Chromakopia

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“I don’t like being put in a box. I just make music, you know?”

Tyler, the Creator entirely avoids this “box” with his new album, “CHROMAKOPIA”, playing polar opposite tracks like “Judge Judy” and “Sticky” back to back within the same project.

On October 16, Tyler took social media by storm, posting the first official teaser for his 8th studio album, set to release just 12 days later.

In typical Tyler fashion, he chose to release the album on a Monday at 6 a.m., rather than the industry standard Friday at midnight.

Because of the abnormal beginning-of-the-week release, the album was a hot topic everywhere. Social medias, streaming platforms, and even physical places like Lakeview High School.

With all the commotion about Tyler’s new project, one may begin to wonder: What is so special about this album?

Well, a lot, actually.

For one, this is the first project that Tyler, the Creator has released in an even-numbered year in over a decade. This may not seem special to many, but the breaking of a tradition that has been going on since 2009 is something that should be mentioned.

Another interesting topic in terms of “CHROMAKOPIA”, is the artist features.

On October 26, just two days before the album’s release, Tyler shocked his fanbase in his own Instagram comment section, simply stating, “no features *fire emoji*.” Obviously, fans had mixed reactions.

After the release of the album though, everyone discovered that Tyler was yet again, just being Tyler.

The feature list was STACKED, ranging from artists like Teezo Touchdown and Daniel Caesar singing background vocals in multiple beautifully produced tracks, all the way to artists like Glorilla, Sexyy Red, and Lil Wayne delivering undeniably the most unexpected performance on track 8, “Sticky”.

Taking a step back from the face value topics of “CHROMAKOPIA”, though, there is actually a lot to say for the messages Tyler sends with this new project.

Throughout the album, and even in the album art, Tyler maintains the theme of “taking the mask off”, a message that many may find to be useful in our current society.

Throughout his career, it is evident that Tyler has struggled with truly being himself, using characters as a way to tell the stories he wants to tell.

In this album though, Tyler uses the new character of “St. Chroma” to signify the end of the facades.

He takes many opportunites throughout this album to express his own disapproval of his past self, even going as far as to diss himself for his inability to accept his own sexuality for years.

In the chorus of “Take Your Mask Off”, Tyler makes the end of his, “faking”, apparent, repeating, “And I hope you find yourself / And I hope you take your mask off.”