CHROMAKOPIA, Tyler the Creator (7/10)

Ok great new album from Tyler the Creator dropped 10/28/24 w Columbia Records. I had to listen to it again twice more today to really solidify my thoughts, but here we are. It's a much more earnest album than any of his earlier ones in my opinion, and I think for that reason, I clocked it as corny the first time I listened which I didn't like lol. I think this came from lines like "I don't own you" in "Darling," where it felt to me like Tyler was on some kind of redemption arc for past cancellable songs. After reading and listening to some other takes, tho, the earnesty has grown on me. Even that song "Darling" that I just quoted has what I think is a real reckoning w Tyler's resistance to monogamy and also his flaws. There's also the whole fatherhood arc of the album, culminating in "Like Him" where it is revealed that Tyler's mom kept his dad from him (despite the prevalence of the absent father in Tyler's psyche and songs), which has given me goosebumps a couple times. I think the line between corny and vulnerable can be hard to toe, and I think he does slip into corny a couple times which is why I am giving this a 7 and not an 8, but overall a super solid album. Fav tracks: I Killed You, Like Him (feat. Lola Young), Sticky (feat. GloRilla, Sexxy Red & Lil Wayne)