![]() It’s not necessarily a common thread found throughout each song. At a time when house music’s resurgence permeated mainstream consciousness, Travis Scott found his own pocket to build on. Scott, alongside Buddy and Pharrell, delivers a maniacal anthem that’s intended to elevate the “rage” beyond grinding synths and quaking 808s. He weaves in the grim, apocalyptic sounds from his early career for a song that feels like it would be more fitting for the afterparty rather than the main event. “DELRESTO (Echoes)” finds Travis diving into Beyoncé’s Renaissance era. Similarly, Utopia taps into the textures of house music that popped off in 2022. Yeezus cut through the rising sound of EDM trap and dubstep that became prevalent in the early 2010s, calling back to Chicago’s deep house and tracing it to the inception of drill music. “MODERN JAM” repurposes a beat initially used for “I Am A God.” Meanwhile, Scott directly calls back to Ye’s flow and drum patterns from “Black Skinhead” on “CIRCUS MAXIMUS.” Still, the numerous reference points to Kanye West, specifically Yeezus, an album Travis Scott heavily contributed to, blurs the line between paying homage, calling back to the early phases of his career, and recycling ideas. Travis Scott intended Utopia to serve as a forward-thinking body of work after a five-year wait. Read More: The 7 Best Features On Travis Scott’s “Utopia,” Ranked Still, the song itself isn’t as memorable as the credits would otherwise suggest. His verse on “FE!N” provides us with a glimpse into his next vocal transformation in his post- Whole Lotta Red era. However, his verse doesn’t necessarily add anything exciting to “TOPIA TWINS.” The same could be said for Playboi Carti. 21 Savage stands as the most improved rapper to emerge out of the “mumble rap” era. Even with a stacked lineup of artists, it feels as though Scott simply allowed some of them to appear on the tracklist to boost streams rather than helping him realize his own vision. ![]() Scott’s own efforts outside of production fail to yield undeniable results. At the same time, newcomers like Rob49 and Teezo Touchdown highlight their talents on “TOPIA TWINS” and “THANK GOD,” respectively. Across Utopia, artists like Drake and The Weeknd sprinkle their magic into the equation. ![]() This method captures the essence of the project – the collaborators do much of the heavy lifting. Part of the allure allowed fans to uncover different voices across the hour-plus run-time. It’s particularly disappointing for an artist that set out on such an aspirational mission.Įmploying a similar strategy to Astroworld, the 19-song tracklist initially included several hidden features. Without watching the accompanying film Circus Maximus, it’s a conceptually aimless album. On Utopia, Travis Scott takes us on a journey without a set location. Per the Oxford Dictionary, utopia is “an imagined or hypothetical place, system, or state of existence in which everything is perfect.” Where projects like Rodeo and Astroworld showcased the imaginative universe that Scott fleshed out through sonic structures, hypnotic melodies, and playful wordplay, Utopia fails to establish the same caliber of execution.
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