Tyler, the Creator intends Chromakopia to make the mundane poetic. But what for those who sit at home and work? For those who do not leave the house unless it is to stock up on chicken wrap ingredients or dull what little free time they have with the rage-inducing Call of Duty. That is no way to listen to this latest piece from the dynamic, chrome-washed chief. Sit in the vacant space of your home office and let the risible fears and wonders of Tyler, the Creator wash over you. Venturing outdoors with this album, to contemplate all its excess in the car or when mulling over everyday experiences, is the key. To pair it with your day-to-day duties. This is the intent and part of the brilliance found on Chromakopia. Respect for the listener actioned properly.
We do not need to reduce our sleep with a midnight wait. Make the nine-to-five palatable, instead. Chromakopia asks for honesty. For time. Chromakopia is not just about repositioning how we consume music or art but shaking the foundations. Why a Friday release? What purpose does it serve to drop a landfill-sized pile all in one day? We can pick through but the rest will be rotten by the time we get to it, the scraps of discourse for those who care completely unsalvageable. Pick two or three of your most interesting releases and move on. More artists are looking to challenge this. We need them to succeed. A Monday release from one of the world’s biggest artists is as bold a move as the music found within Chromakopia. Opener St. Chroma wastes no time at all in this fascinating worldbuilding. Whispered vocals with the militaristic-like march go a long way in the extensive world-building here. Those stomps never dim. Nor is the light and hope heard on this opener.
It bleeds well into the tensions and turmoil of Rah Tah Tah, a confident assessment of who Tyler, the Creator is, the public persona and person behind Chromakopia bleeding into one another. Chromakopia plays on the importance of image, of what it means to be hidden behind the mask and layers an artist can afford their fans. Their true self is in the lyrics and their attitude but not on show. Those subtleties are a reflex and defence for Tyler, the Creator – the panting and marching that underscores the likes of Noid feel like flickers of a life before fame. Yet in all of these terrors, in the moments Tyler, the Creator looks over his shoulder to make sure the shadows of his past aren’t following, come warm moments like Darling, I. In artistic rebirth comes a stripping back of what had made the likes of Call Me if You Get Lost and Igor so muddled. Choice features, lush instrumentals and layered backing vocals make all the difference.
Those soppy and almost warm, pop-like tones of Darling, I, are held together well and provide the necessary ballast for self-doubting pieces like Hey Jane. This is the defining Chromakopia moment. Meteoric in its defiance and desire to succeed and push against failure. You are your own worst enemy and the self-esteem shock on I Killed You, these doubts growing from unexpected parts of our lives, are what we must kill. How do we provide an antidote to those fears? This scratch and wail against ourselves. Judge Judy gets there. Never forget your roots. We may upend ourselves and move on to greener pastures but where we start is what forms us. Sticky singles this out – the disbelief at where we come from and where we end up is a marvellous piece of work, filled with wailing babies, backing vocalists and the slight noise of helicopters in the distance. All of it comes together as the sounds of the past, which Tyler, the Creator is clear about. It does not define us. How we react is what forms the future.
Chromakopia hints at a world of our making. The individual lives in their own experience, and all we can do is look on as those we feel we are better than succeed. And yet it is here that we can make our peace. Take Your Mask Off implores us to reveal what we desire all to the backdrop of a retro synth beat. What we want is never sinless and the overt sexualisation found within Tyler, the Creator’s lyrics manages to tiptoe around the usual moans of the genre and into a tender shock. Postpartum woes and the rough realities, the darker side of the world we shield ourselves from with these characters and masks, is all part of the Chromakopia worldbuilding. However you do it, Tyler, the Creator implores you to find your true self. Unpack the layers of irony and fear you have built up over the decades and figure out what makes you tick.
Delicate moments are the defining moment for Chromakopia. Its best bits are not in the rough edges or the brutal joys of a man spiralling into a world of his own making but in the songs where he resurfaces in the real world. We can dive deep into our psyche but Tyler, the Creator calls on us to be headstrong. Do not fall for the usual tropes of life. The settling down heard on Tomorrow is just one of the many examples of those pressures which push Tyler, the Creator and by extension those who find themselves in this song, further into their worlds. There is comfort in there and discomfort of an honest and often tender, occasionally acoustic experience, in Chromakopia. It is his most complete and earnest album offering because it relies on personable experiences and fears – all charted with such lyrical and emotional fluidity that each song is a treat even with the harsh point protruding. Go to war with yourself and see who comes out the victor. Chromakopia is a tremendous anthem for personal reinvention and a heartfelt offering from Tyler, the Creator.
