Tyler, The Creator releases single “BOYFRIEND”
- DM, Executive and Editor
- May 22, 2020
- 3 min read
On Tuesday, May 19th, Tyler, The Creator released his single “BOYFRIEND” on YouTube. I'll admit I heard the song earlier when it first appeared on the physical version of his fifth studio album “IGOR”. “BOYFRIEND” comes one year and two days after the release of “IGOR” on digital and is really the only thing he’s released since then (minus remixes and the two stand alone singles “BEST INTEREST” and “GROUP B”. The vinyl version of “IGOR” was released shortly after the digital. And with that came a change to track 4, where “EXACTLY WHAT YOU RUN FROM YOU END UP CHASING” was replaced with “BOYFRIEND”. This seemed odd considering “EXACTLY WHAT YOU RUN FROM YOU END UP CHASING” was a key part of the album as the narration of the track (a spoken poem track with vocals from Jerrod Carmichael who Tyler did an interview of his previous album “Flower Boy” with) influenced the rest of the album. On multiple tracks after this, other pieces of the poem are scattered forming one big poem that is center to the theme of “IGOR”. The poem reads:
"Exactly what you run from, you end up chasing...Giving it everything that you can. There's always an obstacle. (Track 4) Sometimes you gotta close a door to open a window. (Track 6) But at some point you come to your senses. (Track 8) I don't know what's harder, letting go or just being okay with it. (Track 9) I hate wasted potential that (explicit) crushes your spirit. (Track 10"
So you may be asking yourself, why would Tyler take out such an important part of his album? Well, he didn't. Instead tyler uses "EXACTLY WHAT YOU RUN FROM YOU END UP CHASING" as the outro to "BOYFRIEND", successfully killing two birds with one stone. This move helps make "BOYFRIEND" relevant while still keeping the flow with the rest of the album. Now lets talk about the song itself. The song opens up to a dreamy piano that fells continued from the previous tracks, while Charlie Wilson smoothly swoons over the perfection of his lover. Tyler takes over half way through and quickly the song morfs into into a synthy, high energy track that finds tyler trying to convince his lover why Tyler's the one. This track is the real start of the transfermation from a helpless Tyler, to the all powerful inhuman Igor that Tyler becomes around "WHATS GOOD". The production like the rest of the album, is a compilation of rap, hip-hop, synth pop, and R&B. Like the rest of the album, the lyrics are a remarkable peice of art and I could spend all day explaining the genius behind them. The track continues the story from the rest of the album, where a complicated love triangle leaves the "Odd Future" singer on the outs. Basicly, the boy Tyler is in love with, is in love with another woman (possibly the boy's ex as mentioned in "A BOY IS A GUN*") and Tyler struggles with letting him go even though it is the best decition.
Can we expect the song on any more platforms? It is unlikely that we would see this song anywhere else but YouTube, however we didn't expect to get an official digital release of "BOYFRIEND", so anything is possible. Whatever comes next, we can continue to expect great things from Tyler, The Creator.
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