Music Review: An Interesting but Flawed Experiment

by Jacob Gillispie

February 2023

IGOR by Tyler the Creator is consistently good, with some fantastic highlights, but is kept from greatness by some experimentation that goes in the wrong direction. The album’s central plotline depicts the narrator’s unrequited love for another man. His love unreciprocated, the narrator feels like a monster movie sidekick, the titular IGOR. This plotline breaks new ground for the concept album, which tells a story through music and lyrics, by adding an LGBT angle, and it both ties songs together conceptually while having them work on their own.

With IGOR, Tyler experiments sonically, incorporating elements of classic R&B and taking ideas from his hip-hop background. The best songs mix genres to create new, unique sounds: “Earfquake”, the breakout hit, uses a rap structure but builds a catchy melody over it, “Gone, Gone” is light and airy but with an underlying melancholy, and “What’s Good” mixes aggressive rap with synthesized instrumentation. The remainder of the album is strong, but suffers from repetition and uninteresting portions.

While the lyrical concept is clear, I wish the music had a stronger central theme, and focused more on delivering a clear tone. I enjoyed IGOR, and I would recommend it as one of the best albums of the last few years.