UTOPIA...

[lynxie]

(fire ass cover)

Travis Scott's newest album under Cactus Jack. 

This album was honestly really nice to listen to. I think people definitely overhyped themselves into disappointment, but those who were willing to listen to it for what it was were pleasantly surprised for this album. This album felt a lot like METRO BOOMIN's: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE album, both being very theatrical at parts.

It was very theatrical to me, it felt less like an album for casual fans, and as if he's making his way onto the big screen. If this album was entirely used in his newest movie/short-film CIRCUS MAXIMUS than I would understand that entirely.

 

HYAENA, especially the beginning (not the weird vocal part) felt a lot like I was watching a 1990's black basketball like film, where the camera pans in a shitty part of the Bronx's, a couple kids are playing b-ball and we cut to Ice Cube smoking in his car. Very descriptive, I know. HYAENA started off really weird but once you get into it, you get into it. 

THANK GOD felt a lot like a normal Travis Scott song, pretty good; not too special for me but it's not bad at all. 

MODERN JAM felt a lot like a Kanye song from his Late Registration era. I don't know how to feel about this one, I love the part at 2:21 and after that it was really solid, it's a refined taste. Honestly not for me, I'd still listen to it though.

MY EYES is Travis going into Lo-Fi.. in the beginning, the beat switch on part 2 of the song is very welcomed and I kind of wish it was it's own section since its so fucking hard. 

GOD'S COUNTRY meh, not for me. Travis could do better. Definitely a filler song, it's just bland. Knowing how experimental and talented Travis is, it's just kinda whatever.

SIRENS IS FUCKING GAS. This song I could see Miles Morales swinging to, absolutely amazing. I love the introduction, then that beat switch BOOM! I absolutely love what Travis does with the drums, and in general this song is such a colourful, hype song. Travis.. I thought this was UTOPIA?



MELTDOWN I've just become a Drake fan as of lately, and honestly its just a good song. Nothing special about it. Just a Travis and Drake song.. UNTIL THAT FUCKING BEAT SWAP TO TRAVIS shit got hard fast. Loved it. IS YOU FUCKIN CRAZY?

FE!N oh god what to say but, FEIN, FEIN, FEIN, FEIN, FEIN. Shit's fire, love it.

 

 

DELRESTO a Beyonce feature is CRAZY. Beautiful song, reminds me of 2014, hearing BEYONCE's songs as a kid. Great song, no issues with it.

 

I KNOW ? immediately reminds me of a Drake song. It's good. Another filler song, but a lot better than GOD'S COUNTRY. Nothing special.

TOPIA TWINS, sucking toes now huh. Travis and 21 Savage carry this song. 

CIRCUS MAXIMUS is straight from Across The Spider-Verse, like what? This song goes so hard, such a hero song. I love this shit. 

 

PARASAIL is a vibe, very relaxing song. Gives some odd Kid Cudi vibes. Good song.

SKITZO its a great song. Kanye is such a vibe on this song; I love the flow, amazing car song. Solid Kanye feat, solid Travis song. Travis loves beat switches on this album. 

LOST FOREVER is great, another song with great flow.

LOOOVE  Y'ALL FEEL LIKE THAT?! Amazing sampling on this song, amazing flow, something I would've expected to come out on an album called UTOPIA, fucking solid song.

 

K-POP loved it, when it released I was instantly in love with this song. Amazing single off this album, Bad Bunny goes crazy. Lowkey kinda wish they replaced The Weeknd with Don Toliver since he's like used in every other song known to man. Other than that I love it.

 

TELEKINESIS my favourite song on the album. I already loved HEAVEN AND HELL mix, resampling it and turning it into a full song only makes it better. Everyone on this song fucking ate. Perfect song to listen to when you're high and just tryna vibe.. shit makes you float.

 

TIL FUTHER NOTICE James Blake has been on a fucking roll this year. I honestly have no clue who this guy was until Hummingbird, and every time I've heard him he's been fucking great. Sorry if he's big, I don't study artists. This song is very heavenly, and another Across The Spider-Verse song. A great song to end off UTOPIA.

Honestly, after really listening to this album, it's a lot better than my first listen. 

8/10 for me. Once again this album felt very theatrical and felt like Travis made UTOPIA for a movie. I really did enjoy this album. Can't wait to see what Travis has cooking.

[Karma]

I'm not a big Travis fan in the first place so take this with a grain of salt. I tend to prefer lyrical artists over ones that focus on the "flow" of the drums, think (Biggie, J Cole, Cordae, Kendrick, Logic, ext. This whole album felt like he was trying to be Kanye but have the beat hit like Denzel. For someone who previously was really good at fitting a verse wherever he could the whole album just seems like it was made to appeal to the "newest rap/hiphop scene". Was a lot of me waiting for a hook or reason to keep listening imo. Don't get me wrong, some tracks stood out for there ability to immerse you into the track (Sirens and Circus Maximus) as stated above, but I still dont think any are something I would add to my playlist for daily driving... in the best way to put it, they hit, once, and then I'm good.

 

Maybe I'm just hating and not seeing anything, but it seems like the producer was more worried about what would hit the hardest and didn't care about the rest of the song. There are many times where the leadup brings us a minute into the song before we get anything, which is fine for 1 song, not 5. After Birds in the Trap and Days Before Rodeo saw major success on there "slow/unimpressive" beats from a longevity pov I was expecting more. Just feels like AstroWorld with more drums.

