Even though Tyler, the Creator’s CHROMAKOPIA era is such a distinct, high-concept, culmination-of-many-things-he’s-been-working-towards type era with a tour that’s far from over, I ended my review of his recent Madison Square Garden show by saying that Tyler left me wondering what he’d do next. At the time, I never would’ve guessed that I’d find out less than one week later.
The MSG show (Monday, 7/14) kicked off a run of six NYC-area arena shows, and at the Barclays Center show he played four days later (Friday, 7/18), he revealed that he had an entire new album called Don’t Tap the Glass ready to be released the following Monday (7/21). As I write this it’s been out for a little over 24 hours, during which I haven’t been able to stop playing it on repeat as much as possible.
After (at least) three consecutive vast concept albums, Tyler tempered expectations by tweeting that Don’t Tap the Glass “aint no concept nothing,” and we soon found out that the album only has 10 songs, a 28.5 minute runtime, and almost no guest appearances (all of which are currently uncredited on streaming services). 2021’s Call Me If You Get Lost was a concept album modeled after a rap mixtape, but Don’t Tap the Glass is the most a Tyler project has felt like a mixtape since the early Odd Future tapes. Even Bastard had more of an album-oriented narrative arc than this.
Tyler’s own wording suggested fans might be disappointed (“yall better get them expectations and hopes down”), but personally I find Don’t Tap the Glass to be a refreshing change, a nice palate cleanser, and most importantly, very fun. Tyler also accompanied the album’s release with a statement about how some people don’t dance in public anymore because they’re afraid of being filmed and turned into a meme, and Don’t Tap may not have a thematic concept but it does have a clear purpose: to get people to dance. “This album was not made for sitting still,” Tyler wrote. “Dancing driving running any type of movement is recommended to maybe understand the spirit of it. Only at full volume.”
Entirely produced by Tyler, who continues to be one of his generation’s most interesting producers on top of being a beloved rapper and singer, the beats absolutely sound designed to get you moving, whether it’s the nostalgia-inducing synth-funk of “Sugar On My Tongue,” “Ring Ring Ring,” and the Daisy World/Madison McFerrin-sung “Don’t You Worry Baby,” or the straight-up rave beats on “I’ll Take Care of You.” Thanks to songs like those, the long history of songs that mix hip hop and dance music just got a little longer.
On those latter two tracks, Tyler’s own voice barely appears at all, but another thing that stands out about this album is how much fun Tyler sounds like he’s having when he’s rapping. The album comes on the heels of Tyler reminding the world how hard he can rap with his verse on the new Clipse album, and some of the moments that Tyler seemed most inspired at his MSG show were the times he was rapping his ass off, like with “Who Dat Boy,” the Call Me If You Get Lost songs, and the extended a cappella rendition of “Thought I Was Dead.” (Not to mention he gave a long shoutout to Clipse and their influence on CMIYGL in particular.) On Don’t Tap the Glass, we hear Tyler really rapping in a way he mostly avoided on CHROMAKOPIA. On the Busta Rhymes-sampling “Big Poe,” “Stop Playing With Me,” and “Don’t Tap That Glass / Tweakin’,” we get some of Tyler’s hardest beats and some of his hardest bars at once. The latter also has his best beat switch in recent memory.
At times, Don’t Tap the Glass can feel like Tyler’s GNX, a followup to a cinematic opus that finds a superstar rapper at their hardest and rawest, with little second guessing or overthinking. Even Tyler’s choice to release the album in the middle of a different album’s tour suggests that there was a sense of urgency behind these songs, especially for an artist who tends to combine each album and tour cycle into distinctly different eras. And even on an album that feels a little more geared towards the mixtape heads, Tyler still can’t stay away from polished art-rap-pop gems like “Sugar On My Tongue,” “Sucka Free,” and “Ring Ring Ring”–songs that would’ve been melodic standouts on Flower Boy, IGOR, or CHROMAKOPIA.
Tyler’s first live show since Don’t Tap the Glass‘ release is tonight (7/22), and if he decides to start working Don’t Tap songs into his CHROMAKOPIA setlist, I have a feeling it’ll go over really well. The stakes feel lower for this project, but the songs sound as arena-sized or even stadium-sized as Tyler fans would expect. (As he raps on “Tweakin’,” “Six nights at Crypto/Shit, I should have did SoFi.”) Even the quickest and dirtiest moments sound like no other artist around, whether it’s a bright melodic song, an aggressive rap song, or a song that barely features Tyler’s own voice at all. His production, songwriting, and singing/rapping are all instantly recognizable, and all larger than life. Even when he tries to go small, he sounds huge.