Tyler, The Creator is a two time grammy winning artist, with a long and shocking career. His horrorcore rap roots on the project Goblin to the universally loved alternative pop heartbreak album Igor, Tyler has cemented himself as one of the most influential creative forces of the modern era. There is one project among his eight studio albums that has remained divisive among fans despite this. Cherrybomb, his 2015 album is one of the most misunderstood albums of all time, there is so much more to this album than the loudness that it presents, it marks a transformation creatively and personally that was long overdue.

Tyler’s 2011 album Goblin relied on shock and horror in his lyrics to get the attention of the people. By doing this though, he attracted a crowd of obsessive fans that looked at him as if he was a god, as if he understood them. These people were social outcasts for the most part and believed Tyler understood them but they didn’t understand that he was only playing a character. Tyler hated these fans he attracted but felt he had to keep making the same type of music as to not lose his only source of income and his platform. After 4 years of this he got sick of it and decided to do what he wanted, make the music he wanted.

Fans hated the project when it first released     

In 2015, Tyler dropped Cherrybomb to fan’s disgust. A music critic by the name of CDTVproductions on youtube put into words the best, as to why fans hated this project. “Cherrybomb is unapologetic in the sense of its presentation and ideas. It is the first album of his that seems especially unapologetic to Tyler’s fanbase.” This album when it was released had nothing else like it in his discography. The whole album had the sound of Tyler not caring what fans thought of the music anymore as he had reached a point in his career where the money didn’t matter anymore. The album is more of a self fulfilment project than an album for fans to enjoy. When I started listening to Tyler’s music I avoided this album due to the negative press it received when one day I decided to listen to it. The fans were right, I thought, I would have ranked the album a 5/10 at the time. This effect seems to happen because of how unapologetic it is. It’s like the album wants to push you away, because it wasn’t made for fans to enjoy, it was made for Tyler to enjoy.

The loud and brash mixing/production on the album

Tyler once stated in an interview that when creating Cherrybomb he wanted to experiment with as many new genres of music as possible, to prove that he isn’t just a one trick pony when it comes to production and music in general. The album has elements of rock, jazz, and pop/rnb, Tyler tries to put his own spin on these genres though. He pitched his voice to extreme amounts and either flooded the tracks with his heavily distorted vocals or made his vocals sound so quiet in the back it sounds like the track is drowning him. People at the time hated this. CDTVproductions explains ”The biggest complaint that most people had was about the mixing of the vocals on the album.” Later in this same review though he said “One major thing I disagree with from my original review in 2015 is that I think the production on Cherrybomb is pretty damn great. Listening to the instrumental version of this album is an amazing experience.” I can back up this claim as well. The song run featuring Schoolboy Q and Chaz Bundwick was originally a song I rarely came back to, but after listening through the instrumental version of this album it has become one of my favorites. The infectious bouncy synths that blare throughout the track, and the energy that they carry truly bring the track together.

What does the message of “Find Your Wings” mean in this context

Track 5 on Cherrybomb is titled “FIND YOUR WINGS”, this song title is a theme that is present throughout the whole project. An online music reviewer by the name of Technical Difficulties on youtube said in his review ”Find Your Wings is essentially a saying in the album which I think resonates with the entire purpose of the project.” What he means by this is to find your own path in life, and do what makes you happy. Tyler has preached this message throughout his whole career, often stating in interviews how it bugs him that people fake liking certain things to fit in instead of doing whatever makes them happy. Tyler also showed this theme all throughout the project in the production. As I mentioned before Tyler was stuck into a box and used this album as his chance to “find his wings” and expressed it all throughout the production. An English major by the name of Aislinn had this to say when asked if the message of “find your wings”  is a positive one? “It’s a good place to start when you’re growing up and trying to find your footing when you’re dubbed as quote unquote”weird “.”

This album marked a major transitional period for Tyler

Tyler before this project was making songs about very sensitive subject matter in a very immature way. This album marked a change though, he quit using obscenities to get his point across and overall matured his subject matter. He went from the album Wolf where he writes some of his most disturbing songs like Pigs. To the self reflective masterpiece of an album Flower Boy after. In Flower Boy he comes out as bisexual by using the metaphor of driving a car to symbolize him running from his sexuality when suddenly he hits a pothole and has to confront the problems hidden in the Garden Shed. In addition to this he also matured the sound of his music, instead of focusing on scratchy drum loops he started experimenting with synth chords, which went on later to make up the grammy winning album Igor. CDTV productions also states ”It still very much feels like a transitional project for tyler. For example the middle point of 2Seater feels like a precursor to Flower Boy”. 2Seater carries a very bright and happy tone using a lot of horns and synths. Flower Boy expands on these ideas by using them in a more pop oriented environment.

Public Opinion has shifted into a more favorable light over the years

Since the Horrendous launch of the album, people gave the project time to marinate and grow. There is something about the project that has a way of growing on people over time, and that’s something that can be seen today. The record has this infectious charisma to it, that can’t be heard at first due to the loud and over the top production. Despite the overbearing loudness, there is always something hidden in the track that just barely catches your ear until it’s the only thing you can hear. CDTVProductions backs this up by saying  ”Every single time I come back to Cherry Bomb there is at least one song or even just one moment in a song that grows on me a bit more. For example I listed Deathcamp as one of my least favorite tracks in 2015 but now it’s in the top 3 best songs on the project.” I can also back up this claim as on my first listen this album ranked at the bottom of Tyler’s discography for me but as I returned to the album over the years, it now ranks only second to Igor. 

Cherrybomb is 10 years old now, it’s a shame it took so long for people to finally understand the project. Everything about this album is there for a reason, even the production holds meaning. People hear the brash and loud production, and assume that he was just being “quirky”. In reality it was Tyler finding his wings as an artist and creative, the previous projects before this he was in his cocoon and this album was him breaking out of that shell. This is a message that needs to be heard more than ever in today’s society. The pandemic of being “nonchalant” and “not caring” is afflicting today’s youth heavily. It’s cool to express yourself and be creative. without creativity life would be boring, we wouldn’t have this creative masterpiece of an album, or any of the other masterpieces that followed.