IGOR by Tyler, the Creator: my thoughts
IGOR is an amazing album. Here's what I think it means.IGOR.
Tyler, The Creator is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, producer, director and graphic designer.
His career started as the co-founder and leader of alternative hip-hop collective Odd Future, and has performed on and produced nearly every Odd Future release. Since the days of Odd Future, he has released five studio albums, all of which produced by himself. His latest album, IGOR, focuses on his breakup and follows on from Flower Boy, where Tyler was coming to terms with his sexuality.
The album ‘IGOR’ is his latest. It’s 12 tracks long, excluding a track called ‘BOYFRIEND’ which is only on vinyl or CD releases. I’ve chosen not to include that track because of how popular music streaming is, it’s unlikely that most people would have listened to it. The second track ‘EARFQUAKE’ is considered the main song, peaking at number five on the Billboard Hip-hop Top 40. The album itself reached number one on the Billboard Album charts and is Tyler’s first number one album. This is the story of IGOR, and what it all means - it’s all my opinion, so feel free to disagree with me.
The album starts with a track called ‘IGOR’S THEME’, which gives us a sense of the album’s character. All of Tyler’s albums have been about either himself, or a creative alter-ego, and this is no different. ‘Igor’ is a fictional character in the 1974 horror film Young Frankenstein, in which he is the lab assistant of Dr Victor Frankenstein. This could perhaps relate that Tyler’s Igor is his assistant and possible friend. After the 24-second long distorted bass guitar playing one note for the entirety of the song’s introduction - which is repeated in every track, one way or another - the first line of the track - is ‘Ridin’ ‘round town, they gon’ feel this one’. Tyler stated instructions with the album launch of how he recommended you to listen to it. This included ‘Some go on walks, some drive, some lay in bed and sponge it all up. Whatever it is you choose, fully indulge. With volume.’ to ensure that the full emotional impact and narrative of the project is felt. This implies that he really wants people to understand his emotions in this album, and as he hasn’t done this before, it’s probably important. This could also just link to how Tyler’s made many connections to vehicles in his previous projects. Flowerboy (2017) has an entire song about how he’s missing his friends and uses his love of cars to fulfil his boredom. On another note, this could also just relate to him having some fun in his car, while ‘ridin’ round town’.
The bridge of the song includes the lines ‘He’s comin’’ and ‘Runnin’, runnin’, runnin’’, followed by the muffled shouting of the word ‘Igor’. Perhaps this is stating how Tyler is afraid of him, and doesn’t want to see him, and is running away, or it’s the opposite. Tyler is commenting on how Igor is running towards him. Throughout the song, the word ‘What?’ is repeated 54 times. This could be Tyler asking what’s going on, or wondering what is happening. Following on from Flowerboy, where he’s slowing understand his sexuality, it could show he’s scared and worried about it.
‘EARFQUAKE’ is the next track on the album. The main theme of this song is love and forgiveness. The intro is the repetition of the words ‘For real, for real this time’ - perhaps implying that this is Tyler’s first real love. The hard-hitting, pitch-shifted chorus all but confirms this - ‘’Cause you make my earthquake, Oh, you make my earthquake, Riding around, your love be shakin’ me up, And it’s making my heartbreak’. Another reference to ‘riding around’ is seen here, and Tyler seems to be shocked or scared of this new feeling - love. ‘Your love be shakin’ me up’ is an example of this. It’s a new thing to him, this song is about his first actual love. The refrain is ‘Don’t leave, it’s my fault’ and ‘’Cause when it all comes crashing down I’ll need you’’ - seemingly worried that Tyler will lose the person he’s loving - or perhaps, he already has. After a verse of what is incomprehensible mumbling from rapper Playboi Carti and that doesn’t have any officially documented lyrics, the refrain is yet again repeated. The song talks about how Tyler’s love makes his ‘earthquake’ and the relationship of this to ‘it’s my fault’ could be a theme. A fault is a thin zone of crushed rock separating blocks of the earth’s crust. When an earthquake occurs on one of these faults, the rock on one side of the line slips for the other. In the same way, Tyler thinks it’s his ‘fault’ their relationship has crumbled, and what led to the inevitable ‘EARFQUAKE’. The verse states ‘I just need some confirmation on how you feel, for real’. This establishes his dependency on his lover, and he will elaborate this further on tracks like ‘PUPPET’. It presents his anxiety towards his partner’s love and wants confirmation to ease his mind.
