Tyler, the Creator, a hip-hop and rap star, released his 8th studio album on October 28th, 2024, titled Chromakopia, and it’s his most vulnerable work yet.
Debuting at Number 1 on the US Billboard 200 chart, the 14 tracks are a deep dive on Tyler’s personal life and thoughts as he gets older. Maturity is one of the bigger themes of this album, some of the smaller topics he touches on are pregnancy scares and abortion, not wanting to settle down, and the fear of getting older still have hints of maturity in them. Although there are heavy beats and beautiful instrumental to contrast the deep and emotional lyrics, Tyler executes the balance very well in order for his listeners to both enjoy and understand his songs on Chromakopia.
He conveys this theme of maturity more specifically in the song “Darling, I” with lyrics like “Too many rules, I’m too curious to try to be hidin’ things, feeling shame build inside me,” and “I’m at the altar, but I’m still searchin’,” which shows his reluctance to being with just one person for the rest of his life, something that others would deem immature.
Even in songs where the theme of maturity isn’t as prevalent as the others, there are still bits of it sprinkled in.
For example, “Like Him” is a song about Tyler’s struggle with his identity due to the physical and emotional absence of his father. On the surface, that’s all the song is about, but at the end of the song, Tyler’s mom reveals that his dad always wanted to be in his life, but she kept his father away from him on purpose. This information was a surprise to both the listeners and Tyler when he learned about it, because he was under the assumption that his dad didn’t want him at all.
In the song “Answer” from his 2013 album Wolf, he expresses his disdain for his father, which means at this time his mother was still lying to him.
This all ties into maturity, and also the lack-of, due to trauma in Tyler and his mother. His mom because she didn’t let Tyler’s dad be in his life even though he was willing, and Tyler because after all of these years he still can’t properly express how he feels about the absence of his dad, lyrics like “Mama, I’m chasin’ a ghost,” supporting this.
On the contrary, Tyler never blames his mother, not outwardly at least. This shows that he knows that even though his mother was in the wrong, he can put himself into her shoes and understand that she made a big mistake, which is one aspect of maturity: forgiveness.
“Hey Jane,” one of the more clear-cut songs about abortion and the struggle to make the choice in this album, is the real story of Tyler and a woman by the alias of ‘Jane’. The title itself is an allusion; Hey Jane is the name of a telehealth clinic, offering contraception and abortion services. Tyler and ‘Jane’ were just flings, but she ends up becoming pregnant.
The song goes through their conversation as they’re trying to weigh their options in lyrics like “Our resumes unmet, the bus stopped at like. We ain’t made it to love yet” and “It’s a voice inside me begging me to keep it.” It’s unclear what choice the two made, what they did was immature, but the situation they were put in forced them to feel the magnitude of what they were doing and to make the best decision for them and the baby.
Other than getting older and acting older, there are many other themes that Tyler, the Creator writes about in his songs in Chromakopia that could spark inspiration in others to make a change for themselves and to live their life how they want. It’s highly recommended to listen to the full album for the whole experience.
