Image: Tyler, The Creator via YouTube
Tyler’s season came in 2024 after all. This spring, before he headlined Coachella, Tyler, the Creator, angered fans by saying he wouldn’t release new music this year. Maybe it was fake or maybe his plans changed, but it’s clear that fall will bring us a musical harvest after all. Tyler began promoting his seventh album, Chromakopia, earlier in October, which is a high-profile concept even by his standards. So far, Tyler has released the opening track “St. Chroma” and the lead single “Noid,” introducing us to a masked protagonist in a greyscale world. Even the vinyl demos and roadshows are part of the world building! Ahead of the album’s release on October 28 – more on that below – here’s what we’ve put together about Chromakopia so far.
Is it a state of being? place? Medical condition we should talk about with our doctors? As always with Tyler, we can’t be sure. What is clear is that he uses chroma as in chromatic colours. Some fans have noted that “St. Chroma,” the name of the first song, could be a reference to Chroma the Great, a character from Norton Juster’s classic children’s book The Phantom Tollbooth. In Juster’s fantasy world, Chroma is an orchestra conductor whose music brings color to World. And Tyler’s video for “St. “Chroma” takes place in a monochromatic black-and-white world, until soft beats light up everything in the final seconds, as Daniel Cesar sings, “Can you feel the light?” (Coincidentally—or perhaps not—the word “chromatic” also refers to the chromatic scale, the 12 tones that form the basis of most Western music.) The color green seems to be important, too, between the album’s promotional art and the vinyl teaser.
This appears to be Tyler – or at least a character played by Tyler. “St. Evidence. Back in black and white, we see Saint Chroma, now in street clothes but still wearing a mask, being approached by crazy fans. Chroma drives to a secluded house, where he proceeds to lock about a million locks on the door He feels safe — but it may just be in his head, as we watch him see figures in the mirror but never actually see those figures at home. “Someone’s watching/I feel it in my shadow,” Tyler/Chroma sings between verses detailing his paranoia which he suffers from.
Is this what prompted Chroma to blow up those people in a shipping container, or is his paranoia the repercussions? The “Noid” video has no answer. Eventually, we see Chroma in full color again, but still masked, moving around what looks like an empty parking lot. What’s going on there? We’ll have to wait and see.
Some old friends and a lot of new ones. R&B singer-songwriter Daniel Cesar revealed himself as the mystery vocalist for “St. Chroma” on his Instagram story, noting that he made further contributions to the album. Meanwhile, credits for “Noid” include Thundercat, who Tyler has been circling for a while, on bass, and Willow on backing vocals. The “Noid” video also stars Emmy Award winner Ayo Edebiri as one of those obsessed fans who taunts Chroma with a gun. Let’s get her side of the story, please!
Fans have noticed that the masked people that Chroma leads into the shipping container in “St. Chroma” resemble some of the album’s collaborators. The first man’s terror resembles Caesar. Could one of these others be Frank Ocean? For now, we can dream!
We still have a few days. Tyler is bucking tradition with Chromakopia and dropping the album on Monday, October 28, instead of its usual Friday release date. And it doesn’t even do it at midnight — Chromakopia comes out at 6 a.m. ET, sharp. We may start to get some clarity the night before, when Tyler debuts the album to fans in Los Angeles. Until then, we see green.
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