CHROMAKOPIA, released on Oct. 28, is Tyler, the Creator’s most authentic album yet, following 2023’s CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST: The Estate Sale. Typically, Tyler adopts a new “character” for each album cycle, such as Igor for his 2019 album of the same name, or Wolf Haley on his earlier albums Wolf and Goblin. By taking on these different personas, Tyler is able to honestly explore different aspects of himself and his musical sensibilities without being overly vulnerable. In the music video for “Sorry Not Sorry,” the closing track of The Estate Sale, Tyler kills off all of the alter egos that served as the protagonists of his previous albums, a symbolic gesture that represents how he is finally accepting that he needs to be himself in his music.
However, leaving his characters behind is not an easy feat for Tyler. On the album’s cover, he is seen donning a mask of his own face, demonstrating how he cannot help but hide even when he is trying to unveil his true self through his music. This is the most prevalent theme of Tyler’s newest album: Grappling with his rise to fame while also embracing who he is. Even though he takes on the persona of St. Chroma—a masked military figure who is seemingly another protagonist—in the album’s music videos, I interpreted CHROMAKOPIA as him abandoning the use of characters to tell his story—and finally telling it himself.
Despite continuing to mask himself on this album, Tyler dives into his emotionally fraught upbringing in the song “Like Him.” Singing to his mother—whose voice is featured in interludes throughout the album—Tyler asks if she resembles his estranged father. “Like Him” is a follow-up to his 2013 song “Answer,” which deals with the resentment Tyler feels towards his father for abandoning him when he was a child, while also wondering if his father would be there for him in times of need. However, on “Like Him,” his mother admits to being the reason why Tyler didn’t have his father in his life, thus turning the page on a topic that has long haunted his work. As a longtime fan of Tyler, this song is a heartbreaking listen, and it is one of the deepest looks into Tyler’s life we’ve gotten since “Answer.”
Though “Like Him” is the album’s biggest standout, other songs such as “St. Chroma,” “NOID,” “Take Your Mask Off,” and “Sticky” are all well done lyrically and from a production standpoint. “St. Chroma” explores Tyler’s inner confidence and his desire for success with backing vocals from Daniel Caesar, while “NOID” details his constant paranoia stemming from being a star in today’s world. “Take Your Mask Off” urges others to embrace themselves as Tyler does on this album, and “Sticky” is a fun, upbeat listen with features from Lil Wayne, Sexyy Red, and GloRilla, placed in the middle of the album amongst some of the heavier themes. The closing track, “I Hope You Find Your Way Home,” is eerie and slow, closing with chants of the album’s title that make it linger with the listener long after the final notes.
Though Tyler has often felt he has had to hide his true self away, CHROMAKOPIA lets fans see behind both the literal and metaphorical masks he has worn over the years. It’s a degree of candour we haven’t heard since 2019’s IGOR, which was largely based upon a previous heartbreak he experienced. CHROMAKOPIA is Tyler at his most vulnerable.
