Ratings

When the time comes that we end up getting weirdly nostalgic about quarantine, and the topic of music is brought up, whether it's good or bad, will this album get the rightful amount of discussion that it deserves? It might just be me and a few other people, but I didn't realize I heard so much of this album from TikTok during the pandemic. Even though this album sounds extremely 2019 it's still pretty damn good. In a weird way it's somewhat of a time capsule too, whether it be the tropical influences on the rap tracks that give off, weirdly enough a chill/vaporwave aesthetic. Or the sensual RnB tracks that are reminiscent of the MULTIPLE thirst trap trends that Tiktok has seen. This is a good album that also in 5 years will be the influence of multiple artists making shittier renditions of this for nostalgia-bait. also this might be a hot take but: rnb doja>rap doja> pop doja

If I would ever describe a song as sounding both nostalgic AND futuristic, it would be this one. When the song starts you're met with this 8-bit intro that sounds like the music of a flash game that you have a distorted memory of. (no but fr is this an actual flash game sample? i ain't call this deja vu because i don't know if he made this or nah) This distorted memory only ends up becoming more vague when the track itself distorts and ends up becoming the second and main part of the track. Only then do you realize that it was once just a past memory. Gone is the springtime sounding intro and now is a futuristic landscape. The second part finds Yabujin rapping about a girl that seems to be his ex. Saying lines such as: "The love that we had is a memory" and "Remember who you are before the fall". While also vowing to "never smoke again" as long as his girlfriend's still there. All while this futuristic, vaporwavish sounding instrumental takes you to this type of fantasy world. To end it off the song takes you back to that flash game intro while still having that futuristic feeling. It doesn't make it feel like you're recollecting a memory, it's almost as if you're in this weird liminal space between past and future. Not exactly the present, but more of like a limbo. With what sounds like victory music(?) coming right after that for a good 3 seconds. Bringing you back to your reality.

A cherry bomb, at least from my knowledge of Stardew Valley, is a small firework that can cause a good explosion and make a loud noise. Similarly, Tyler's album is one that doesn't look like much, but it had everyone talking about it (good explosion) and at some points, it was extremely LOUD. I'm not joking when I say this either, the production on this album has to be one if the most ambitious I've seen a mainstream artist use. There's not many times where an artist would go into a song with the most soothing production to an industrial hip hop Death Grips sounding production with barely audible lyrics. If I had to compare this to something it would be if N.E.R.D made a revamped version of "In Search Of..." for the Adventure Time soundtrack. Just imagine if Okaga, Ca was the credits scene to the final episode of Adventure Time, I would've gone insane. I'm kinda shocked at the mixed reception this gets, especially with the fans of Tyler who love the double tracks, this album is full of them.