Tyler, the Creator has made a great comeback with his new project Chromakopia. Tyler first teased the album in October when he released the video showing a part of “St. Chroma“, the first track. The singer’s creativity goes beyond when it comes to his art, and now Tyler has shown to the world a brand new era with a new persona attached to it.
The Chromakopia character brings a mystery to the album through its lack of expression, hiding his face behind the mask. Tyler has said during a concert in Atlanta that he gets so real throughout the album lyrics that the concept was that he is only able to show his vulnerability behind a mask of his own face.
With its third week in a row number one and lyrics stuck in everyone’s mind, as seen during Tyler’s set on the 10th edition of his own festival Camp Flog Gnaw, which happened on November 16th, Chromakopia stands out because of Tyler’s ability to tell stories making people relate to different parts of his character.
Chromakopia is for sure Tyler’s most raw album so far, where he shows sides of his mind and sensitivity never heard of before. The rapper’s narratives are followed by amazingly built melodies influenced by Okonma’s passion for creating unique music using resources such as voice, sounds produced by body, instruments and samples introduced by his mother’s voice, Bonita Smith, bringing dimension and dynamism to the tracks.
The Grammy winner artist brought out artists like Daniel Caesar, Doechii, Sexyy Red, Teezo Touchdown, Lil Wayne, Steve Lacy and even the Brazilian producer Pedro Martins to feature the songs. Tyler also has explored a side of his vocal ability in the songs, where he goes from rapping to falsettos and soft singing, making the songs even more interesting and powerful to hear.
Tyler runs through different aspects of his life experiences and fears related to his love life, growing up, impact of fame or even when he talks about hair in the “I Killed You” track. The rapper created moments throughout the album like he’s showing you a panorama of his thoughts and evolution, breaking a wall, revealing his inner self and what he had been holding back.
There are so many highlight moments in the album, but three of them feel like the strongest ones. In the track “Noid“, the singer shares his experience with fame and the harassment attached to it and how not being able to live a normal life can bring a sense of paranoia and persecution, which was very interestingly portrayed in the song’s music video, featuring the actress Ayo Edebiri.
Alongside, “Hey Jane” is an amazingly written and told story about the lyrical self discovering an unexpected pregnancy from his partner in a conversation dynamic, where Tyler and the woman are discussing how they’re taking the situation. The third moment is the peak of the rapper’s vulnerability in the album, “Like Him” addresses Tyler’s trauma related to not having a father figure while growing up and discovering a whole new reality after years of thinking that his dad never wanted to be there.
An extra aspect to highlight is the start and ending of Chromakopia, the way the singer opened the album with the phrase “You are the light / it’s not on you it’s in you” in St. Chroma and closed it with “Do your thing, just keep shinin’ / I hope you find your home” meaning that even with everything that he has been through, he’s still finding his way around the world and the paths he’s navigating in life, leading the listener to a sense of hope to find their own selves inspired by the main character of Chromakopia’s battles and discoveries with aging.
Go listen to Chromakopia and watch it’s brilliant music videos if you haven’t yet!
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The article above was edited by Victória Abreu.
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