‘I THINK’ will continue with this theme of love and apologies. It’s where we first get a reference to Tyler’s sexuality and lover - ‘Man, I wish you would call me, By your name ‘cause I’m sorry’’ - a reference to Call Me By Your Name, a 2017 romance film that focuses on a gay relationship between a teenager and his father’s assistant. Again, this might also be a link to Igor, and how he plays an assistant in the Frankenstein film. Tyler has a clothing brand named ‘GOLFWANG’, and there’s a reference to golf in this verse. He sings ‘You are such a distraction, That’s what T on, aw, Messin’ up my ambience, pause, You drive me cuckoo and not car’ - Golf requires concentration and silence so the ‘distraction’ is annoying him when he’s ‘what T on’, which could be a reference to a golf tee. ‘Distraction’ and ‘messin’ up my ambience’ both show that his love keeps getting his attention, perhaps even when he’s not there. This theme of being a puppet repeats itself in verse 2 - ‘I’m your puppet, you are Jim Henson’. Jim Henson founded the Muppets - as in Kermit the Frog - and links Tyler back to being a puppet and being controlled by his lover/ex-lover. The next track is an interlude - “Exactly what you run from, you end up chasing.” could describe how Tyler’s past projects - mainly on GOBLIN and CHERRYBOMB have referenced homophobia, but now he’s worked out his sexuality he’s chasing those feelings he hated. It could foreshadow what happens in ‘PUPPET’ and ‘A BOY IS A GUN’ - both are tracks yet to come up on the album - where Tyler runs from his lover telling him “stay the **** away from me’ but ends up chasing him again on ‘PUPPET’. The final part of the interlude is ‘There’s always an obstacle.’. The significance of this ‘obstacle’ is mentioned in the next track (‘RUNNING OUT OF TIME’) and it’s this woman that Tyler’s lover still has feelings for.
‘RUNNING OUT OF TIME’ is where the album starts to take a dark turn. It’s the end of what is popularly described as ‘Season One’ of the album - a cliffhanger into season two, where things get bad. ‘Runnin’ out of time, To make you love me’ combined with the frequent sound of a car racing past implies how Tyler needs to hurry up if he wants to keep his lover to himself. We also have a reference to Tyler’s past and how he was subconsciously hiding his true self from the world, with ‘Livin’ it pretend’, the first line of the bridge. This could also be a message to his lover and talking about how he’s possibly a closeted gay or bisexual man, who’s hiding, even to his current girlfriend. This is confirmed by the verse, with ‘Take your mask off, I need her out the picture’ - which shows that the person that Tyler loves hasn’t come out to his girlfriend, but Tyler wants her ‘out the picture’ so he can have him to himself. ‘Stop lyin’ for these *****, Stop lyin’ to yourself’ repeats this, and how he’s lying to his girlfriend and himself, but Tyler knows the truth: ‘I know the real you’.
