The true Tyler the Creator has finally appeared. When I say that I don’t mean he was somebody else for his other albums, but this has been the Tyler many people were waiting for sonically since Cherry Bomb released 4 years ago. Igor is basically a very mature Cherry Bomb.
Igor was kind of a surprise album with it being announced only a week before its release date. Many people including myself speculated who would be featured on the album and how it would sound. We were expecting Flower Boy, but we got something way better from the Pharrell pupil. Filled with 12 tracks all written, produced and arranged by Tyler himself. The night before its release Tyler posted on social media stating “This is not like any other album I have released, do not go into this thinking its a rap album. Jump into it don’t skip a song and don’t look for features, take a car ride or lay in your bed and just let the music paint the picture for you”, and honestly Tyler was right this album is a big storyline from beginning to end.
Igor is a story of the highs and lows of Tyler’s past relationship. It starts just like any other relationship you first fall in love with the person,( The honeymoon phase) and now you’re trying to show the person why they should love you. Then come the complications and hardships many of us go through. The next part of the album Tyler talks of having to share the person because not only was this person fronting on him but now there is somebody else in the picture. Disclaimer alert we don’t know if Tyler is talking about a boy or girl he is trying to fall in love with, so maybe this person is still hiding their secret and that’s the reason they are playing with Tyler emotional. Tyler then sees them together and has thoughts of killing him or her so he can have his lover to himself. Tyler afterward plea’s to his lover what they would like for him to do. Many of us have been in this position because we are so in love with the person we put their happiness above ours even though that isn’t mentally healthy for us. But soon after Tyler comes to his senses and realizes he’s better off without this person, and tells them I hope the person you with knows they will never be better than me( Classic line by ever heartbroken person). Tyler is ready to leave and is fine with how things played out because he finally found peace in the situation. It ends as most of these situations do, can we be friends? Tyler wonders if they can be friends after everything has happened. This is the comically sense of unhealthy relationships, the person hurt the most always wants to stay friends. But we both know it never works out that way.
This is sonically the best album Tyler has ever released. IGOR is cohesive and the story is relatable to everybody no matter their background. I reframed from listing the tracklist or even the features because some are more evident than others. If you ever been through a situation like this you will quickly be caught following the album like a book. Each track will evoke a different memory or emotion and that is what makes this a top 5 album of the year candidate. You can stream IGOR on all music platforms.