For Tyler, the Creator, the art of an album rollout isn’t just releasing singles or teasing fans on Twitter (although he does the latter frequently): it’s creating a new character. From the outfits to the public behavior, each album unveils a new iteration of Tyler as a person. From the wig and sparkly suit throughout his Igor era to his current dawning of an ushanka and cooler color palettes, each new drop becomes a reinvention of who Tyler is as an artist.
With Tyler releasing a new album every two years since the start of releasing his music, fans and critics alike suspect Tyler had been working on a project to be released sometime this year — his most recent project, Call Me If You Get Lost, was released in June of 2021. The speculation of a new album was confirmed when Tyler randomly announced in this tweet on March 27, “CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST WAS THE FIRST ALBUM WITH ALOT OF SONGS THAT DIDNT MAKE THE FINAL CUT … SO IVE DECIDED TO PUT A FEW OF THEM OUT,” and just like that, Tyler, the Creator season 2023 was upon us.
The rollout of Call Me If You Get Lost: The Estate Sale started with the release of the “DOGTOOTH”. The song offered the internet lots of fodder for memes, as it shows Tyler leaning into the recent boom of “munch” culture, where Tyler goes into staunch details about his only concern being female pleasure.
The next phase of this rollout, which took place only a few days after “DOGTOOTH,” was the release of The Estate Sale’s concluding track, “SORRY NOT SORRY.” If you have yet to see this video and you like Tyler’s discography, please do yourself a favor and watch it. An ode to the entirety of Tyler’s career, it starts with all previous versions of Tyler in one shot, with Tyler’s “Sir Baudelaire” character rapping about how he’s sorry for the ego that has developed, fracturing his relationships with people that should be close to him. The video continues by going through Tyler’s eras rapping in the style they had during their lifespan, apologizing for each of their flaws during their time in the spotlight. As all of this is happening, a shirtless Tyler appears and starts snatching the characters offscreen one by one, until he grabs the most recent iteration of Tyler and brutally beats him, while DJ Drama announces, “A new era is upon us.” This signifies the end of the “Sir Baudelaire” era and introduces who may be the main character of his new album.
After the initial release of Estate Sale’s singles, it was hard to say where Tyler would go sonically with the rest of the record, but this short introduction to the new era was filled with some of the best Tyler tracks I have ever heard. The track following “SAFARI,” (the original end of CMIGYL) “EVERYTHING MUST GO,” is an introduction to the rest of the deluxe, which immediately flows into the track “STUNTMAN (feat. Vince Staples)” where Tyler assembled a perfect beat for Vince Staples to flow on with his signature style. The track sounds like something off of Staples’ FM! (much to the enjoyment of Staples’ fans) and showcases Tyler’s flexibility to mesh into any track he’s on.
The next song, “WHAT A DAY” is a complete switch up from the previous, replacing the bouncy bass and synths for a much more instrumental, low-key song, perfect for a chill day in the sun. The versatility of Tyler’s rapping and production is something that has always amazed me throughout his career, and The Estate Sale further cements Tyler as one of the most flexible rappers and producers in the game.
“WHARF TALK” features Tyler in a more sing-songy pocket, with magnificent summery production and a fantastic (albeit short) A$AP Rocky feature. This duo feels like a cheat code on a song; it seems any track they collaborate on is unmatched in lyricism, flow and production. “WHARF TALK” holds true in showing the duo’s collaborative prowess.
“HEAVEN TO ME” follows “DOGTOOTH” on the album, and quickly became my favorite song of the year. The production invokes nostalgia, with a sharp guitar loop repeating throughout, while Tyler gives an introspective look into how his perceptions change. Starting with what he considers heaven now, which is filled with rich imagery of vacations and wealth, and although he acknowledges not everyone can live this life, he suggests his audience finds what heaven is to them. He also spits a very relatable verse about having a perfect family and a large house, with him and his wifey going to see an opera. We see Tyler’s version of heaven now, which is immediately compared to his childhood. Instead of a family, his heaven was with his best friend Jasper and Odd Future trying to make money — instead of having his usual Lacoste-logoed-polo, he just wanted a Supreme shirt. This relatability through Tyler’s music is something that draws many fans to his music and continues to shine throughout his career.
The penultimate track, “BOYFRIEND, GIRLFRIEND (feat. YG)” keeps with the summer themes, but trades a more low-key sound for bouncy synths and bells. YG absolutely kills his features, filling the track with lyrics about summer crushes. The song also features immense relatability, with the chorus filled with lyrics like, “I just want someone to talk to, whenever I start feeling alone.” This song perfectly encapsulates the adoration someone develops when possessing a crush and is an absolutely infectious earworm.
The summer sound from the past songs is then crushed by the aforementioned concluding track “SORRY NOT SORRY.” The warm, uptempo beats are replaced with high-pitched synths and chords that build to a crescendo, where Tyler delves into each era’s flaws, and through this lens we see an image of Tyler and his problems. Although this song is a severe juxtaposition with the vibes developed in the other tracks, it is the perfect conclusion to the Sir Baudelaire era and leaves the audience with the question everyone is wondering: What is next for Tyler, the Creator?
Daily Arts Writer Nickolas Holcomb can be reached at nickholc@umich.edu.