By definition, “utopia” is an imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect. Like any other human being with a perfect account of all their six senses, one would easily allude and conclude that this, is Travis’ little utopian world presented through acoustics and sound.
Recently the most outrageous and wild thought occured to me, merely resulting from a friend’s negative sentiments towards what I can only assume was Travis’ artistry and not his individualism. The aforementioned thought being: there’s actually people out there who don’t appreciate neither Travis Scott as an artist nor his artistry.
The first time ever this thought ever occured to me. What was even wilder and mildly uncanny was how this wasn’t the first time during the course of said fateful day that someone had expressed their rather indifferent attitude towards said artist’s upcoming project.
Baffled I was, but we’re subtle, we play it cool. Fast forward, later on in the evening of said fateful day, which was the day of the first public release of UTOPIA. Practically huffing and puffing from resigning off a stressful long week, did I allow my ears a first listen of UTOPIA. And, boy!
Adorned with 19 whole-some tracks, Travis makes the wait well worth it. It’s an almost cinematic project. Not in the sense of the sonic production encumbering the framework of the music but in the longevity and intricate make-up of the album as a whole.
It has often felt like long gone are the days where artists churn out full length, heavily detailed projects. Because of this fast paced efficient energy known as the internet that has denied artists the liberty to take long breaks and hiatuses in between the roll out of their work.
The growth of the internet has afforded us efficiency (arguably) and abundance (absoluetly) at the expensive of quality in the art. This has made such elaborate bodies of work a rarity in this 23rd year of the 21st century, a diamond in the rough no argument. So in that vein, one can easily qualify this project as one of the most anticipated albums of the year that didn’t actually disappoint, and in part, Travis owes this to his individualism, a key component of every single human being’s idiosyncrasy.
One can easily argue that the only reason why this album works is because it’s a Travis Scott album, done by Travis Scott. The biggest Travis that’s ever Scotted. Reflected in bars such as “I’m the human pinterest”. However this is not to take away from the predecessor veterans that opened doors, paved the way and literally gave young Travis the building blocks of the world he has seemingly architected himself that can not be mistaken for anything but Travis. And that is why, even without trying this album, is jeehn-yus, almost serving as a “Yeezus” love baby with tracks like Circus Maximus, HYENA to mention a few that bear similar drum patterns to Yeezus’ Blackskinhead.
It’s always interesting to see and anticipate the blueprint’s next move, and Travis is the blueprint for many artists of this generation, reflected by the number of knock off Scotties parading themselves as artists and followers of the cult-like personality in Harare alone.
However despite the anticipation that surrounded project prior to it’s release one can not be completely passive and turn a blind eye to how even through ain’t nothing new under the sun and everything is derivative of some original version of the blueprint, this album doesn’t sound completely new. Now that’s not to say, it sounds like an exact copy of something else, because it doesn’t, but it does sound oddly familiar (owing to his signature sonic sound and creative conception of his artistry) and similar to his previous work.
Its nothing ground-breaking or innovative, it almost sounds like Travis measured twice on Astroworld and left a prototype, just in case he might need it someday, and that day has come. Sonically, it’s harder to differentiate the two projects because of how similar they are, off face-value it’s the same songs, just different producers.
It also even adorns the same features, the same sounds we’ve become accustomed to because we know they work well with Scott such as Kid Cudi, Young Thug, Drake, James Blake, SZA, however we are appreciative of notable first time collaborations on the project such as Beyonce, Bad Bunny, Swaelee, and I’m still to decide how I feel about these new explorations of how Travis sounds standing against his opposites. To gauge whether Travis is a Ying and Yang kind of artist, or its just Jill and Jill.
To drive my point home, it almost feels like UTOPIA has been denied the opportunity to be avant-garde because of tracks like meltdown, a track that’s just a blatant remake of old hits from a predecessor critically acclaimed album i.e Sicko Mode off of 2018’s ASTROWORLD. Undoubtedly not the same track but very similar to the point of enrolling same feature and general creative structural framework of the song. It’s basically a doppelganger.
Doppelganger track, doppelganger album. That fucking bumps and has people going, for the lack of better word, apeshit, literally, jumpstarting a seismic rage of what locals were believed to have thought were earthquake tremors, merely from a moshpit. Look all I’m saying is, sure sounds like this project was a safe bet that’s paying well
Nonetheless due to the familiarity within the project, which is appreciated lest you get me wrong, this project almost sounds like a safe bet.
Yes he experimented more with cinematic sonics on tracks like Circus Maximus and Modern Jam, even supported the album with features from the Weeknd to see that vibe through, and experimented with the blending of hip hop with other genres (as he’s done before specifically with Don’t Play supported by the 1975, a track from which another hit like UTOPIA’s was guaranteed), but more than half of the album’s work is tracks that didn’t knock our boots off because he stuck to his lane and played it safe. Something one can do, and get away with if their in touch with their individualism.
In a nutshell, there’s no way this album is not gonna bang in the car, in the club, or in the 420 world, and that’s largely owing to how highly derivative the project is to the artist’s highly acclaimed ASTROWORLD and its predecssors. Beyond that, one cant runaway from the peculiar production and influence of the man that is Kanye West and this is blatantly evident in how the sonic production of this album is shaped, the album sounds like it was born off of a fusion of Kanye’s “Yeezus” and Kid Cudi.
Which is no surprise because if Kanye and Cudi had a baby, his name would be Travis Scott. A representation of the past bearing the future for the progression of the art. Travis has undoubtedly evolved the Trap sound, and it’s a sound that even the traditionalist Hip Hop heads can somewhat appreciate and tolerate because it’s born off a sound that’s closer to the original version of what hip hop is.
No matter how far the apple may from the tree, its still a chip of the old block. And just because it’s not a block that’s been around forever doesn’t mean it’s a block that won’t make its mark either. A giant looks in the mirror and sees nothing, till further notice.