‘Sometimes you gotta close a door to open a window’ is the opening line of ‘NEW MAGIC WAND’, a hard-hitting start to ‘Season Two’ - Tyler’s chase for his lover, no matter what obstacles he comes across. As touched on in ‘RUNNING OUT OF TIME’, this is his lover’s girlfriend. This track focuses on how Tyler needs to get rid of this woman to order to pursue his lover. The first verse follows a theme of photographic film - ‘I need to get her out the picture, She’s really *** up my frame, She’s not developed like we are’ - while implying that Tyler and his partner are better than his partner and this woman. The next line - ‘My eyes are green, I eat my veggies’ could relate to Tyler being a ‘Green-eyed monster’, a term which has origins in Othello, a 1603 Shakesperian play. Iago, the character who says it, wants Othello to become jealous, similar to how Tyler wants this girl to become jealous. ‘Like magic, like magic, like magic, gone.’ - the loud ‘gone’ really expresses Tyler’s desire to remove this girl from the picture. ‘New magic, new magic, new magic wand’. While it’s not clear, this wand maybe a gun and Tyler’s going as far as to kill this woman. This is backed up by Tyler’s threatening to ‘blow this whole spot up.’. However, this could be a much more peaceful approach too. The references to a photo could link to how the photo manipulation software Photoshop has a ‘Magic Wand Tool’, which can remove something undesired from a picture just from selecting it. Back with Odd Future, Tyler used Photoshop to design all of the clothing and album art, so this adds to the possibility of this theory. ‘I wanna be found, passenger in your car’ Tyler says he wants to be the passenger in his love interest’s car to convey that he wants to be a part of their life. He wants to be the one who’s in a relationship with this person. The term “found passenger” could allude to Tyler’s suicidal thoughts with his love interest, or a link to the Flower Boy track ‘911 / Mr Lonely’ - ‘Full tank of the gas, but that don’t mean nothing, nothing, without you shotgun in the passenger’. Tyler wants to be in his love interest’s car. ‘Your other one evaporate, we celebrate’ - Tyler’s planning on removing the girl, so he’s free to celebrate with the man he loves. ‘You under oath, now pick a side and if you don’t, I’ll pick you both’ - ‘oath’ refers to telling the truth in a court and being ‘under oath’. Tyler wants full honesty with his lover choosing between him and her. This is not the first time this happens - In EARFQUAKE, in a much less aggressive fashion, he says ‘I just need some confirmation on how you feel’. If this man doesn’t choose a side - and at this point, he’s saying it’s fine if he chooses his girlfriend over Tyler - then Tyler will choose for them, and he’ll kill them both out of anger. ‘It’s not a joke, murder she wrote’ continues this theme. Tyler loves this man - ‘I wanna share last names, I wanna be your number one’ is nothing but love from him. He wants to marry him. The final verse talks about how Tyler wants to ‘get the job done’ and he’s instructing someone to ‘pack up your bags, we hit the store, grab our supplies’ - is he killing the woman, is he running away with his man? The final line, a repetition of ‘New magic wand’ makes me believe that he’s not done. Why would Tyler repeat the phrase that is linked to violence and a gun if they’ve finished the job?
‘A BOY IS A GUN*’ The asterisk in this title shows that it’s been corrected, much like in texting. It’s originally the popular phrase ‘A girl is a gun’ but Tyler corrects it because he’s talking about a boy. The saying is ambiguously feminist and is associated with the opinion that women are more than they appear - secretly powerful and possibly dangerous to an unassuming male; hence the use of the word ‘gun’. The central message is that love is a dangerous thing to mess around with. The background vocals of ‘No, don’t shoot me down’ could possibly imply that Tyler, Igor or this man are scared of someone, or something - perhaps love. ‘Take your hoodie off, why you hide your face from me? Make your f*****’ mind up, I am sick of waitin’ patiently.’ yet again describes his partner hiding his sexuality from the world, and him. ‘You so motherf*****’ dangerous’ links to the title, with the man being the gun that is so dangerous. Tyler starts coming to terms with the fact that this man is toxic to him - ‘How come you’re the best to me? I know you’re the worst for me’ after establishing his dependency on this person through the album. He realises it’s not healthy, but continues to participate because he loves his partner. ‘You invited me to breakfast, why the f*** your ex here?’ confirms that Tyler has gotten the man’s girlfriend to break up with him, hence the mention of ‘your ex’ and that the man is trying to get somewhere with Tyler - but perhaps he’s being played around. He has a relationship showing here with the two of them, but it turns out his ex is still hanging out with her. Tyler feels played and confused and feels like he’s being played - leading onto ‘PUPPET’ as the next track. Still, on ‘A BOY IS A GUN*’, Tyler decides he’s over it - ‘I’ma leave it at that, I’ma leave us as friends’ shows this in a way that’s civilised and calm, which contrasts everything else in the album. ‘’Cause the irony is I don’t wanna see you again’ also confirms this. Tyler’s been thinking over the last few verses and he’s decided to get rid of it all. ‘Stay the f*** away from me’ is the start of the theme to follow over the next few songs. He wants it all over.
