I don't know if any major label debut has been accompanied by the kind of hype that Tyler's "Goblin" carried with it in the modern era of music. Now looking back on his breakout hit "Yonkers" and comparing it to his current single "EARFQUAKE", you'd think he was doing some kind of parody lounge song on The Eric Andre Show. But on "Igor", Tyler seems to be fully embracing the neo-soul path his friend and collaborator Frank Ocean has blazed down so successfully. Maybe even pointing directly to that influence with the crazy blonde bowl cut wig he's been sporting as a sort of nod to Frank Ocean's own break-up magnum opus, 2016's "Blonde". But Igor feels like just that - a cheap costume. It's smooth and fairly painless to listen to (unless the grating redundancy of "EARFQUAKE" starts to wear on you as it did me) with production that feels very reminiscent of the slower portions of "Yeezus" but the vocals never really hook you in with anything. Even when Tyler's early albums lacked the consistency and fluidity of his breakout record "Flower Boy", they still managed to grab your attention with their undeniable creativity. You don't really get that feeling of ingenuity on "IGOR" until about halfway through "WHAT'S GOOD" when you're already 9 tracks deep. And while I'm relieved he's no longer relying on the shock value of needlessly threatening to murder Haley Williams or using homophobic slurs; his soft spoken, digitally distorted vocal stylings don't punctuate his music the way his raspy flow used to.
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