
His stuff is pretty unique in a genre where people are very afraid of getting too far away from what's hot this year and even in chromakopia he's ranging far and wide from soul r&b to rock and hardcore rap, there's literally a little bit of everything.
It's still a little bit too scattershot for me personally, there's moments I love a lot and others I don't, but it's yet again an impressive… More
Being the size of Tyler, you only need a week to market your upcoming album before release. When i describe Tyler, the Creator to someone, I always say that there is a Tyler song for everyone. My songs are on IGOR and always will be! But Chromakopia is expressive and powerful in a new way! it’s still Tyler in every way but it’s clear that his style has progressed and evolved in the past 7 albums. With the massive drums, big subs and, of course, Tyler’s awesome vocals; this album stands on its own two feet and creates a new soundscape that will rank quite highly in his discography for me.