This should not have been good, there were almost no reasons this was going to be good. After the 5 year wait, after the hit or miss features he’s been pumping out during said wait, after the continued association with living downward spiral Ye, after the notorious disaster festival that was Astroworld 2021, this should have been average at best, and a dumpster fire at worst. Even with all of that, through continuing to be himself artistically and draw from some of the best influences of recent memory, all while heavily pushing the envelope , Travis Scott has not only crafted one of my favorite hip hop albums of the year so far, but my favorite album in his entire catalogue.
Like a significant portion of trap, including the rest of Travis’ discography thus far, Utopia is not an album heavy on lyrics, it does not change what’s worked for Travis so far in that regard. For this reason the sonic palette will be the most major focus of this review, and a heck of a sonic palette it is. From the moment the album starts, after an ominous Derek Shulman intro with no instrumentation, it hits you with a sensory mindfuck. Booming, heavy industrial drums crash onto HYAENA and are accompanied by from what I could deduce as a synthesized harpsichord, dinging the beat along. Extremely nice touch on Travis’ part. Travis flows quite well too. He’s snappy, confident yet still a tad psychedelic vocally, handily complementing the crunchy drums on the track. Then like many of the songs on this album (and a few others across Travis’s career) , it morphs into something different through a transition mid track. Towards the end the song, the harpsichord is cut and a George Clinton outro ensues over heavier bass. As the vocals end, a loud, buzzy, but weirdly euphoric synth closes the track. HYAENA is an incredible opener for Utopia in my eyes. It represents how cold, confident and sonically daring most of the entire project is. Many of my worries were about Travis’s potential stagnation were put to rest when I first listened due to the crazy attention to detail I described on HYAENA.
Thankfully, the rest of it lives up to the high standard it set by being just as sonically interesting. For example, MODERN JAM is a Ye inspired industrial trap track. The drums are punchy and crunchy, it sounds like one of the more industrial cuts off of Donda. It has an ambience to it, it’s a bit empty outside the drums, but surprisingly it’s not to the track’s detriment. It just makes the other sounds stand out like a heavy bass that leaps on the track for a second or two, accompanied by a loud mechanical buzzsaw like synth. I am a sucker for mechanical synths. It is like you are in a robot dance club, vibing the night away. Said bass intervals eventually lead into the hook of the intervals naturally transitioning into a loop with Travis confidently shouting over it “BRIGHT! TRUTH BREAKER! HEARTTHROB BABY!”. The confidence is infectious, it pierces your soul and makes you feel like you can do anything. Best part is that it is a theme across the album, including on its features. Rising industry star Teezo Touchdown pops in at the end of the track, of course being his authentic self. I loved him on his features on Tyler The Creator’s RUN IT UP and Lil Yachty’s the ride-, so I was excited to hear his voice here, especially after seeing him live last year. He delivers an Elton John-esque piano section where he passionately sings and wails over it. Of course his trademark weirdness is conveyed well here with the aforementioned confidence. A synthy outro ensues after a small verse from Teezo, with Travis shouting his adlibs from earlier. I love how there’s a hint of DJ turntablism incorporated in the end of the beat as well, as it is another amazing example of attention to detail continually making the album that much better.
One thing I mentioned earlier is a similarity to Ye’s Donda album, this album shares quite a few elements with it. This is no surprise considering there are multiple modern Ye scraps on this album, a couple from Donda . The first major one is God’s Country. After a very ominous intro with faint, lethargic “lala” vocals that eventually turn into a part of the beat, Travis delivers a verse that flows a lot like Ye. His flow is energetic and almost drilly. He also emphasizes certain words with a high pitched inflection (“Wakin’ up I see the LIGHT”). It works well over the snappy and light hi hats, a subtle but heavy bass as well as the aforementioned “lala”s. Thankfully, this is not just a Donda leftover, Travis makes sure to make it entirely his own. With the spacey echo after his adlibs, he makes the whole thing feel spacier than most of Donda due to the bass and vocals mentioned earlier. I was in a trance, feeling like I was floating through the album cover watching Travis vibe and do his thing.
