ALBUM REVIEW: DON’T TAP THE GLASS
Byline: Bella Coco
ARTIST: Tyler, The Creator
LABEL: Columbia Records
GRADE: A
Tyler The Creator’s surprise drop of his ninth studio album, DON’T TAP THE GLASS, has taken the world and music industry by storm. Breaking his status quo of an approximate three year gap between albums, DON’T TAP THE GLASS prioritizes getting down to a beat instead of showing off personal details to eager fans.
The 10 track album calls back to the notable funk themes of the 1980s and 1990s with a blend of signature Tyler flair. I even got notes of early Pharrell Williams, who collaborated on the attention grabbing opening track, “Big Poe (ft. Sk8brd).”
Some songs, like “Mommanem,” kept me on edge for the entire 75 seconds it played. As soon as you feel prepared for a beat drop, the track transitions seamlessly into “Stop Playing With Me,” which left me underwhelmed but still oddly satisfied at the switch-up. While myself and the majority of fan chatter would’ve preferred a crazy nonsensical drop in “Mommanem,” the album remained cohesive.
“Stop Playing With Me” and “Don’t Tap That Glass/Tweakin” got my attention by playing into more heavy rap themes versus the disco undertones throughout the rest of the album, but Tyler has never been known to be a cookie-cutter artist.
The duo of Tyler and Madison McFerrin on “Don’t You Worry Baby” made me nostalgic for Flower Boy, which now feels like a million years ago in a post-pandemic world. I’ve always had a soft spot for tracks where Tyler puts his vocal cords to work in singing and rapping hybrid tracks, and the latter half of the album performed exactly how I had hoped.
The electro-funk beats mixed with Yebba’s angelic-esque vocals on “I’ll Take Care of You” were the perfect combination of dance-rap, making it a relaxed summer night song. Other notable tracks like “Ring Ring Ring” and “Sugar on My Tongue,” felt perfectly and exquisitely Tyler with hard beats and perfectly crafted comedic lyrics.
My hopes were up by the time I hit the final track, “Tell Me What It Is,” with the song taking its whirlpool of electric notes and smooth vocals and swapping it for a message from a robotic Tyler. As said by the artist himself, the glass was not tapped.
