On Oct. 28 Tyler, the Creator released his newest and first album since 2021 titled CHROMOKOPIA.

Tyler, the Creator is one of the most popular rap/hip hop artists in the industry and is known for popular albums such as Igor (2019) and Call Me If You Get Lost (2021).

Tyler has always been known for his extremely unique style of music and that is best shown in this album because of how confessional and personal he gets about his trauma and insecurities throughout CHROMOKOPIA.

Along with Tyler, CHROMOKOPIA has a very extensive feature list that includes: Daniel Caesar, Teezo Touchdown, GloRilla, Sexyy Red, Lil Wayne, LaToiya Williams, ScHoolboy Q, Santigold, Lola Young, and Doechii.

All these artists add their own unique touch to the album while also adapting to Tyler’s style of music.

Here’s a look at each individual track, an album rating at the end, and finally some opinions from students and teachers about CHROMOKOPIA.

Individual Song Ratings:

St. Chroma (feat. Daniel Caesar): 9/10

The first track of the album opens with an intense song beginning with footsteps in an army style marching rhythm. The layered vocals introduced in this first song is one of many times they are seen throughout the entire album. 

Overall St. Chroma is an amazing opening track with a great mix of different beats and a very memorable chorus that repeats “Can you feel the light, inside, can you feel the fire”. The catchy lyrics and uniqueness of the song gives this a rating of a 9/10.

Rah Tah Tah: 10/10

Going from a serious tone set by St. Chroma, Rah Tah Tah completely changes the tone by having a more fun and fast paced song. Despite the fun tone, this song has a deeper message talking about being loyal to his inner circle in the industry and not being exploited by the companies attempting to do so to artists.

The intensity of the song makes it loved by those just listening to  have fun with the music, while the deeper meaning of the lyricism allows those who pay more attention to lyrics and deeper meanings to enjoy the song, which is why we give this song a rating of 10/10.

Noid: 8/10

As a song originally released before the entire album was released Noid takes themes from the previous song of “Rah Tah Tah” by exploring the downsides to fame as he is paranoid of paparazzi since he is famous. This is seen through the repetition of the phrase “someone’s keeping watch” repeated multiple times through the chorus referring to the paparazzi interfering with his personal life.

In an album hidden with deeper meanings to songs, the message of Noid is a lot more direct, while the rock-style beat makes the song very entertaining to listen to, but not being anything too special for the album. As a result of these we give Noid a rating of 8/10.

Darling, I (feat. Teezo Touchdown): 10/10

Darling, I takes  a hard right turn by having a theme of heavy self reflection and love. This song has an extremely deep meaning as Tyler is in a constant search of short term love to cover up for his loneliness that he faces while not having these short stints of happiness. The main chorus consists of the repeating line of “Darling, I keep falling in love”.

Teezo Touchdown uses his feature in this song to express a similar message as Tyler had throughout the rest of the song for his search for something or someone to make him permanently happy.

Overall Darling, I is a beautiful song with a very nostalgic feel to it that uses the same beat for the entire song. This upbeat song does a great job of exploring a depressing theme while still keeping it entertaining. This song is truly one of Tyler’s masterpieces and arguably the best on this album, which is why we give it a 10/10 rating.

Hey Jane: 8/10

Continuing the deeper themes of songs, Hey Jane explores a situation with a fiction girl named Jane of an accidental pregnancy. This song is meant to send a deeper message of the pressures faced by those who face a situation such as this and Tyler’s commitment to Jane despite the situation that she faces.

Hey Jane is written as a conversation between Tyler and Jane, which is shown throughout the many times Tyler asks questions to Jane by saying “Hey Jane” and other conversation starters. Overall, the song’s message and lyrics boost the rating to an 8/10.

I Killed You: 9/10

With the previous two songs exploring a romantic side of Tyler’s life, I Killed You is a track that is meant to pay respect to Tyler’s Black heritage. He uses references of hair such as 360 waves as a metaphor for Black culture and the repetition of the phrase “I killed you” represents people abandoning cultural practices for those that conforms to western standards.

The childish vocals in the beginning create interest in the song as it switches to an African style drum beat that reflects the message of this song to be proud of his Black and African heritage. A very unique beat mixed with the overall message of the song creates a replayable song worth listening to, which is why it gets a rating of 9/10.

Judge Judy: 10/10

Music is usually made to tell a story, and Judge Judy is possibly the most direct way of this. This song explores Tyler’s ideal relationship with a fictional girl named Judy and tells their story. The message of this song is accepting other people’s quirks and that relationships aren’t just about the physical aspect of someone but the uniqueness of the relationships.

The depressing feeling of this song mixed with an even more depressing ending is meant to tell people that they should appreciate relationships while they have them. The themes of Tyler’s perfect relationship are little judgment as its repeated that he wont judge Judy for her quirks and small things that make her different. The deep, but intense  meaning of  this song and beautiful storytelling make this very underrated as a song and we give this a rating of 10/10.

Sticky (feat. GloRilla, Sexyy Red, Lil Wayne): 10/10

Opening with a whistle this is one of the songs that doesn’t seem to have a deep meaning, but instead is a more upbeat and fun song. The many features in this song give it the feeling similar to a freestyle with your friends. This song stands out from the rest of the album, which has created a divide in who does and doesn’t like it.

This entertaining and free feel to the song makes it very memorable as Sticky has become the most played song on the album. With each feature giving its own vibe to the energy of the song, we give “sticky” a rating of 10/10.

