By Gabby Couter, Year 12
Travis Scott – Astroworld
This is undeniably Scott’s strongest release to date. After Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight of 2016, I was excited to see what Scott could release as although this previous album had some good moments, it overall seems under experienced and quite amateur. However, Astroworld took what was good for BTSM and made them a lot better. Firstly, Scott should be commended on his guest appearances, which include but are not limited to Frank Ocean, Drake, The Weeknd, Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker, James Blake and Juice WRLD. Moreover, this album has an amazing album format which is very fluid although it is very obviously influences by Drake’s More Life. The album is scattered with sonic intricacies throughout, such as fluttering guitar lines and showy samples seen in ‘SICKO MODE’, one of the stronger songs on the album. It is undeniable that there is a lot of influence from Post Malone on this album, especially in songs ‘R.I.P SCREW’ and ‘5% TINT’ which parallel Malone’s classic genre-hopping sound, adapting early 2010’s witch house and chill wave sounds. However, whilst influenced by artists throughout the albums, the line becomes very blurry between influence and straight up facsimile. This is seen in his copying of Kanye’s style of impulsive lyrics, especially on ‘SKELETONS’ and more so on the closing track ‘COFFEE BEAN’ where the dusty production, courtesy of Nineteen85, strongly mirrors the sound and flow of Kanye’s ’30 Hours’ in The Life of Pablo. I really enjoyed the track ‘ASTROTHUNDER’ where Scott uniquely mixed his mellow rap style with the techno bop of Frank Dukes and Thundercat, but also later adapts this to be over the rhythmic guitar of John Mayer, which was very interesting and made this otherwise simple song quite complex and fresh. ‘COFFEE BEAN’ is a great ending track, being a cool little jazz-rap with details about his relationship bumps with Kylie Jenner, which was a good shift in topic from the usual ‘money, clout, cars’ topic that is prominent in Scott’s album and rap in general. Overall, this was a pretty good album, and I can’t wait to see where Scott takes this in the future.
8/10
Best Tracks:
- CAROUSEL
- STOP TRYING TO BE GOD
- SKELETONS
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