Album Anniversaries: 5 Years of Navigating Heartbreak with Tyler, the Creator’s ‘IGOR’

Tyler, the Creator’s IGOR marked a new approach to writing and producing. The album showcases his growth as an artist and still stands as a testament to his profound talent and impact years later.

Written by Valeria Mota

Photo courtesy of Nicholas Hunt

Content Warning: This article includes mentions of violence, rape, and murder.

“Exactly what you run from, you end up chasing.” 

This Jerrod Carmichael snippet on Tyler, the Creator’s sixth studio album, IGOR, resounds through the project with its thematic weight and symbolic significance for Tyler’s entire career. Five years later, the album still stands as a testament to Tyler’s massive talent, astounding growth, and profound impact as an artist.

Tyler, the Creator has matured artistically since his early years of producing projects alongside OFWGKTA (Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All). Odd Future, as the 2007 hip-hop collective is often referred to, stood out for its notorious antics, resistance to mainstream and social norms, and profane lyricism that often dealt with violence, rape, and murder. As a founding member of the group, Tyler helped produce the group’s mixtape and debut album. His bold and vulgar sense of humor while rapping made him stand out among the group as a loud force to be reckoned with. In the mid-2010s, however, the group fizzled out as members churned out solo albums and moved in different artistic directions. The California native was no different, shifting his focus away from the group in 2011 with the release of his solo album Goblin. His artistry matured further in Wolf and Cherry Bomb, with thoughtful lyrics and experimentation with vast production techniques. What truly cemented Tyler’s unique sound as an artist, however, was his 2017 album Flower Boy, a project filled with embellished rhythms contrasted by heavy beats and a vulnerable and freeing portrayal of acceptance, sexuality, and identity.

Following the release of Flower Boy, fans anticipated the drop of another similar album which was announced two weeks before the album’s official release. Videos of the former Odd Future leader dancing in colorful suits, sunglasses, and a blond bob began to circulate, prompting listeners to expect something different from his typical persona.

Image courtesy of Columbia Records

In IGOR, Tyler tells the story of a romantic breakup through the character of Igor (who dons a blond bob and suit). This persona allows Tyler to be vulnerable, as its narrative focuses on a homosexual relationship between two men, a topic that is not normally addressed amongst the Black community. The anthology can be divided into two parts, with the first half of IGOR expressing the heightened emotions that many people experience while falling in love with someone who can’t be with them, playing out in “IGOR’S THEME,” “Runnin’,” and “Got my eyes open.” This storyline manifests through Igor running around, trying to catch the attention of his love interest whom he openly declares his love for in “EARFQUAKE,” begging his love interest not to leave and blaming himself for their issues. Igor even goes as far as sending death threats to his love interest’s girlfriend in “NEW MAGIC WAND,” where he sings that “she’s gonna be dead, I just got a magic wand.” The “magic wand” serves as a metaphor for a gun, as if Igor killing his love interest’s girlfriend will magically solve the relationship’s problems.

The second half of the album, however, sees a drastic change in attitude. The switch from “PUPPET”’s mellow tempo to “WHAT’S GOOD”’s aggressive bass marks the start of Igor’s healing broken heart. On the expressively angry track, “WHAT’S GOOD,” he announces several times that he “[sees] the light,” realizing that it’s time to move on. Contrastingly, he then feels grateful for the experience of the relationship on the double track “GONE, GONE/THANK YOU,” to then pettily announcing the acceptance of the situation with “I DON’T LOVE YOU ANYMORE.” 

Ending with “ARE WE STILL FRIENDS?” Tyler takes a luscious Al Green sample and anguished lyrics, combining them to perfectly capture Igor’s struggle to get over his love interest. Al Green’s “Dream” details Green’s desire to make his romantic relationship “last forever,” similar to how Igor wants to still be friends with his love interest, despite how much pain they put him through. IGOR loops, with the song ending on a sustained synth bass that "IGOR'S THEME" opened with. 

Tyler’s career mirrors the loop that IGOR created, beginning his career as a young adult in Odd Future and abrasively protesting the mainstream, only to have IGOR become his first number-one album and quickly become a mainstream hit. However, even if Tyler’s style in IGOR is generally more inviting to listeners, it is not just another hip-hop record. Its pop influences like Pharrell Williams, one of Tyler’s role models, as well as its masterful mix of varied samples from Al Green to Tatsuro Yamashito, don’t push IGOR into one single style — the album is inherently genre-bending.

IGOR got Tyler his first Grammy for Best Rap Album and, despite being proud of the accomplishment, he was very vocal in maintaining that IGOR wasn’t even a rap album. The “EARFQUAKE” singer noted that when Black musicians want to experiment with their sound, they were immediately shoved into the rap category. “I’m very grateful that what I made could just be acknowledged in a world like this,” Tyler said, “But also, it sucks that whenever we, and I mean guys that look like me, do anything that’s genre-bending, they always put it in a ‘rap’ or ‘urban’ category... Why can’t we just be in pop?” Tyler’s frank acknowledgment of the Grammy’s nature influenced more Black artists to innovate with textured sounds and concept albums, encouraging them to focus on musical quality and not commercial recognition.

Tyler’s transition from abrasive 808s and braggadocious rapping to a more refined production and vulnerable lyricism on IGOR has impacted fans and artists alike. Since IGOR’s release, other rap artists have experimented with layered sounds and a wider range of themes, including Kevin Abstract’s Blanket and Billie Eilish’s early WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?. As these artists continue to explore the boundaries of hip-hop and develop their own sound, the boldness of IGOR still remains relevant. Whether they consider themselves rap fans or not, listeners commonly agree that IGOR stands out as Tyler’s biggest musical achievement to date for masterful storytelling, creative production, and relatable narrative. Tyler explicitly rejected the mainstream in his youth and evidently matured as an artist and a person through this album, understanding how the influence of his voice has grown in the ever-changing musical landscape.

As these five years have passed, IGOR is still widely beloved by fans. The album exhibits Tyler’s unique yet relatable approach to heartbreak and romantic healing, while still having varied samples and textured production. Even though so much has changed since 2019, it’s gratifying to reflect on Tyler's impact with IGOR and look forward to other future musical innovations that he could release. It’s also admirable to share and reminisce on the affinity of heartbreak through a barrier-breaking artist dancing in an iconic blond bob.