Chromakopia is Tyler, the Creator’s eighth studio album; the LP was released on October 28 after being scheduled for release 12 days prior with the tease of the track “St. Chroma” on October 16, 2024.
In this album, Tyler mentions sensitive topics such as fatherhood, celebrity fame, materialism, unplanned pregnancy, and family topics. One of the most notable songs dealing with these topics is “Like Him,” which deals with the artist’s past with his absent father and thoughts as he aged. Another song dealing with these topics is “Hey Jane,” which is a story-song about two people dealing with an unplanned pregnancy and the struggles and feelings being told from both sides.
Tyler’s trends through his albums generally follow a similar pattern, shown by a variety of genres, narrative-driven albums, and a change in sound over time. Junior Emma Konopacki said, “I thought it was gonna be more like a rap album because that’s how his music normally is, but I [was] surprised by how much he sang or had soft vocals.” Tyler’s albums feature a range of genres, including hip-hop, jazz, R&B, and pop. They are also often centered around a general narrative or even a narrative inside one song.
For example, the IGOR album is a story of a complex love triangle between Tyler, his male crush, and the crush’s female love interest. According to Medium, this theme is shown through the cycles of different stages of the love triangle, showing Tyler at his happiest and most hostile. Examples of these themes are that not every relationship is healthy, letting go of someone is not easy, feelings of love never really go away, and that love is never gone, and the cycle will start again.
Another example of Tyler showing stories and themes throughout his albums is “Call Me If You Get Lost” or CMIYGL. This was an album more of a theme rather than one overall arching story. The idea of getting “lost” or breaking out of a bubble or comfort zone. This theme is also portrayed through aspects such as traveling and the use of material possessions to distract yourself from uncomfortable feelings. However, this album does include storytelling much like CHROMAKOPIA like in the song “WILSHIRE” of Tyler telling the story of loving a girl who’s in a relationship and how it didn’t work out in the end but the feelings remain.
Konopacki adds, “I feel like before the album came out people thought it was gonna be like his other albums where he has a character of himself that’s dramatized however this album is more of separate stories mixed.”
Taking a deep dive into this album, Medium mentions the overarching story of Chromakopia is the fact that it represents wearing a mask to hide who you are, living in a world without color because you don’t know who or how you should be. The album deals with separate characters going through similar situations, the protagonist and main character being St.Chroma himself.
This character is based on Chroma the Great, a character from The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. In the story, Chroma the Great is the conductor of the color orchestra, responsible for creating the world’s colors. St. Chroma the mask he wears, and the lack of color could be a metaphor for hiding who you truly are and living a dull life because of it. According to sniffers.co, in music, “chroma” represents an eighth note, and in visual art, it refers to saturation or vividness of color touching on both topics.
The album’s aesthetics include military outfits and concepts such as marching, single-file lines, and directing or orders to fit the theme. This represents conformity and staying in line. For example, the song “Take Your Mask Off” touches on many of these topics and themes, such as hiding who you truly are and covering up true intentions and feelings. In this song, closeted gay men marry women, or women are unhappy in marriages but still stay to fit in and not disrupt things. St. Chroma/Tyler is breaking free from that as shown in the song. The music video for “St. Chroma,” features the explosion of a storage container where color is brought back to the world. Konopacki also adds that “”Darling I,” “ Judge Judy,” and “Like Him,” they’re all about just living how you want to be even though other people may have standards for you or it might be wrong to others but you do it anyways.”
Tyler also revealed another meaning behind the album by noting that “no one knows anything about me from before I was, like, 17.” and that he was also “taking a bunch of stuff my mom told me as a kid.” He continued that now that he is 33, all of the stuff is finally making sense and that he is not the guy he was at 20. “People are getting older, having kids and families, and all I have is a new car.” In his own words, “life is life-ing,” and he wanted to write about stuff he thinks when he’s alone making one of the most personal albums in his history.
Tyler’s mother is quoted in the album in eight songs, saying things like “Transparency is key, be honest,” in “Darling, I,” or saying “I’m proud of you…I’m proud of you, bro,” in the final track “I Hope You Find Your Way Home.” Konopacki says, “I think Tyler’s mother is the person who tells him to be himself and not fall to what other people think,” adding that “many of her lines she’s saying things like ‘never tell someone you love them unless you actually do,’ and I think she’s also a guiding figure.” Tyler’s mother’s voice on this album touches on the fact Tyler is trying to understand his mother’s advice later in life, as he stated previously.
The transitions between songs on the album are something that Konopacki says makes the album “flow so well together, and even without knowing the meaning of the songs, it’s just nice to listen to.” The first three tracks – “St.Chroma,” “Rah Tah Tah,” and, “Noid” – have these transitions between them. “Rah Tah Tah” blends the concepts of itself and “Noid” in the end. This trio intro introduces the character “St.Chroma” and the paranoia one will experience as an artist which could also tie into the theme of hiding who you are and being paranoid about it. Konopacki adds, “In” Noid,” Tyler’s saying how he’s [too] paranoid to do anything and scared people are always watching him show how he’s falling to how people think of him and have a standard for him.” The junior added that “this gets broken later in the album.”
Konopacki finalizes by saying, “I think this album it’s a lot better than others in the past. He had really good music in it and clips in it, and his voice is just brought out really well.” She also mentions how some of his music is hard to listen to without knowing the meaning behind it because it can be very brutal and disturbing – yet, in this album, listeners can be in any mood and still enjoy it. “I think this album is a lot more honest and genuine. His emotions aren’t super dramatized and it’s a lot more relatable.” She finishes, “I feel like it’s more down to earth rather than obsessive over his feelings or emotions.”
