{"id":6230,"date":"2021-08-07T20:19:30","date_gmt":"2021-08-07T20:19:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scadradio.org\/?p=6230"},"modified":"2021-08-07T20:19:59","modified_gmt":"2021-08-07T20:19:59","slug":"tyler-the-creator-explores-new-persona-on-latest-album","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scadradio.org\/2021\/08\/07\/tyler-the-creator-explores-new-persona-on-latest-album\/","title":{"rendered":"Tyler, the Creator Explores New Persona on Latest Album"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Tyler, the Creator has gone through a massive evolution over the course of his relatively short time in the public eye<\/a>. Artists that have been in the game for far longer than him have tried on fewer hats than Tyler. Part of this is marked by costume changes–throughout the years, album releases have started to coincide with fashion changes. With his past two (arguably three) releases, Tyler has adopted entirely new personas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His latest record, Call Me If You Get Lost, <\/em>details the life and times of Tyler Baudelaire, an eccentric and taste-making world traveller. Tyler\u2019s titular character from his previous album, Igor<\/em>, was more focused on the intricacies and pains of lost love–Baudelaire has his fair share of musings on this topic, but he also discusses his material wealth, and the growth and success that he\u2019s worked for.\u200b\u200b The beats are well-composed colllages of samples, chords, lead lines, and ad-libs. The music on Call Me <\/em>successfully illustrates the world that Tyler Baudelaire has constructed for himself. It\u2019s jazzy, sophisticated, and full of references to his world travels, but it also speaks to the vulnerability and pride that comes with being a renowned artist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The album subtly takes the listener on a journey through the narrative of Tyler\u2019s feelings about a complex relationship. After \u201cSIR BAUDELAIRE\u201d introduces us to his new persona, \u201cCORSO\u201d<\/a> jumps right into Tyler\u2019s emotions on a girl. Albeit vaguely, he outlines his position succinctly, \u201cLook, tried to take somebody bitch ’cause I’m a bad person\/I don’t regret shit because that (woo) worth it\/In the end, she picked him\u201d. He then goes on to explain that it\u2019s really alright, he can just purchase himself out of the pain that he\u2019s experiencing. \u201cWASYANAME\u201d tells an idealized tale of meeting this girl, with Tyler asking her about herself and explaining to her in an almost breathless way how he\u2019d seduce her. \u201cSWEET\/I THOUGHT YOU WANTED TO DANCE\u201d is a reflective ballad that describes the mixed messages received from his object of affection. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of these aforementioned songs give us glimpses of the full narrative behind this complicated affair. The penultimate track on Call Me, <\/em>\u201cWILSHIRE\u201d, brings to light the complete details of the alluded to relationship, outlining it from start to end. It\u2019s a rare moment in Tyler, the Creator\u2019s discography, which he even points out, saying \u201cI just try to keep anyone I care about in the shadows \/ Safe from the commentary and spotlight and thoughts \/ ‘Cause it’s just a story for the people outside of it \/ But I guess you’re just another chapter in the book\u201d. The song is one of the most vulnerable of his career, calling attention to the complications of personal relationships and the frustrating intricacies of being a public figure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As much as this album discusses this particular romantic situation, it also takes a really close look at Tyler\u2019s relationship with his fans. Inherently, being a public figure comes with challenges. People have expectations of you, your art, and everything else. Some want to be with you, others want to be you. It\u2019s often easy to forget that our favorite artists are, in fact, human beings, and Tyler seems to be finding himself dealing with critics and fans that are inconsiderate of his personhood. On the other hand, fans are the very reason for his success–in some ways, he\u2019s indebted to them for all that he has. \u201cMASSA\u201d recounts his humble beginnings and career, commenting on his early artistic output, pointing out how unfair it is that projects like Goblin <\/em>are still held over his head. \u201cMANIFESTO\u201d tackles similar themes, addressing calls from the public to take stances on political hot topics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRISE!\u201d, with it\u2019s Stereolab-esque chords, juxtaposes the confidence of success and the fear of losing it all–the verses have a self-assured bravado, describing the hard work that success has required, but the pre-chorus reveals a nervous compulsion to beg people to \u201cplease don\u2019t go, please just stay\u201d. This plea for perhaps fans and lovers alike to stay by his side successfully ties together the two major themes on the album. Bragging is often a form of protection from emotional vulnerability–a concept that Tyler has played with on his previous two albums. In \u201c911\/ Mr. Lonely\u201d off of Flower Boy<\/em>, he muses \u201cI say the loudest in the room \/ is prolly the loneliest in the room (that\u2019s me)\u201d, a direct call out of his own tendencies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although he may be struggling with similar subject matter, Tyler the Creator\u2019s artistic growth is indisputable. Album after album, he\u2019s created a different aesthetic world to fall into–no small feat. It seems like he\u2019ll only continue to climb for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tyler, the Creator has gone through a massive evolution over the course of his relatively short time in the public eye. Artists that have been in the game for far longer than him have tried on fewer hats than Tyler. Part of this is marked by costume changes–throughout the years, album releases have started to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":6231,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[265,530,32],"tags":[1118,928,1119,385,1120,662,972],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scadradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6230"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scadradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scadradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scadradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scadradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6230"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/scadradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6230\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6233,"href":"https:\/\/scadradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6230\/revisions\/6233"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scadradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scadradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scadradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scadradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}