This week Undertone invites special guest and music lover Alex Walden for a look into what makes Tyler, the Creator’s critically acclaimed 2019 album IGOR so special.
It has been two years since the artist Tyler, the Creator dropped his fifth studio album, IGOR. Despite the project’s age, the album remains on heavy rotation within my playlist – it’s even been a topic of conversation for my friends who don’t usually listen to “urban music”. With features from Playboi Carti, Lil Uzi Vert, Solange, Charlie Wilson and even Kanye West, it’s no surprise that IGOR is widely regarded as Tyler’s greatest project to date, but the question is, how has IGOR remained trending despite being in a such a fast-paced world where fans, raised on YouTube and bite sized media, demand new music all the time?
It’s different yet still Tyler
It’s no secret that Tyler isn’t your usual ‘inside-the box’ thinker or ‘by the numbers’ musician. You simply have to take a look at his incredibly explicit lyrics from previous projects and YouTube compilations of him being his usual self to understand how he isn’t your typical artist. Even so, when listening to IGOR you get this sense of maturity compared to his other projects. IGOR feels more refined – as if his previous projects were him finding and developing his style and this album is the culmination of that process. Long gone are the days of Tyler using explicit lyrics for shock value about sex and stalking. With IGOR, Tyler gives us a new sound of vulnerability and true emotions being expressed about Tyler’s turbulent ‘situationship’ with a significant other and the mental effects of becoming insanely in love with someone. Despite this transformation, we still get the classic Tyler style of hyper-aggressive songs mixed with slow, soul-inspired music accompanied by heavy reverb.
The Storyline
To any other normal music fan IGOR might just seem like an album which is different yet has a fun vibe to it, yet those who are properly able to dissect the meaning of IGOR understand how the album tells a story.
Tyler realises he has to do one of the hardest things in any relationship, which is to just move on from it. You can hear the personality shift.
The first half of the album tells a story of how Tyler falls into a seemingly fun ‘situationship’ which suddenly turns sour, leaving him heartbroken and confused. The effects are not good on Tyler, driving him to the point of considering killing both himself and his significant other so that they can finally be together. This marks the introduction of Tyler’s alter ego known as ‘IGOR’. The second half of the album signals the turning point when he realises how he feels controlled by this person who he desires the attention of so badly. This is also the point where Tyler realises he has to do one of the hardest things in any relationship, which is to just move on from it. You can hear the personality shift in the lyrics from when Tyler talks about how dependent he is on this person despite them not treating him the best (as shown in the track EARFQUAKE), to how he contemplates whether he and his lover can even remain friends after the diminishing effects of the relationship on ARE WE STILL FRIENDS?.
The Marketing
As noted above, we live in a world where fans are constantly craving new projects and there is a seemingly insatiable appetite for the new. In the past year we’ve seen the art of marketing rollouts create huge hype for upcoming projects whether it be music, video games or even the games consoles themselves. We only have to look at projects such as the videogame Cyberpunk 2077 and the album Whole Lotta Red to see how years’ worth of hype can lead to incredibly high expectations which no project is ever going to be able to satisfy. This inevitably leads to underwhelming results and disappointment from the fanbase, who can then become very vocal about it.
IGOR doesn’t fit into any particular aesthetic. You just have to throw yourself into it without any expectations.
Tyler, however, decided to take a different route. Instead of creating a huge following for this project, Tyler simply released two clips teasing new music and posted a tweet announcing the release of the album a week before its due date. The idea of not creating a large following in anticipation for the album was one of the best decisions Tyler could make. It left fans with the excitement of anticipating new music, yet they didn’t really know what they were going to get. Upon release Tyler was able to market the album perfectly. IGOR was able to become an image due to its simplistic yet extraordinary art style; I mean what else can you think of when you see a black guy in blond wig and a full suit with socks and sandals? Tyler brought signature concepts such as his erratic dance moves in his music videos, his VOTE IGOR merchandise and even his album cover, a poorly cut out picture of himself with his mouth open over a bright pink background.
With albums today, we’re not just sold some music, we’re sold an aesthetic. Whether it be a psychedelic theme park feel like Travis Scott’s ASTROWORLD or a punk rock vampire theme like in Playboi Carti’s Whole Lotta Red. Unlike these projects IGOR doesn’t fit into any particular aesthetic, and that’s the beauty of this album. You can’t listen to it expecting any particular vibe or emotion, you just have to throw yourself into it without any expectations. That’s what yields the best results.
IGOR‘S LEGACY AND WHAT’S NEXT
As for the legacy of the album, IGOR managed to rack up 172,000 sales in the first week and in the same week debuted at number one in the Billboard 200. The album also snagged a BET hip hop awards nomination and a Best Rap Album Grammy award before going gold, with the single EARFQUAKE going platinum. Most Tyler, the Creator fans regard IGOR to be his best work to date, for quite obvious reasons. Yet there’s always a problem when artists produce work to this level: what’s next? Is it possible for the artist to repeatedly produce work to this standard? And if so, how can it be better than a project like IGOR? Knowing Tyler, he’ll do it by doing something completely different to other major artists. We have no clue what the norm will be for the music industry in the next few years. For now all we can do is wait to be surprised. Whatever comes next, it’s sure to be far from mediocre.
Undertone 
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