“CHROMOKOPIA,” like any Tyler, The Creator album, has a healthy mix of bangers and slower, more melodic songs, but this is definitely the most introspective Tyler’s lyrics have ever been. Whether he’s simply bragging about his wealth or rapping about a pregnancy scare, he does it with a level of maturity that hasn’t really been seen from him yet.
After an incredible three-track run to open the album, we’re hit with the song “Darling, I.” In this song, Tyler raps about his issues with commitment and how, though he might like to settle down at some point, he knows he wouldn’t be able to. The production of this song features some light synths, tongue clicks reminiscent of Snoop Dogg’s “Drop It Like It’s Hot” and backing vocals from Teezo Touchdown that help texture the song.
The eighth song, “Sticky,” is one of the hardest-hitting songs on this album. Tyler, Glorilla, Sexxy Red and Lil Wayne all float on a beat composed of whistles, quiet twinkling sounds and deafening bass. Every verse, despite how short they are, is fire. However, this song’s most impressive feat is that it features a pronoun-bar that not only doesn’t give me secondhand embarrassment by just listening to it but is actually well-written and honestly really funny.
“Like Him” features Tyler singing in a falsetto for the majority of the song about his father. Tyler can’t stop comparing himself to his father despite never knowing him. The end of the song features two crucial points in Tyler’s struggle with his absent father. The first is the line “I don’t look like him.” Throughout the song, Tyler asks if he looks like his father, but this line signifies that it doesn’t matter to him anymore. The second crucial point is a voicemail of sorts from Tyler’s mother, who shares that she’s the reason Tyler never had his father in his life, as she wouldn’t let him.
“CHROMOKOPIA” is another great addition to Tyler, The Creator’s already stellar discography and shows him pushing forward with an unseen level of maturity. Despite him being 15 years deep into his professional career, Tyler still finds ways to blow his fans away and it doesn’t look like he’ll stop anytime soon.