Take Your Mask Off (feat. Daniel Caesar, LaToiya Williams): 9/10

Following a trend that is seen a lot throughout the album, Take Your Mask Off is a track on a very smooth piano beat with a very memorable chorus. The theme of finding your identity is the main purpose of this song as Tyler is finding himself and taking his mask off is a metaphor for showing his true self instead of  conforming to societal norms.

Overall the smooth beat and  an extremely catchy chorus with vocals from Daniel Caesar, this song is beautiful to listen to. The only part preventing this song from being a 10 is that some of  the verses between the chorus can be boring. Despite these negatives, “Take Your Mask Off” is a beautiful and catchy song that captures a theme beautifully which gives it a rating of 9/10.

Tomorrow: 6/10

Tomorrow seems to continue extremely similar messages mentioned towards the end of Take Your Mask Off as Tyler accepts the fact he is getting older. In a track that is very reflective, this doesn’t have any fun beats or catchy chorus and is a very slow song. Attempting to catch a similar vibe and attitude to that of  Take Your Mask Off it can’t quite capture the same energy and instead is a boring song.

This song is the worst song on the album in our opinion, as it doesn’t really have anything special and just seems basic. There isn’t much else to this song, which is why it gets a rating of a 6/10.

Thought I Was Dead (feat. Santigold, ScHoolboy Q): 10/10

Following a boring song such as Tomorrow, a military marching chant opens up the song Thought I Was Dead. This introduces one of the most upbeat and fun songs to listen to on the entire album. As a very unfiltered song, this song resembles what some see in Tyler’s earlier work and the heavy brass/trombone based beat only adds to the energy of the song. Conveying a theme of self reflection as he uses his old style to reflect on his past self.

This entertaining beat mixed with an old Tyler, the Creator style of music gives this song an amazing vibe as something you could listen to over and over again. The themes of this song aren’t as obvious as others, but its completely made up for with the the song itself as we give Thought I Was Dead a rating of 10/10

Like Him (feat. Lola Young): 10/10

From the first note of Like Him it is obvious that this is going to be  a depressing and heartfelt song but not even knowing that can prepare you for this. Like Him is a long conversation between Tyler and his mother talking about his father who left him at a young age with Tyler constantly asking if he looks like “him” referring to his father.

Tyler’s father was first mentioned in his 2013 song Answer as Tyler criticizes his father for being a deadbeat and leaving him. In a heartbreaking twist, the last 30 seconds of the song see Tyler’s mother telling him that his father had always wanted to be in his life but she prevented him.

Like Him is seen by many as the best song of the album due to its emotional meaning and a beat switch in the middle that just makes the song that much more depressing. With a strong theme of self reflection, Like Him gets the most deserved 10/10 rating for this album.

Balloon (feat. Doechii): 8/10

Coming off of an emotional roller coaster of Like Him, Balloon opens with an extremely childish and goofy beat. Tyler continues his theme of reflection as now he is reflecting on his success throughout the years in a very unfiltered song with the energy being matched by a Doechii feature.

Overall this song does a great job at being a positive and fun song, but with some questionable lyrical choices Balloon seems like a song without purpose in the album. The childish, yet unserious nature of this song gives it an overall rating of 8/10.

I Hope You Find Your Way Home: 9/10

As the final track of the album, I Hope You Find Your Way Home is meant to close out the stories of the album and it does so by continuing the song of Hey Jane. With a very slow beat, this song captures the themes of adulthood, accepting change, and romantic relationships that are mentioned constantly throughout the album.

This song does a great job at closing the album, but there nothing too special about the song in general as it gets very repetitive. Although this is a negative, the meaning of the song mixed with great in-depth lyrics that Tyler is known for “I Hope You Find Your Way Home” gets a rating of 9/10.

Overall Album Rating: 9/10

Final Notes:

Overall, CHROMOKOPIA is an amazing listen and we would highly recommend it. An outstanding feature list is able to mix extremely well with Tyler’s unique style of music to create a great album. Despite some slow parts in the album, those songs such as Hey Jane and Judge Judy carry deep messages and lyricism for the listener.

Despite most songs being strong, Tomorrow is an extremely weak song and the only one that I’d truly consider skipping when listening. Other than that, songs such as Darling, I and Like Him shine as two of the best tracks in the album.

Other opinions on CHROMOKOPIA:

Students and teachers at Urbana High School also voiced their opinion on CHROMOKOPIA and specific songs on it.

Jacob Lunny, class of 2025, rated the album a 9.2/10 and said that his favorite songs on the album are Sticky and Rah Tah Tah. These are two of the more energetic songs with a meaning to them as Lunny said that Rah Tah Tah, “Has a crazy flow to it.”

Lunny’s least favorite song on the album was Balloon and for his explanation he said that

Mrs. Harikleia Robinson, Publications teacher, had a more negative review on the album. Initially Robinson enjoyed the beginning of the album as she liked the heavy bass included in the songs.

Overall she didn’t enjoy the album much and her reasoning for it was “The songs and style got really repetitive like there were clear distinctions between the songs, but the style was repetitive.”

David Vaisband, class of 2026, rated  the album as just OK and not one of Tyler’s best works.  Vaisband’s favorite song on the album was Sticky, because of the upbeat verse by GloRilla.

Similar to Lunny, Vaisband’s least favorite song on the album was Balloon and his short explanation was simply, “It was a boring song”.

Mixed opinions are one of the most common themes with those reviewing CHROMOKOPIA, as different songs appeal to certain people and the album in general consists of Tyler’s unique style.

Tyler has been relatively consistent with releasing new albums every 2-3 years so hopefully we’ll see new work from him anywhere from 2026-2027.