#yebba

City girl who's also a...

Tyler’s newest surprise album brings the attention back to the culture of dancing by having fun with his creative process

Shortly after Tyler, The Creator’s last rollout in the second half of last year, a surprise rollout was announced mid summer with no singles. Tyler dropped once again on a Monday morning, however this album differed in intentions from other albums: this was supposedly a dance album to make you move.

When rolling out the album, he held several dance events that restricted the use of cell phones, so as to release the free spirits of dancing that everyone had pent up. His experience sounded cathartic, being so satisfied with the connection he invoked in the crowd. He believed that pent up, subconscious fear of dancing occurred due to cell phone usage, with the social media landscape being able to “memeify” anyone’s vulnerabilities; perhaps he’s onto a bigger picture with the commentary. I love how Tyler continues to advocate for the separation of our phones and musical connection, as he treats it like a plague that ruins his ability to connect to others

The first song of DON’T TAP THE GLASS was “Big Poe” featuring Sk8brd and Pharrell Williams’ vocals. The freshness of the funky synths alongside a polished bass boost created an atmosphere of the disco/funk era, propping it up to be a strong entrance. It properly hypes up the listener to get up and move, as the beginning of the track instructs, and excites me for this new genre and era for Tyler.

“Sugar on my Tongue” is the track that followed, continuing to explore new sounds. The rapid bass and catchy chorus is uplifting to the ears, with the bubbly sounds at the bridge showing creativity. The music video alongside the track was definitely R-rated, giving the crowd something to talk and be offended about. “Stop Playing With Me” is the other track with a video alongside it, visualizing the way he’s shaking up the competition with his success. 

Statue of Tyler behind the glass at the world trade center in New York during the album rollout

The theming of this album has paid its homage to a lot of hip-hop and funk history that connects to Tyler; the thick arms of the statue comes from Ludacris’ Red Light District album rollout from the early 2000s, while the all red leather and thick gold jewelry demand attention by exemplifying 80’s hip-hop royalty. He continues to have that “IDGAF” attitude that made his persona successful. Tyler’s offensive style with the brash themes and fast-crash beats in this album are reminiscent of Cherry Bomb, a previous project of his from a decade ago. 

“Don’t Tap That Glass/Tweakin’” has that west coast piano beat combined with the bass of New Orleans Bounce. I love the digital, uptempo feeling that listening to it invokes, with the transition into the other song having a synthier look into the production. I absolutely love the funky sounds that makes this album a lot more light hearted and fun, relieving some of the heavier topics and themes explored last year with CHROMAKOPIA. 

However, the 30 minutes of listening time is not all dance in my experience. The album felt as not very cohesive and consistent, which may have been downfalls accredited to my expectations. He never intentionally stated or tried to create a dance album in the techno disco or DJ space, rather he made music that he wanted to dance to himself. 

In discussing the project with Zane Lowe, he describes how he took a lot more of a relaxed but fast approach to the process. His thoughts towards what the music had to be was to be challenged with DONT TAP THE GLASS, with the focus ideally being get these songs to done enough, capturing the moment of time in his life; through this process, he was attempting to create that pure fun essence in his relationship with music again. 

He also discussed what it’s like to create an album while mid tour. He defied his own boundaries and typical industry standards as people questioned why he would release while mid cycle. His response: he wanted something to dance to at his shows. He is in the position where he steers the ship in his sounds; He borrows sounds from past eras so as to not re-invent the wheel –  essentially becoming his own inspiration. He created music that he would move to based off of what he’s already made, so as to briefly finish the songs. Hyperfixating on the perfection of a song is something a lot of artists struggle with, and is something Tyler challenges with DONT TAP THE GLASS. 

“Ring Ring Ring” was the big track that got most of the attention in the album cycle, serving to be a lot of people’s favorite. The intro with the eccentric bass line and relatable lyrics sound appetizing, and yet it’s not a strong track in my opinion. This song sounds like it should be on Call Me If You Get Lost, shedding light to how he borrowed from previous eras of his music.

“Sucka Free” is an LA track with some very creative elements added, utilizing vocal synthesizers that makes it sound like Daft Punk is on the track. The themes surrounding the songs are clever and confident, however I strangely fell out of sync with this song; it’s one of the few times where I start off really liking a song, but start to wane off of it. “Don’t You Worry Baby” displays Madison Mcferrin’s vocals beautifully, and I think it’s a great track. “I’ll Take Care of You” properly reflects Yebba’s soft and tender vocals in the infant instrumentals; the song was intentionally simple, having steady lofi beats with the background vocals being looped, and Yebba’s vocals being added briefly to complete the song. Additionally, I like the adlibs building up to the beat drop. “Tell Me What It Is” sounds like a standard Tyler exit track to the album that has a slower, R&B feel to it. 

These all are not terrible tracks by any means, and I believe they have their respective qualities that make them good. My distance arises when you go back to the intention of what this album is trying to be. To me, Tyler’s themes don’t accomplish moving and dancing throughout the project. Having Yebba in a Dance album just sounds like a contradiction. The technical criteria of having a beat does not consider the fact that these tracks just do not keep the same cohesive energy throughout the project. While he says he tried to simplify and get to the point with the lyrics, I originally felt the opposite. 

I can recognize, however, how Tyler’s perspective on dance is entirely different. Music is very regional, and my interpretations/expectations of what dance guided how I initially thought of the album. While in my world, I may not interpret music such as to dance to, it invokes many different feelings for Tyler, the man curating what he’s lived, and what he’s feeling in the moment.