Time for some contradictions - ‘I wanna talk, I wanna call you and talk’. This completely fails the promise he made in the last track because it seems like Tyler wants to get back with this man who treated him the worst. This is ‘PUPPET’, a collaboration between Tyler, The Creator and rapper Kanye West. ‘Exactly what you run from, you end up chasing’ is coming back to haunt Tyler in this track. He ran from his lover in the last track but wants him back. He needs him back. ‘I want your company, I need your company’. The chorus is a realisation of what’s happened to Tyler and he doesn’t seem to care. ‘I’m your puppet, you control me’ is another link to being a puppet and being controlled, as originally referenced a few tracks earlier on ‘I THINK’. The last line ‘But at some point, you come to your senses’ is Tyler seemingly being freed from this toxicity but he could be lying to himself again, as with ‘A BOY IS A GUN*’ where he told the man to stay away.
‘WHAT’S GOOD’ starts with some very loud, distorted electric guitar which sets the tone for this track. This short introduction really catches your attention - as if Tyler wants you to listen to this one. ‘When you see them brand new le Fleurs on the floor?‘ is a blatant reference to Tyler’s fashion line, Golfwang, and his collaboration with Converse called Golf le Fleur. On the same day as this album’s release, Golf le Fleur released a new pair of shoes. We get a mention of Igor, which has been sparse so far in the album - If the cops ask my name, I’m Igor’ - perhaps this means Igor’s taken control of Tyler for this track. The different instrumental and vocal styles don’t seem like anything so far on the album. Maybe he’s realised he has to step in to fix things? UK rapper Slowthai sings part of this track, repeating ‘I see the light’ - which is ironic, as the line right after is Tyler singing ‘Dracula, Dracula, Dracula’. Could the ‘I see the light’ be, yet again, Tyler lying to himself about his lover; or it could be that he’s finally realised this person doesn’t deserve him. For this next verse, the vocal distortion has disappeared… perhaps it’s Tyler again? The line ‘Is that clear? Check the aperture‘ references the continuing theme of a photo, but could also be referencing depth of field - by changing the aperture he could be bringing the toxicity surrounding this relationship into focus. ‘New album, no repeat, I reset‘ brings Tyler’s original message about the album with ‘all the way through, no skips. Front to back’. Tyler has said on Twitter that he wants this album to be separate to the others and wants people to listen to it in full in one sitting to feel the full emotions he’s trying to portray here. ‘No repeat’ also implies Tyler’s originality in this album, and how it’s not a repeat of anything else he’s made. It’s different. Tyler also references the late Helen Keller, a political activist known for being both deaf and blind. The line ‘And they some Helen Keller, And I got my eyes open now I see the.. light’. Tyler relates his competition (the girl) to Keller, saying they’re practically blind and deaf to what’s surrounding them; this opportunity. This is unlike Tyler; in ‘IGOR’S THEME’ he contrasts this with ‘Got my, got my, got my eyes open’. The last line of this track is ‘I don’t know what’s harder, letting go or just being okay with it’ - a choice between staying or leaving.
