Tyler, The Creator - Cherry Bomb ALBUM REVIEW
I have a poster of this cover in my room, yet I have no idea why I have this over IGOR.
Tyler, The Creator is arguably a superstar now. For the past few months, he’s been on a wildly successful tour, been doing features on some great projects since his last album, CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST, and he’s actually legally allowed to enter some parts of the world now. Personally, I think he’s one of the best artists working today. I definitely wouldn’t have thought that over a decade ago, mainly because I was a kid, but it’s mainly because he was known for Goblin, an album that I think had great ideas [especially that opening track, holy shit] yet is now plagued with material that hasn’t aged well in many different ways. I thought about reviewing Goblin, its better follow-up Wolf, or even give his first project Bastard a second shot. However, I chose this project, 2015’s Cherry Bomb, which I could safely say is Tyler’s most divisive project as of now. Let’s take a trip down memory lane and see how important Cherry Bomb was and still is, even if Tyler himself isn’t a fan of it.
Looking back on this album is one of the most interesting experiences I’ve had in a while with reviewing in mind. It’s no secret that a lot of people aren’t a fan of how the music *sounds* here. I don’t wanna get technical, but the mixing choices are definitely… choices. For example, I think the title track is one of Tyler’s worst songs simply because of how ear-crushing it is. As an aside, ear-crushing music can be a good thing. This isn’t good ear-crushing. However, the more soft-sounding tracks like “FIND YOUR WINGS” showed the potential that he’d reach only one album later with Flower Boy, with fantastic, layered production. Personally, I think the second half of the album is one of Tyler’s best album runs. Every song from “BLOW MY LOAD” to the closing track “OKAGA, CA” is thoroughly enjoyable. Of course, the lyrics on “FUCKING YOUNG / PERFECT” are uncomfortable, but I actually learned that this song is apparently the relationship between Kylie Jenner and Tyga, Jenner being 17 at the time Tyga started dating her.
Most of all, though, Cherry Bomb was a make-or-break album for Tyler at the time. Obviously, the world we live in now is much different than the world a decade ago. No matter if it was self-aware or not, stuff like Goblin couldn’t hit the mainstream anymore. There are still some controversial lyrics on this album that got Tyler banned from New Zealand, but it’s nowhere near as much as before. I really wasn’t tuned in to this area of news when Flower Boy dropped, but I’d like to assume that it was a little shocking to go from there from Cherry Bomb, especially since he hinted at being bisexual after taking so much flack for his earlier projects. Either way, Cherry Bomb may not be a perfect album, but it’s a fascinating transformation period of Tyler, The Creator’s career, which would eventually help him become a worldwide superstar.
7/10
Listen here
Spotify
Apple Music
YouTube
Cherry Bomb is an Odd Future release.
Tyler, The Creator is arguably a superstar now. For the past few months, he’s been on a wildly successful tour, been doing features on some great projects since his last album, CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST, and he’s actually legally allowed to enter some parts of the world now. Personally, I think he’s one of the best artists working today. I definitely wouldn’t have thought that over a decade ago, mainly because I was a kid, but it’s mainly because he was known for Goblin, an album that I think had great ideas [especially that opening track, holy shit] yet is now plagued with material that hasn’t aged well in many different ways. I thought about reviewing Goblin, its better follow-up Wolf, or even give his first project Bastard a second shot. However, I chose this project, 2015’s Cherry Bomb, which I could safely say is Tyler’s most divisive project as of now. Let’s take a trip down memory lane and see how important Cherry Bomb was and still is, even if Tyler himself isn’t a fan of it.
Looking back on this album is one of the most interesting experiences I’ve had in a while with reviewing in mind. It’s no secret that a lot of people aren’t a fan of how the music *sounds* here. I don’t wanna get technical, but the mixing choices are definitely… choices. For example, I think the title track is one of Tyler’s worst songs simply because of how ear-crushing it is. As an aside, ear-crushing music can be a good thing. This isn’t good ear-crushing. However, the more soft-sounding tracks like “FIND YOUR WINGS” showed the potential that he’d reach only one album later with Flower Boy, with fantastic, layered production. Personally, I think the second half of the album is one of Tyler’s best album runs. Every song from “BLOW MY LOAD” to the closing track “OKAGA, CA” is thoroughly enjoyable. Of course, the lyrics on “FUCKING YOUNG / PERFECT” are uncomfortable, but I actually learned that this song is apparently the relationship between Kylie Jenner and Tyga, Jenner being 17 at the time Tyga started dating her.
Most of all, though, Cherry Bomb was a make-or-break album for Tyler at the time. Obviously, the world we live in now is much different than the world a decade ago. No matter if it was self-aware or not, stuff like Goblin couldn’t hit the mainstream anymore. There are still some controversial lyrics on this album that got Tyler banned from New Zealand, but it’s nowhere near as much as before. I really wasn’t tuned in to this area of news when Flower Boy dropped, but I’d like to assume that it was a little shocking to go from there from Cherry Bomb, especially since he hinted at being bisexual after taking so much flack for his earlier projects. Either way, Cherry Bomb may not be a perfect album, but it’s a fascinating transformation period of Tyler, The Creator’s career, which would eventually help him become a worldwide superstar.
7/10
Listen here
Spotify
Apple Music
YouTube
Cherry Bomb is an Odd Future release.
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