Tyler, The Creator, a popular musician, released a new album named “Chromakopia” on October 28th, 2024 after having no new releases in three years. The announcement of this news sparks a major response from listeners.
He announced his new album dropping on October 16, 2024, after stating he wouldn’t make any new music this year. Having faked out listeners with his previous statement he got a mostly positive response from listeners and general excitement among fans. This drop has generally gained popularity throughout the media, specifically about his work with music videos and the symbolism behind them.
Tyler, The Creator is most well known for the diversity in the music he produces as he ranges from rap to hip hop to even R&B. This allows him to reach a wider audience and gain significantly more popularity. His last album was Call Me If You Get Lost, a 16-song-long hip-hop album released in 2021. Chromakopia plays into this variety by featuring songs such as Sticky which is a fast paced rap song, as well as Judge Judy which is in a more melodic hip-hop style.
On October 16, 2024, Tyler released the first preview of the album with the song St. Chroma with a music video to come with it. This music video features a black-and-white scene of ten men dressed like soldiers marching into a shipping container labeled Chromakopia, which is later blown up bringing color to the whole video. The incorporation of color is a small feature with multiple levels to it even relating to the name of the album itself. Leading up to the release he later released another music video, to the song Noid, in the same style demonstrating the intentionalism behind it. The curated cinematography of these released videos continued to raise the expectations for the album.
The name Chromakopia has been dissected to make speculations about what the contents of the album may relate to. The prefix chroma- is related to color which can be deduced by the St. Chroma video which starts without color. This theme is then carried on into the two other teasers named Noid and Thought I Was Dead which continue the grayscale style. The clear intentionality leaves fans to wonder what the story behind it may be.
Besides dropping the two teaser songs Tyler used the Chromakopia truck as a way to promote his new songs. This is a bright green shipping truck with the word “chromakopia” printed on it in the same font that is used in the music videos. While driving around the United States, its location has been documented by the Chromakopia Instagram account which is also used to promote merch The thorough marketing essentially guarantees this album to be successful.
In the video all ten of the marching men are dressed in all black with their faces covered, so as to hide their identity. Before the release of this, viewers theorized who the actors in the music video were, claiming whoever they were would be featured on the album. One of the most hopeful theories is Frank Ocean, who hasn’t made music since 2016 and in the end, was not on the album. This is only just a minor disappointment to fans who have so far had no major negative feedback on the album. Considering all the marketing and production that has gone into the album there seems to be no reason for anything but success for Chromakopia.