‘GONE GONE, THANK YOU’ is two tracks put into one six-minute mega track. ‘Felt like summer to my December’ talks about how Tyler’s lover provided him with an overwhelming sense of euphoria, during a time where that didn’t seem possible - summer being the euphoria, December is the time. Tyler has referenced calendar months before to symbolize periods in his life, even dedicating a whole song to ‘November’ where he talks about the best times of his life. Now, birds - ‘I know my temperature was set, you finally flew south, the bird gon’ leave the nest, you’re so chromatic’. Birds normally migrate between seasons to find warm weather, which Tyler uses to make a metaphor out of this. His lover ‘finally flew south’.. perhaps to get away from Tyler and his ‘December’. This suggests that the two of them are breaking up. ‘Whether it’s rain or shine, I know I’m fine for now, My love’s gone’ pretty much confirms this. Tyler’s come to terms with the feeling that he has no control what happens in this relationship - if it’s terrible, it’s ‘rain’, if it’s happy, it’s ‘shine’ If he’s gone to the girl from earlier, then Tyler knows he’s better then her - ‘I just hope to God she got good taste’ references Tyler’s amazing taste in music, from a variety of periods and cultures. He knows he’s better than this girl in many ways - especially musically - and wants his lover to know what exactly he is throwing away. ‘You kept me goin’, the Band-Aid is falling off now’ explains how the lover was Tyler’s healing, and that he kept him going all this time. The bandage could also be his remedy for his pain, letting him move on. Up until this point in the track, Tyler has repeated implied he’s moved on, by stating his ‘love’s gone’ - now his band-aids are falling off, he’s facing the truth. What truth? That the relationship ‘scarred [him] for life.’ Onto ‘THANK YOU’, the second half of the track. ‘Emotion, feel Dumbo’ could be a symbol for himself, using his notable physical features such as large ears. He’s mentioned this before in ‘I Ain’t Got Time’ from ‘Flowerboy’. ‘It’s my fault, you gon’ leave’ refers to the bridge from ‘EARFQUAKE’.. ‘Don’t leave, it’s my fault’. It’s a complete contradiction. Perhaps EARFQUAKE talks about this period in the relationship, after all, it is Tyler wanting his lover to not ‘leave’ and explaining that it’s ‘my fault’. ‘I know your secrets’ talks about the closeness of Tyler and his lover, and how perhaps he could use those secrets to his advantage? ‘Thank you for the love, thank you for the joy, but I don’t ever wanna fall in love again’ is Tyler thanking his ex-partner for the good times in their relationship. He’s not blinded by the hatred he’s talked about in ‘GONE GONE’ and ‘WHAT’S GOOD’, and is thankful for the good parts. However, he goes on to talk about how he doesn’t want to fall in love ever again, scared of being hurt like this. Both of these contradicting feelings are represented in the next track - ‘I DON’T LOVE YOU ANYMORE’.
Speaking of, ‘I DON’T LOVE YOU ANYMORE’ is the penultimate track on IGOR. It’s the shortest track on IGOR, at 2:41. ‘See, um, heavy feelings for you, yeah yeah, it’s no secret’ instantly contrasts the title - having ‘heavy feelings’ for someone is surely loving someone. ‘Um, you do you, I’ll do me’ is Tyler letting his lover go his own way. ‘I don’t love you anymore’ is the chorus here - Tyler’s moved on now. ‘But this just might be better for us, you know?’ perhaps talks about how Tyler does still love him but thinks it’s better off for both of them if he leaves it, forever. ‘Moving on, but how’ is Tyler wondering how he’s going to get away from this. ‘Now I’m stuck forever, and ever, and ever’ continues the theme from ‘GONE GONE’ where he’s ‘scarred for life’. ‘Can I have my heart back’ also fits with this.
‘ARE WE STILL FRIENDS’ is the final track. ‘Are we still friends? Can we be friends?’ is another contrasting line, compared to the whole album and recent tracks. This makes it the third time Tyler’s come back to his the person he’s trying to move on from. Here, it seems to suggest that he’s okay with being friends; but he’s likely interested in something romantic still. This inability to move on continues to confirm the themes of ‘I THINK’ and ‘PUPPET’. This next line is confusing. ‘Are we still friends? I’ve got to know- know.’ Is the second ‘know’ just a repetition, or is it actually ‘no’, and Tyler’s trying to shut down this feeling again. ‘I can’t stop you, I can’t rock too, I’ve been back there and I can not die too, But I’ve got to know’ is continuing with how Tyler wants to stay close with this person. He’s still being played around, like a ‘PUPPET’. ‘Are we still friends? I still wanna say hi’ leads into ‘Can’t say goodbye, can’t say goodbye, goodbye.’ which are the final lines on the track and the album.
It’s scarred him for ‘life’, his ‘love’s gone’ yet he still wants to ‘be friends’ with them. No-one knows if Tyler ever got over this person, as he never confirms it. Concluding the album with Tyler saying that he ‘can’t say goodbye’ makes it prominent that he’s not done. Will it ever finish?
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^(psst, i made that art)^