Having not dropped a full length album in three years, Tyler, The Creator has followed up with one of his most personal entries in his entire discography. With the album duration coming in at 53 minutes, in the 14 songs Tyler reflects and explores in detail his experiences as the child of a single mother, and the way this has affected him.
Compared with his last project “Call Me If You Get Lost” where Tyler was rapping his heart out, “Chromakopia” is more of the intersection in a venn diagram between the rapping and beats of “Call Me If You Get Lost” with the melodies and harmonies of his infamous 2019 “Igor” album. Similar to his last projects, he is yet again producing, writing, and arranging every song found on his new album. Every drum part, every music sample, every arpeggiated synthesizer– it’s all played by him. Tyler’s “jack of all trades” qualities invoke musicians like Kevin Parker (the man behind the Psychedelic-rock act “Tame Impala”).
Similar to Tame Impala’s previous album, “The Slow Rush,” Tyler, The Creator is also reflecting on the presence of time in his life. Specifically how the sayings his mother said influenced the way that he lives his life in his 30s — which play at the beginning and throughout many songs on the album, featuring mantras like “Don’t you ever dim your light for nobody.”
From how he feels empowered to be himself on “St. Chroma,” to how he’s paranoid about his fans on “Noid,” Tyler delves into the struggles that shaped his life. “Darling, I” unpacks how he cannot commit to a singular person, and on the track “Like Him,” he shares raw emotions, describing how he feels about his father —Tyler is pulling back the curtains and inviting us to learn a little bit more about why he is the way he is.
The features on the album reflect a lot of the popular voices in hip hop: GloRilla, Sexyy Red, Doechii, Lil Wayne and Teezo Touchdown alongside harmonies and vocals sung by Daniel Caesar and Lola Young. Like his last few albums, there is no one genre you can classify “Chromakopia” as. It has hard 808 bass drums and heavy drum beats that feel like the popular rap played in a lot of clubs, but it will mix this with great R&B harmony sections and breakdowns similar to Zhane and Janet Jackson, tying this all together with the kinds of electronic synthesizers found on a Brian Eno album.
New to his music, is the inclusion of the guitar on most tracks on the album; though Tyler has had guitar on many albums before, this album features it more than ever. Whether it’s a sample like on “Noid,” or ”Tomorrow,” where it’s the main skeleton of the track, Tyler’s guitar feels like it’s indicative of the more mellow perspective he has towards life in general.
At the listening party for the album that he did at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Tyler, the Creator explained to the crowd how he feels like everybody around him is having children and he just has his cars to think about. This is mentioned on tracks like “Tomorrow.” This level of personal reflection has not been apparent on any of his albums since “Flower Boy.”
It’s unclear what the name of the album references. By definition, “Chromakopia,” simply means “many colors;” However, it seems Tyler is pulling inspiration from the book “The Phantom Tollbooth” which features a character named “Chroma the Great.”
In this book, Chroma’s job is to conduct the orchestra with his color-coded music book. Chroma is responsible for the colors of the sky, conducting not only its appearance, but also the weather it brings. This checks out based on the very first teaser for this album in the music video for “St. Chroma,” where the colors change from a sepia-tone to vivids at the beat drop.
The way Chroma needs to conduct the orchestra seems like both a gift and a curse. Paralleling to Tyler, on “Darling, I” he delves into his feeling of fear that he is going to end up alone with his Grammys. Similar to what artists like Chappell Roan and Charli XCX have talked about, he is not trying to come off as ungrateful, but is making it clear that this success is really draining — taking the listener on a rollercoaster of emotions. .
Similar to Kendricl Lamar’s album “Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers,” this album begins and ends with the sound of stomping approaching — footsteps getting louder and louder with each note. Simultaneously, listeners hear the album title, “Chromakopia,” shouted repeatedly under the sound of the loud footsteps in the distance.
Both Lamar’s album and “Chromakopia” feel like therapy sessions. Tyler actually references Lamar by name on the second track “Rah Tah Tah” where he says “The biggest out the city after Kenny, that’s a fact now.”
From there it twists and turns from the hip-hop adjacent tracks like “St. Noid,” which features a super unique and addictive African sample, to the more R&B pop songs like “Darling, I.” Songs like “Hey Jane” and “Judge Judy” are him in storyteller mode talking about a potential high school pregnancy and his first experiences of intimacy with a girl.
Throughout the entire album he wrestles with himself and his reputation through tracks like “I killed you” and “Take Your Mask Off.” Following the album’s progression, the climax of everything happens on “Like Him” — a beautiful ballad directed to his mother about how he chases “a ghost” of who his father seemed to be.
Coming out of the emotional extremes of “Like Him,” the track “Balloons” feels like Tyler, featuring Doechii, are celebrating the empowerment of living freely.
And this all ends gorgeously with the synth-heavy “I Hope You Find Your Way Home.” A beautiful note to close the album with as its instrumental fades into a gorgeous melancholic lead.
But that’s not to say that the album isn’t a lot of fun. Tracks like “Thought I was Dead” and “Sticky” are all out bangers featuring rappers like Schoolboy Q and Sexyy Red.
In his new album, Tyler is intent on making something full of hidden meanings. With each listen of the album, more is unearthed, leading listeners to have a fuller understanding of its message.
“Chromakopia” could feel repetitive for veteran listeners of the musician’s work as, at times, the tracklisting feels very similar to “Call Me If You Get Lost.” However, it is clear from this album that his consistency will always be the quality that sticks out. In the same way that fans of filmmaker Wes Anderson appreciate the strong recognizable style he imbues with every film, Tyler does the same thing with every album he puts out.
Verdict: Nobody strings chords together this way. And puts them over these beats. And sings over them like this. Or mixes like this. Or assembles the cast of musicians like this. Tyler, The Creator and his art are one of a kind.
