Introduction:
IGOR is largely hailed as Tyler, the Creator’s best project. It won him a Grammy for “Best Rap Album” in 2020 (although it is the furthest thing from a “rap” album). This is Tyler’s most emotionally potent and narratively lush album. It tells a story from start to finish, while ensuring a thoroughly enjoyable sonic and musical experience.
This essay will discuss each of the twelve track’s narrative importance to the album, which primary emotion they deal with, and how it all ties together at the end, providing for a film-esque storyline of a love triangle that Tyler (or at least the character Igor) had to sit through.
IGOR can be viewed as an alternate character that Tyler plays in this album. “Dressing up” as different alter egos is something Tyler fans have come to expect (Wolf Haley in the album Wolf, Tyler Baudelaire in Call Me if You Get Lost, etc.) IGOR feels like Tyler’s coping mechanism, dealing with heartbreak by becoming a character.
Track #1. IGOR’S THEME:
True to it’s title, Igor’s Theme builds a musical environment. With it’s pitch shifted vocals, blaring and crunchy synths, it establishes the sound that the audience will come to expect from this album. The song doesn’t have too many words, the simple refrain of “Ridin’ ‘round town, they gon’ feel this one” and the words “He’s coming”. It’s simple, provocative, and pushes you into Igor’s world. It’s like a title card.
Track #2. EARFQUAKE:
Earfquake marks the beginning of Igor’s story. “For real, for real this time” Tyler proceeds to describe his first time realising he’s in love (or many a first time, for listeners). The subject of this album makes Tyler’s earthquake, and at the risk of sounding cheesy; this song is the perfect encapsulation of what love “for real” feels like. It’s only downhill from here, but it feels godlike in the moment.
Track #3. I THINK:
I Think echoes Earfquake’s sentiments, pushing the idea of lovesickness and being blindsided by your emotions. Tyler narrates pretty simply on the chorus; “I think I’ve fallen in love, This time I think it’s for real.”
Tyler makes reference to being a puppet, a theme that comes up later. Much like Earquake, this is an accurate soundtrack for fresh romantic feelings.
Track #4. EXACTLY WHAT YOU RUN FROM YOU END UP CHASING:
This is a short, to-the-point spoken word interlude featuring vocals from Jerrod Carmichael, it foreshadows the upcoming theme of the album; The inevitability of good things coming to an end, the falling apart of all romantic relationships and the knowledge that we have to face all of this head-on.
Track #5. RUNNING OUT OF TIME:
Running out of Time marks the beginning of the end of Tyler’s romance with this the main love interest. Tyler is “Runnin’ out of time to make you love me”. Tyler begins to allude to the idea that their relationship hasn’t been completely honest. The idea of a “third” begins to surface. This song has a more instrumental focus, with gorgeous and long-drawn synthesisers that make the song feel like a journey. Tyler says the line “I’ve been running out of spells” which can be seen as an allusion to the next song.
Track #6. NEW MAGIC WAND:
After another line from Carmichael, this song jumps into the album’s first legitimate “banger”. Tyler begins singing almost poisonously about a “She” character. “She” has begun to intrude on Tyler’s picture perfect romance. The line “I want a hundred of your time, you’re mine” further cements that something has gone very wrong with the introduction of “Her”. A clear distinction is brought up during the more violent lines; “she’s gonna be dead, I just got a magic wand”, this is clearly “Igor” talking. The song continues to soar upwards as Tyler’s writing gets more intensely possessive, he wants to keep this love interest to himself at any cost. The idea of a “magic wand” actually being a weapon transitions smoothly into the next song.
Track #7. A BOY IS A GUN*:
This song’s tone is more confrontational, “You invited me to breakfast, why the f*ck your ex here?” The “She” character never left, and Igor attempts to convert his jealousy into braggadocio. The line “Cause this parka is Comme, you’re my favorite garçon” summarises the themes of this song, and confirms that this lover he’s been singing about is a man. The song’s final lines are “Stay the f*ck away from me”. Igor’s anger is painfully at-the-door and quickly converts to desperation.
Track #8. PUPPET:
The first verse describes an ideal situation for Tyler with his partner, “I need your company”. He shows a strange devotion to this individual, and it continues to tighten until it breaks into the Kanye-assisted chorus, Igor is a puppet for the person who treated him terribly, he’s controlled by the inability to let go. Kanye plays the role of a guiding light with lines like “You lost, son, and you’ve been tryna find your way to me”, and the song concludes in a pretty grand way, paving the road to recovery.
Track #9. WHAT’S GOOD:
The album’s second “banger” track, this serves as a transition point in the album, Tyler confirms his presence as an alter ego with the line, “If the cops ask my name, bitch, I’m Igor”. He continues to do brag-raps like the ones he skimmed on in A Boy is a Gun. The storyline is about to be cleared up as Igor tells us that “I see the light”.
Track #10. GONE GONE / THANK YOU:
As every 10th song on a Tyler, the Creator album goes, Gone Gone / Thank You has two parts. Gone Gone narrates Igor’s sense of abandonment, “Whether it’s rain or shine, I know I’m fine for now, My love’s gone”. The delivery is heart wrenching but lies in bitter truth; people leave, you felt like “she can’t compete with me” but “the Band-Aid is falling off now / and now I’m scarred for life”. Tyler’s rapped verse goes into more detail, he builds a construction related metaphor that deals with leases like they were infidelity. The building Tyler and his boyfriend built got torn down because of “your new tenant”.
And now that Igor’s heartbreak has been acknowledged, he begins to accept, but not heal, as explained in the chorus of Thank You;
“Thank you for the love
Thank you for the joy
But I don’t ever wanna fall in love again”
This second half is relatively brief, but is powerful with it’s message. Tyler needs himself to be set free.
Track #11. I DON’T LOVE YOU ANYMORE
This song gets directly to the point, following Igor’s partial recovery after the last track, he feels confident enough to declare this. “But this just might be better for us, you know?”. Tyler has no idea what to do with these feelings, and this character he’s created to cope with them, but he knows he needs to move.
Track #12. ARE WE STILL FRIENDS?:
Exactly like it’s predecessor, this song gets exactly to the point with it’s subject matter. Tyler firmly believes that “I don’t want to end this season on a bad episode” where he is affirmed by Pharrell’s guest vocals in the same way he was by Kanye.
Conclusion:
The last two songs of the album are written like epilogues, trying to fill in a relatively happy ending behind the scenes. But the truth is, there is no happy ending to a breakup, there’s no positive, platonic way to spin it. Things end bitterly, trying hard to prevent that only makes it worse, which is why the final song is a question, not a confirmation.
Tyler, the Creator put his heart and soul into creating this character for this story, whether it’s based on true events or not, i wouldn’t know, but the animated characteristics of Igor allow him to be a vessel of heartbreak and acceptance for not just Tyler, but his audience too.
The “love triangle” serves as a centrepiece to the drama of the album, the crux through which these painful emotions are brought into existence. Tyler’s love interest begins talking to another girl, Tyler uses Igor to cope with this, trying to make it work through potential infidelity, things fall apart, his lover leaves. With every additional track, the heartbreak and anger intensify, till they cool off for Tyler’s own sake. IGOR as a project does it’s best to cover all possible reactions and coping mechanisms to a situation like the one described. It is powerful in it’s delivery, and it’s narrative would be incomplete without the fabulous, grand and at times scratchy production and instrumentation that gives it so many more layers.
IGOR is a modern masterpiece, Tyler’s magnum opus, and a heartbreak consoling device that has and will continue to guide millions of people through their romantic worst.
