Tyler Okoma, better known as Tyler, the Creator has dropped the first album in 3 years. It was released the 28th of October and is titled ‘Chromakopia’. We all know that Tyler primarily talks about things like love, identity, and personal struggles with the spin of alternative, hip-hop, jazz, and R&B elements. So what makes this album so different than the rest? Well, as we all know Tyler is getting older as he is in his early 30’s and this is a theme that he mostly talks about in this album. This also is an explanation of why it took an extra year to get an album released. So, here we talk about some of his most personal and emotional songs on the album and the meaning by them.
Darling, I-
Explores a raw romantic perspective of commitment, love, and freedom in those relationships. He expresses that the topic of ‘forever’ causes him to pull back from long term relationships as it is overwhelming and scary.
I Killed You-
‘I Killed You’ expresses a universal theme of difficult and complex connections that black people have with their hair. The song represents how wearing their hair naturally is problematic and looked down upon in the social world. To protect themselves from this, they will end up ruining their hair just to hide their natural curls. This song is so important for those with curls and coils because it gives them reassurance that they belong and they are not alone through this cruel society and their loathing of what is natural.
Tomorrow-
Talks about how Tyler is growing up and getting older. He talks about kids and how the topic stresses him out as the thought of ‘settling down’ freaks him out. People are so attached to him as an artist and he explains in his song that the old Tyler that everyone knew him as is just a memory.
Like Him-
The songs represents Tyler finding the hard truth about his father and why he is absence in his life. The song is in the perspective of Tyler talking to his mother in which he explains that he is chasing his dads presence even though it will never come. He wants to know if he is similar to his father, asking repeatedly in the song, ‘do I look like him?’ At the end the song Tyler’s mother tells him the truth and what sounds like a voice over of her own. She apologizes for driving Tyler’s father out of his life and restricting his involvement. She explains how she was young and takes full fault for what she did.
