Tyler the Creator is a rapper-singer-songwriter who has gained a lot of popularity in the past few years, stealing many people’s hearts with his meaningful lyrics and bubbly personality. After promising not to release an album this year, Tyler the Creator surprised fans with its release. CHOMAKOPIA marks Tyler’s 8th studio album, released on October 28, 2024, and it brings a new color (or shade) into Tyler’s past colorful style.
Similar to most of his past albums, CHROMAKOPIA follows a storytelling style. Tyler is currently 33 years old, so growing up and maturing is the main theme of the album. Throughout the whole album, Bonita Smith, Tyler’s mother, provides spoken interludes, offering him words of advice or explaining certain situations of his past. Since Tyler is older now, he seems to relate to his mother’s advice and leadership, seeing her as a light. The word light repeats countless times throughout the album, and it is used to represent creativity in a career that is filled with similar-sounding artists.
Chromakopia starts off with the song “St. Chroma,” which is the first introduction to a new character persona for Tyler, Saint Chroma. Throughout the whole album, Saint Chroma impersonates Tyler’s real-life journey of being able to separate his real personality from the one that people on the internet demand of him. Tyler contrasts slow songs with higher-upbeat songs, where he talks about confidence and pride in his current popularity.
As the album progresses, Tyler brings up themes of paranoia, romance and the dislike of the idea of long term commitment. One of the more trendy songs, “Sticky” has hyped beats and repetitive lyrics, quickly became a trending song on TikTok. The song features music artists such as Glorilla, Lil Wayne, and Sexyy Red. Each artist has a unique style, showing listeners that there is no need for artists to conform to a certain standard.
Arguably, one of the most important songs in the album is “Like Him.” Tyler had openly hated his father, who was absent his entire life. In this track, listeners discover that Tyler’s father genuinely desired to be a part of his life, but his mother, who was still “young and messing around,” prevented him from doing so. By the end of the song, his mother asks him for forgiveness for her mistakes, which he grants her. His mother concludes the album by expressing her pride in him.
‘CHROMAKOPIA’ is an emotional rollercoaster, as the audience gets a deeper dive into Tyler’s struggles with family, identity, and maturity. Fans are excited about Tyler’s future plans for his career as ‘CHROMAKOPIA’ adopts a much more vulnerable tone than any of his past studio albums.