Lost Forever is the other major Ye scrap on the album, but again Travis makes it his own. Less so this time than on God’s Country, but it is more than made up for by the general enjoyability of it. As far as flow goes it sounds like Travis doing a flow somewhat akin to Ye’s Jesus Lord. In the passage of
“Bout to go up a level of disrespectful
I’m just one chain away from goin’ heavy metal
I’m just one angel away from blockin’ out the devil”,
he was lethargic during most of each bar, then slightly emphasized the ends with his cadences, like Ye on Jesus Lord. It sounds defeated, but like you are in a haze, trying to block out the awareness of your defeat. I also would not be surprised if “Ask if she “Ha-ha-ha”, I really doubt it (Ha-ha-ha)” was written by Ye, that is a Ye line. Even if it sounds like Ye is still works, and the trap influence separates it from the previously mentioned Jesus Lord. There is also a Westside Gunn feature on the track. It is pretty standard Westside Gunn, but he still exudes confidence with his usual yelpy and slightly nasally ‘Action Bronson but pitched up two octaves’ flow, dropping his usual “BOOM BOOM BOOM” adlibs.
However, Ye’s style is not the only style Travis turns into his own. FE!N sounds like he he took notes from Playboi Carti, with the almost chip tune-y synthesized bass. It’s like Nintendo being tasked with a rage beat. Travis gives a hazy, slightly echoey flow as he does, but adds in more energy towards the end of his verse. It is structured in a way that makes the end of the verse extremely satisfying. The whole thing makes sense when Carti shows up on a repetitive but extremely fun hook. I am going to end up hearing “FIEND FIEND FIEND” in my dreams. Sheck Wes comes in as well and delivers a verse that is not quite annoying, but very nothing compared to the standard most of the album sets. Still due to Travis and Carti both delivering well I enjoy the song quite a bit.
It would seem DELRESTO (ECHOES) is a track that was taken from the house inspired dance-pop album Beyoncé released last year, Renaissance. Again, makes sense considering Queen Bey herself is on it, delivering soulful and, take a drink, confident, vocals on the track. She really flexes her voice, especially in the final chorus as the production gets more out there and tribal. Booming bass drums and what sounds like electronic house bongos accompany Bey crying “The Let Go” repeatedly. It is beautiful in a way. Travis delivers these lethargic but smooth Kid Cudi-esque verses throughout the song as well. This is until Travis and Beyoncé both bounce off each other for the 4th and 5th verses respectively, delivering dancey, bubbly, and confident flows that fit the cold vibe of the song. It is like being in an empty club, the focus is on Travis and Bey. There is even a beautiful Justin Vernon outro with gushy synths that sound like they would fit in on a flaming lips album. With this track, Travis further brought the best out of the already currently thriving Beyoncé, yet still made it feel like his own.
He continues this trend of bringing out the best in his features with the trap banger TOPIA TWINS. Which starts out with a sugary and catchy trap hook where Travis triumphantly boasts
“twin bitches, twin bitches
Twin bitches hoppin’ off a jetskiiiii”
which leads into a great verse from a rapper I had never heard of before, Rob49. Who bursts onto the track with what I could best describe as a Busta Rhymes flow, with punchlines snappily spilling out of him. It flows amazingly and I hope for a fruitful career in his future. The major event for this track continues the trend of Travis bringing the best out of everyone, the 21 Savage verse. I must confess I have never been a fan of 21’s more monotone, deadpan flow, but he actually inflects here. In a Utopia 21 would inflect regularly so it makes sense. The production on the track is bright and danceable, I would be shocked if this track does not become a single. Travis also delivers a confident and fun verse that ramps up in intensity as it progresses until a hazy, worbly refrain at the end that leads to an abridged version of the chorus and ends the track.
