The hype for Travis Scott’s last studio album, Astroworld, was real. For years, the Houston rapper teased his biggest album to date and fans constantly begged that he would just release the project.
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In August 2018, he finally put out the album, and it absolutely lived up to the hype. The artist who was once more known as a producer, became a household name in the hip-hop world as an MC. Even listeners who weren’t fans of his music (like myself) couldn’t deny the mark he left on the genre with Astroworld.
But, that was five years ago. Can Travis Scott live up to the hype again with Utopia? I think he can.
He recently teased the release of the much-anticipated album on Monday, revealing that he played the entire project for the Houston Astros in their locker room before their matchup against the Chicago Cubs.
He told a reporter from FOX 26 Houston, “We fresh from Utopia. Live from the Utopia. It’s on the way now. Had to come and play the Utopia for the boys in the locker room. Had to get them right for the game.”
I think the practice of artists putting space between their albums is good. I understand up-and-coming rappers flooding the market with music until they find a sound, song or project that sticks. But, when you have reached a certain level of success in the music industry, there is no need to release an album or project every year (cough cough Drake).
But with time comes expectations. Fans, fair or not, will expect something greater than the last album, even if that feat is impossible.
This is something artists such as Kendrick Lamar and Frank Ocean deal with on a regular basis. They drop an album, go into hiding, fans’ expectations for the next album go through the roof and then the process repeats itself. For someone like Ocean, it’s even more extreme considering he’s only dropped two albums in the last 11 years.
Now that Scott is on another hiatus he’s put himself in that group. Obviously, some unforeseen circumstances likely contributed to the wait, but now the practice of fans expecting an instant classic is here.
But, I do think that Scott is up for the task. Now, will it necessarily be better than Astroworld? I have no idea, that album is immensely popular and saw the Houston rapper experimenting with sounds he did not previously use.
In my eyes, for UTOPIA to live up to the hype, Scott must not be repeatable in his sounds. I don’t want an Astroworld 2, or a Rodeo 2. I want something totally new and unique. For example, Scott’s signature sound was all over Astroworld, but he included sounds and features that fans did not expect. A song like “STOP TRYING TO BE GOD” comes to mind. It was different but good.
Now, this might not be what your casual fan might want, but I want something totally unique and individualistic on this album. I don’t think it’s too much to ask considering he’s very capable of it. Each album has shown steady improvement, I want to see it again on UTOPIA.
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