Over a succinct and thrilling twelve-day rollout for his new album, Tyler Okonma — better known as “Tyler, the Creator” — excited fans with a cross-country promotional eighteen-wheeler. The campaign included uncanny visuals of a masked Tyler, both in the album cover and music videos to two lead-up singles. In the waking hours of Monday, October 28, the rollout culminated in the release of “CHROMAKOPIA”, his eighth studio album. The project provides a snapshot of his internal confusion between a challenged upbringing and adult stardom, packaged into a discombobulating, 53 minute-long musical experience.
With the biggest first-day streaming rap debut of 2024, reception to the album has been immensely positive. Dominating streaming platforms since its release, “CHROMAKOPIA” is projected to top 250,000 sales and the album has already earned Tyler his third No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 chart.
Tyler, the Creator is known for his boundary-pushing and experimental take on hip-hop. This latest album — written, produced, and arranged by the artist himself — is no different. The album includes a constant exploration of unique and unconventional sounds and samples. While Tyler stays true to his musical roots, the emotional depths he reaches on this album truly set it apart from the rest of his discography.
Sonically, no track is much like another, cascading between soft and delicate tracks of reminisce, to upbeat and nostalgic songs of love, to abrasive and booming displays of confidence.
The introductory track “St. Chroma” is a standout. After some opening narration, Tyler’s ominous and whispered verse enters on a militaristic beat of stomps, which eventually makes way for the featured artist Daniel Caesar’s choir-like and melodic chorus. A bridge of muffled yet intense drums takes the audience into the last minute of the song, where Tyler delivers a strong verse, presenting some of the album’s lyrical themes. “St. Chroma” is harmonious, transcendent and confident, serving as a perfect introduction to the rest of the album.
Additionally, the fourth track, “Darling, I,” is a soulful standout with its emotive lyrics, gentle piano chords and groovy tongue clicks. The song is a thorough reflection on Tyler’s perspective on love, commitment and romance in general. He grapples with his ambivalence towards monogamy and the complexity of romantic relationships given his artistic success, while still maintaining an upbeat and affectionate aesthetic. The track’s dreamy high notes and floating vocals that accompany these contemplations make it a highlight on “CHROMAKOPIA”.
Not every song reaches these heights, though. The track “I Killed You,” for example, mixes a folksy guitar with bongo-like drums, making a beat that is more confusing than it is enjoyable. On track seven, “Judge Judy,” Tyler takes a more laid back vocal approach, but rather than sounding relaxed he comes off sounding uncharacteristically mundane.
Regardless, fans will overall be pleased with what Tyler’s delivered musically on “CHROMAKOPIA”. Its blend of distorted guitars, lush pianos, chilling synths and soothing melodies contrasted with domineering and sometimes unruly vocals is sure to captivate and confound listeners alike.
Unlike his previous projects “IGOR” and “CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST” — albums in which Tyler uses fictitious characters and storylines to mirror his emotional state — there is no alter-ego whom the stories of the album are attributed to on “CHROMAKOPIA.” The new record is arguably Tyler’s most lyrically true-to-life and raw work yet, leaving no need for a middle-man character to convey his midlife woes.
At a recent Atlanta show, Tyler addressed the album's honesty.
"This is the first album where everything I said is true,” the artist said. “It's so honest, that I think I had to wear a mask of my own face to get some of it out," referring to the album cover and aesthetics of the music videos.
Deeply personal themes and stories, such as his fear of fatherhood and his mother’s influence in his life, run their course through the entirety of the album. Perhaps one of the most intimate tracks in his entire discography, “Hey Jane” — titled after a reproductive healthcare clinic — vividly recounts a pregnancy scare from the perspectives of both Tyler and his then-partner. The raw and unfiltered nature of "Hey Jane" showcases a level of vulnerability and honesty rarely seen in mainstream music.
Tyler’s mother, Bonita Smith, provides words of advice and assurance about Tyler’s relationship struggles and personal insecurities throughout the project, with a brief and unvarnished narration on each track. Her narration on “St. Chroma” constitutes the first words spoken on the album, where she says “you are the light / it's not on you, it's in you / don't you ever in your life dim your light for nobody." Her words inspire the creative confidence we hear out of Tyler on later tracks.
These complex themes don’t necessarily lend themselves to casual listening. The quality of production familiar to Tyler enthralls the listener, but the lyrical content demands more than a casual listen. It is heartfelt and genuine, and it is clear that the creation of “CHROMAKOPIA” could’ve been a therapeutic process. It is best to be cognizant of that during the project’s 53 minute runtime.
The otherworldly music videos for the album’s lead-up singles tell compelling stories in their own right, with their grayscale and sepia tones and dream-like sequences. Track eleven, “Thought I Was Dead,” presents Tyler at his most confident and braggadocious, rapping in an army general’s getup atop a military cargo plane. Track three, “Noid,” paints a picture of the assumed need for constant vigilance in his life, as fanatics approach him with potential threats, and strangers seemingly trail his car, just for it all to be hallucinated in the end. It stands out thematically, visually depicting the paranoia he faces in life as a public figure.
“CHROMAKOPIA” is a remarkable testament to Tyler, the Creator’s emotional and artistic evolution, highlighting his ability to push the boundaries of rap and hip-hop. Its unprecedentedly introspective lyricism, genre-bending production and surreal visuals forge an experience that surpasses auditory sensation. The mask he wears throughout the project’s artwork serves as both a shield and a lens through which he examines his most vulnerable truths.
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