Before I arrive at the few negatives I have with the album, I must mention MELTDOWN. It starts with a sinisterly dark, synthy violin part that leads into an equally sinister verse from Champagne Papi himself, Drake. He mentions how “Tensions is Definitely Rising” and that it’s “T Time”. Drake repeats “T Time” over and over, faster and faster, leading into an incredible, slightly hazy and eerily nocturnal rest of the verse. There are these metronomic high hats that complement it well and still make it a banger. As Drake’s verse ends the track transitions, with these loud, industrial, distorted synths that act as a chrysalis for the beat to morph into the beat for Travis’ part of the song. The hi hats and violin are still there from drake’s verse but now they are more faint and louder in the mix are bass drums and a more symphonic string part. Every few bars the chrysalis synth part from before would pop back in. It adds a nice touch to the more dark atmosphere of the song. Towards the end of the song the chrysalis part comes in, the song quiets for a second, then faster trap drums ensue. Travis breathily and quickly repeats over the track “is you fucking crazy?”. Travis then delivers a snappy and confident final verse. I love this section, and the entire track. It feels like a dark sequel to Travis and Drake’s last big hit SICKO MODE due to how it has three different sections. Unlike last time, Drake has one verse, Travis has two. It feels like a welcome callback, yet it does not retread old ground. Lovely track.
It should be no surprise to anyone reading at this point that Travis has been bringing out the best in mostly everyone, from Teezo to Drake, but I do say mostly. Unfortunately they cannot all be winners, and there are a couple of features that do not bode over as well. The elephant in the room is The Weeknd. He appears on this album twice and neither time is enjoyable. The first time is on Circus Maximus, which is a generally enjoyable track. It reminds me quite a bit of Black Skinhead by Ye with the booming, tribal drums. Travis delivers a fun verse (without the lackluster writing of Black Skinhead), and the production stays consistent as it has been throughout the album thus far. Even when Travis is not on the track the beat goes on as it has been, and even adds in a high pitched alien like synth towards the end, that sounds like it would play in a club on the Jetsons. The Weeknd comes in prior to that, and is extremely flaccid on the verse. His verse is a lifeless, echoey wall of nothing that goes in one ear and out the other. It does not even really complement the beat. It just exists there and is a tad distracting. The Weeknd also fails to deliver on the track K-Pop. It is legitimately just a worse version of what he did on Rosalia’s Motomami. He tries to come off as smooth but he just comes off as tacky and lifeless. Bad Bunny is on here as well but I never usually enjoy him, and this track is no exception. I disliked K-Pop as a whole and it is absolutely baffling that it was the lead single for this album. The beat is extremely generic reggaeton, and Travis does little in the way of making it sound better.
Unfortunately, the final hip hop feature on the album is pretty weak as well. 21 Savage delivers more what I expected of him on TIL FURTHER NOTICE. This was the run of the mill, monotone delivery I more expected from 21. It is not the worst verse he has released but it definitely took away from the song. Thankfully Travis delivers on his verse, complimenting the melancholic beat with a verse about his struggles with love. Plus electronic music darling James Blake appears on the track, delivering not only a beautiful psychedelically worbly intro that helps set up the themes of the track well, but also a beautiful, triumphant and outright gorgeous outro at the end. There is also a hook with him and Travis having a duet in the middle. Honestly one of the better tracks and a great closer minus the 21 verse.
While not perfect, as a couple of features were less than stellar and not every production decision hit, UTOPIA is infinitely better than I expected it to be and that it had any right to be. Whether he’s picking from some of the best influences of recent memory or bringing out the best in a star studded cast of said influences, Travis Scott has worked a miracle, and kept the musical element of his music consistent. Through his extreme attention to detail and the art of being his authentic and creative self, Travis made sure UTOPIA ended being the creative triumph that it is.
9/10
