![]() ![]() ![]() It’s common knowledge that Tyler, The Creator is a huge fan of Call Me By Your Name the Oscar-nominated adaptation of André Aciman’s novel. It’s as if the two personas are cooking up the album in a lab together, and toiling over how much to reveal in the final performance. ![]() The tension between the two voices hints at a nagging artistic dilemma weighing up the vulnerable sincerity of ‘Flower Boy’ against the shock factor that defined the rapper’s earlier material. On ‘PUPPET’ Kanye West appears to be acting as the voice of Igor: “You lost, son, and you’ve been tryna find your way to me” he snarls, in stark contrast to Tyler’s helpless verses. For every pitched up, helpless admission on ‘RUNNING OUT OF TIME’ drenched in sincerity, Igor is the meaner, lower register counterpoint. And rather than Igor representing the person Tyler’s in love with, it seems more likely that Igor represents the angrier side of heartbreak. “My eyes are green, I eat my veggies,” goes ‘NEW MAGIC WAND, “I need to get her out the picture”. In another visual, a stage performance of ‘NEW MAGIC WAND’ pans out to reveal a five audience members watching his gig in the desert.Īt its heart, ‘Igor’ is a heartbreak album, picking up the pieces of a love interest who leaves and chooses their girlfriend instead. The musician, sporting turquoise suit, bleach-blonde wig and sunnies, can only blurt out a nonsensical “yes”. Often, the visuals we’ve seen from ‘Igor’ examine performance: in the video for ‘EARFQUAKE’ Tracee Ellis Ross – playing a brilliantly gushing daytime telly host – says to Tyler “you are a performer, I understand. Likewise, there are two distinct voices on the record: often Tyler’s vocals are pitch-shifted into a higher register, but occasionally another distinct lower-register voice pops up. IGOR is full of inspired contributions (Dev Hynes and Charlie Wilson singing together on the lovesick “EARFQUAKE,” Carmichael’s short asides, Mild High Club’s backing vocals on “GONE, GONE / THANK YOU”), bits of pure Tylerian humor (“'Bout to go buck wild, nigga Steve Irwin (I see the light) / Sick of that Claritin, I'm on my third one”), and compelling bits of production (the propulsive, paranoid beginning to “WHAT’S GOOD,” the Al Green-sampling euphoric closer “ARE WE STILL FRIENDS?”).There are two clear personas on ‘Igor’ – the Andy Warhol-meets-campy-soul-singer character, and the short-haired, more serious face on the cover of the album. Memorable moments, on the other hand, abound. If you listen with your eyes closed, you probably won’t be able to tell where any given song begins and ends. They have a way of twisting into different sonic or emotional universes, picking up new voices (Kali Uchis, Jerrod Carmichael, Frank Ocean), and getting pleasantly lost in themselves. Almost all of IGOR’s tracks either accumulate unexpected layers or sever from themselves at some point, and many do both. Moments, indeed, are a more appropriate frame through which to consider IGOR than songs. One word in particular stuck out: “MOMENTS.” Tyler asked fans to think about what their favorite moments were on the album, and articulate them if they ever cross paths with him. Rather, the note suggested he understood he had done something. ![]()
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