DON'T TAP THE GLASS - Tyler, The Creator: Review
Review by Lavender:
Tyler, The Creator is a California rapper, singer, producer, and all-around creative who has been an iconoclast of music for 15 years now. Though he's certainly had his ups and downs along the way, albums like his timeless embrace of pop, 2017's Flower Boy, have stood the test of time remarkably well. DON'T TAP THE GLASS is Tyler's 9th album, and it arrives with virtually no rollout less than a year after 2024's CHROMAKOPIA. That album dug further than ever before into Tyler's vulnerabilities and insecurities, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. But on his new album, Tyler insists that you leave the feelings at home and try dancing instead. While the results aren't as memorable, a lot of his charm persists.
The first song in the tracklist that really blew me away was "Sugar On My Tongue." Longtime Tyler fans will recognize this immediately for what it is: a munch anthem. I love the rumbling drums in the beat and the extremely unapologetic metaphors. That comes right alongside the hilarious "Sucka Free," which is one of the funniest and silliest songs on the record, occasionally sounding like a straight-up Loiter Squad skit. But the hook comes around, and it's irresistibly smooth. The "New Workout Plan" sounding vocals that wiggle away in the background are a perfect touch.
The biggest problem with this record is a fairly obvious, though pretty surprising one. Even during his weakest eras, Tyler has always been a machine for hooks. Even when he's written songs like "Bastard" or "Colossus" that don't even have hooks, he's managed to stitch in moments that are every bit as infectious. That's why it's so surprising that the hooks are by far the weakest part of this album. They're consistently mired in monotonous repetitive refrains that stick in your head for all the wrong reasons. Opener "Big Poe" is packed full of funny, great verses from Tyler and Pharrell, but the chorus hits with whatever the opposite of momentum is.
Even the good songs on this record have to overcome their chorus to get there. "Ring Ring Ring" just has nothing to grab onto in its hook, but the beat is fantastic with subtle chiptune sounds worked in that I find way more infectious than the actual refrains. The two-part "Don't Tap That Glass / Tweakin" has verses so ferocious and drums so playful even the worst hook in the world couldn't slow it down. Less so for the one-two-punch of "Mommanem" and "Stop Playing With Me," which slip into a darker palette that's out of character for the rest of the record. The former is full of obnoxious vocalizations and repetition, but is blissfully short. The latter is just as monotonous, and while I think the beat is at least energetic, it also gets old as the track goes on.
Thankfully, the record eventually recovers from this stumble. "Don't You Worry Baby" has an actual chorus, and it feels like finding water in the desert every time it comes around on the album. Then on the very next track, Tyler recruits Yebba for a glistening, dreamy introduction that hilariously contrasts with a sample of "Knuck If You Buck" of all things. It works perfectly as a stylistic midpoint between Tyler's hip-house ambitions and his dreamier pop side. After flirting with the album's theme of leaving emotions at the door, having really been a facade the whole time, Tyler really lets it all go on the closer "Tell Me What It Is." It represents Tyler dramatically collapsing in on his own ambitions and once again letting his own loneliness take center stage in his music. For longtime Tyler fans, that moment is extremely satisfying, even if it feels inevitable.
DON'T TAP THE GLASS is a solid album that manages to explore a new style while keeping up the infectious qualities of Tyler's songwriting. Though the ambitions are scaled back, and the intrigue that results is less than an album like CHROMAKOPIA, that's obviously by design. The quality of the hooks on the record is surprisingly low, but the performances themselves are consistently solid, and Tyler's production is as colorful as ever. The results are a record that may never stand out in his catalog, but still has more to it than meets the eye. 7/10
For more hip-hop, check out my review of Clipse' Let God Sort Em Out
