Flower Boy | Tyler the Creator

Tyler the Creator’s fourth studio album, Flower Boy, (released on July 21) vocally explores his journey in self-discovery and change throughout his musical career.

The rapper has matured from his past albums’ harsh beats and angry lyrics for the sake of shock value to smooth melodies and candid self-reflective thoughts in Flower Boy.

During an appearance on The Late Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Tyler discussed his intentions behind his new sound.

“It’s more that I wanted to produce and have people sing,” the rapper said. “So, I kinda didn’t want to rap on it. I kept all my rap verses short. And everything I said, I made sure it was really ridiculously important.”

Flower Boy heavily features other artists like A$AP Rocky, Lil Wayne, Frank Ocean, and Estelle. It acts as a united front of collabortive musicians.

The song “Foreward,” sets the tone for the album’s overall theme of self-improvement. Tyler questions his world, asking, “How many cars can I buy till I run out of drive / How much drive can I have, until I run out of road?” The song’s feature artist Rex Orange County sings, “Nothing lasts forever, nothing sticks together.”

Flower Boy is different in every way from anything Tyler the Creator has previously produced—and it’s far from a bad thing.