Tyler, the Creator, IGOR, Album Review
Tyler, the Creator
IGOR
Album Review
It is finally here! Tyler, the Creators fifth studio album IGOR is arguably garnering more attention that any other 2019 album, with many reviews and reactions as well as his surprise London gig (which would've been his first UK show in 5 years but unfortunately got shut down by police). If the question was is his album deserving of all this hype? My answer would be absolutely!
After being announced quite suddenly, with me only knowing IGOR was coming at the beginning of the month, I was very excited to listen to this one. My excitement stemmed from this album being the successor to the 2017 masterpiece Flower Boy, as well as how good the tracks sounded when Tyler gave us very brief snippets of songs in the form of his teaser videos.
Tyler has never ceased to be ahead of the game when it comes to his musical curveballs and the sheer amount of innovation that is poured into his albums. It certainly doesn't stop with IGOR either. Even when he could've easily copy and pasted what was to be expected into this new record. But Tyler instead decided to present us once again with something refreshingly new.
The best way I could describe this album would be that it takes just a little bit of influence from Flower Boy, blends that with a more urban aesthetic and makes it far more melody-focused and minimal.
Tyler, the creator is in a wonderful situation in which he is able to blend into the background a little more. In a sense this is quite apparent on this latest effort, but in the best way imaginable.
My first impression of the album was that I appreciated this more minimal feel as it came across as a nice change from the deep and immersive production of Flower Boy. But despite being more simplistic, it still succeeds in being completely infectious.
Narrative-wise, this album is more love-focused, with the majority of lyrics sounding like they're coming from a heartbroken 80's vocalist. With tracks like "I DON'T LOVE YOU ANYMORE" and "ARE WE STILL FRIENDS?", it should be easy to get the gist.
One of the best things to say about this album is that it's incredibly colourful aesthetically even despite its melancholy lyrical material. Each track is almost glistening in its production and this should help IGOR to become an essential summer album of 2019.
I absolutely love this album. However, judging from the type of praise this album has been receiving and even Tyler himself claiming that IGOR is his personal favourite, there are probably some unpopular opinions of mine which I need to address.
Firstly, I absolutely adore each and every song, minus "ARE WE STILL FRIENDS" and "EARFQUAKE". I call this an unpopular opinion mainly because of "EARFQUAKE" specifically. This single is the first to get a full-fledged music video, and the video itself is hilarious.
While I would still consider "EARFQUAKE" to be a catchy single in its own right, I find it to lack that kind of punch for it to stay with me. Sure it sounds real pretty, but it's also quite repetitive at times. This isn't a terrible song in the slightest; its just...meh.
As for the second unpopular opinion, I kind of regard this album in a similar way I regard Kendrick's DAMN. In other words, I think it would've been near impossible for IGOR to truly surpass Flower Boy the same way t was impossible for DAMN to top To Pimp a Butterfly. What IGOR has achieved however is probably the most ideal thing that could've happened; IGOR feels completely different aesthetically to Flower Boy in a neutral sense (neither good or bad). This new album instead has more resemblance to Tylers 2015 masterpiece Cherry Bomb.
With those unpopular opinions out of the way, I can now rave about the sheer amount of incredible tracks on this thing. I previously mentioned how colourful this albums sound is. And quite frankly, I think this is something Tyler has always delivered with each and every album. But the slightly more minimalist approach helps this become more apparent on IGOR.
Every track, other than the second and last songs as well as the interlude, I have kept on my playlist. Each of these tracks have their own unique flare and together, create a wide variety of different moods.
Specifically, the mid section of the album is really the hight point for me. Tracks 5,6 and 7 are certainly the most infectious for me. You have the dazzling and wondrous "RUNNING OUT OF TIME", the bass-boosted banger "NEW MAGIC WAND" and the incredibly soulful "A BOY IS A GUN". Between these three songs, a clear favourite is yet to be decided. However, I am a complete sucker for this section of IGOR.
In short, I feel in love with this album instantly by a fair amount anyway. But I really am starting to feel like this album is growing on me even more to the point where it could just be number 1. I feel like the upcoming summer really is going to do this album justice. And after that, I may just deem it as the finest work from Tyler yet.
My first impression of the album was that I appreciated this more minimal feel as it came across as a nice change from the deep and immersive production of Flower Boy. But despite being more simplistic, it still succeeds in being completely infectious.
Narrative-wise, this album is more love-focused, with the majority of lyrics sounding like they're coming from a heartbroken 80's vocalist. With tracks like "I DON'T LOVE YOU ANYMORE" and "ARE WE STILL FRIENDS?", it should be easy to get the gist.
One of the best things to say about this album is that it's incredibly colourful aesthetically even despite its melancholy lyrical material. Each track is almost glistening in its production and this should help IGOR to become an essential summer album of 2019.
I absolutely love this album. However, judging from the type of praise this album has been receiving and even Tyler himself claiming that IGOR is his personal favourite, there are probably some unpopular opinions of mine which I need to address.
Firstly, I absolutely adore each and every song, minus "ARE WE STILL FRIENDS" and "EARFQUAKE". I call this an unpopular opinion mainly because of "EARFQUAKE" specifically. This single is the first to get a full-fledged music video, and the video itself is hilarious.
While I would still consider "EARFQUAKE" to be a catchy single in its own right, I find it to lack that kind of punch for it to stay with me. Sure it sounds real pretty, but it's also quite repetitive at times. This isn't a terrible song in the slightest; its just...meh.
As for the second unpopular opinion, I kind of regard this album in a similar way I regard Kendrick's DAMN. In other words, I think it would've been near impossible for IGOR to truly surpass Flower Boy the same way t was impossible for DAMN to top To Pimp a Butterfly. What IGOR has achieved however is probably the most ideal thing that could've happened; IGOR feels completely different aesthetically to Flower Boy in a neutral sense (neither good or bad). This new album instead has more resemblance to Tylers 2015 masterpiece Cherry Bomb.
With those unpopular opinions out of the way, I can now rave about the sheer amount of incredible tracks on this thing. I previously mentioned how colourful this albums sound is. And quite frankly, I think this is something Tyler has always delivered with each and every album. But the slightly more minimalist approach helps this become more apparent on IGOR.
Every track, other than the second and last songs as well as the interlude, I have kept on my playlist. Each of these tracks have their own unique flare and together, create a wide variety of different moods.
Specifically, the mid section of the album is really the hight point for me. Tracks 5,6 and 7 are certainly the most infectious for me. You have the dazzling and wondrous "RUNNING OUT OF TIME", the bass-boosted banger "NEW MAGIC WAND" and the incredibly soulful "A BOY IS A GUN". Between these three songs, a clear favourite is yet to be decided. However, I am a complete sucker for this section of IGOR.
In short, I feel in love with this album instantly by a fair amount anyway. But I really am starting to feel like this album is growing on me even more to the point where it could just be number 1. I feel like the upcoming summer really is going to do this album justice. And after that, I may just deem it as the finest work from Tyler yet.
Thank you for reading
Booth Boy
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