 

Feel like I was very negative which I hate, b/c there are some Travis songs on my playlist which rank very highly over all for me and I think he can be very lyrical with some of his work. Just seemed like a show for the producer with little input from Travis. More worried about features then just creating a nice flowing rap song.

[lynxie]

On 7/29/2023 at 6:16 PM, Karma said:

I'm not a big Travis fan in the first place so take this with a grain of salt. I tend to prefer lyrical artists over ones that focus on the "flow" of the drums, think (Biggie, J Cole, Cordae, Kendrick, Logic, ext. This whole album felt like he was trying to be Kanye but have the beat hit like Denzel. For someone who previously was really good at fitting a verse wherever he could the whole album just seems like it was made to appeal to the "newest rap/hiphop scene". Was a lot of me waiting for a hook or reason to keep listening imo. Don't get me wrong, some tracks stood out for there ability to immerse you into the track (Sirens and Circus Maximus) as stated above, but I still dont think any are something I would add to my playlist for daily driving... in the best way to put it, they hit, once, and then I'm good.

 

Maybe I'm just hating and not seeing anything, but it seems like the producer was more worried about what would hit the hardest and didn't care about the rest of the song. There are many times where the leadup brings us a minute into the song before we get anything, which is fine for 1 song, not 5. After Birds in the Trap and Days Before Rodeo saw major success on there "slow/unimpressive" beats from a longevity pov I was expecting more. Just feels like AstroWorld with more drums.

 

Feel like I was very negative which I hate, b/c there are some Travis songs on my playlist which rank very highly over all for me and I think he can be very lyrical with some of his work. Just seemed like a show for the producer with little input from Travis. More worried about features then just creating a nice flowing rap song.

 

I respect a lot of what you're saying here. As much as I love a good lyrical song, they tend to be a little too melodic for me. I'm someone who enjoys a little chaos when it comes to the activities I do, so music thats hype is something I enjoy more. My playlist is a good example of that. As I said above, this album felt a lot more theatrical than a standard album. The music I have in my car playlist is more of a social playlist than a chill playlist. It also works as a good sesh playlist.
 

What you said with TELEKINESIS was spot on, as much as I like it, the beat seems very confused and unsure of itself. It's one of my flaws with the song, but honestly it's also a whatever to me.

 

I viewed this album from the lens of enjoyability versus the message songs portray. Of course thats my preference to how I listen to music, and there's nothing wrong with wanting a more lyrical approach.

 

Saying they hit once and thats it was crazy to me though, I am in love with this album, and I have a fair amount of these songs queued up, specifically songs like HYAENA, FE!N, CIRCUS MAXIMUS, and TOPIA TWINS. These songs (and a lil more) are definitely repeats. They hold this ethereal vibe that makes the world around me a little bit more colourful, but to each their own. 

 

There were songs that did wait a little too long for the best part to pop up, which makes me think they should've been scrapped or separate songs. TOPIA TWINS or MY EYES where the beat swap is often better than the first part of the song. 

 

If I'm right Travis made a lot of the beats for this album, I could be wrong though. I really enjoy your point of view on the album though. It does sound like a wannabe Kanye album, but also not? It's something. I still like it though!

[Karma]

56 minutes ago, lynxie said:

 

I respect a lot of what you're saying here. As much as I love a goos lyrical song, they tend to be a little too melodic for me. I'm someone who enjoys a little chaos when it comes to the activities I do, so music that's hype is something I enjoy more. My playlist is a good example of that. As I said above, this album felt a lot more theatrical than a standard album. The music I have in my car playlist is more of a social playlist than a chill playlist. It also works as a good sesh playlist.
 

What you said with TELEKINESIS was spot on, as much as I like it, the beat seems very confused and unsure of itself. It's one of my flaws with the song, but honestly it's also a whatever to me.

 

I viewed this album from the lens of enjoyability versus the message songs portray. Of course that's my preference to how I listen to music, and there's nothing wrong with wanting a more lyrical approach.

 

Saying they hit once and that's it was crazy to me though, I am in love with this album, and I have a fair amount of these songs queued up, specifically songs like HYAENA, FE!N, CIRCUS MAXIMUS, and TOPIA TWINS. These songs (and a lil more) are definitely repeats. They hold this ethereal vibe that makes the world around me a little bit more colorful, but to each their own. 

 

There were songs that did wait a little too long for the best part to pop up, which makes me think they should've been scrapped or separate songs. TOPIA TWINS or MY EYES where the beat swap is often better than the first part of the song. 

 

If I'm right Travis made a lot of the beats for this album, I could be wrong though. I really enjoy your point of view on the album though. It does sound like a wannabe Kanye album, but also not? It's something. I still like it though!

Ya I do have a specific taste when it comes to rap, This is why only certain Travis Song's stick out to me. But everyone has a different music choice, I know a lot of people who like Travis and have really enjoyed this album. If he did a lot of production for this album that means he is releasing what he likes making which I think every music artist should do, or have the freedom to do. This is nice to see as a lot of music artists are doing the opposite. 

 

Over all the album wasn't a complete dogpile for me, there are some songs that I enjoy and I do think the album is very put together from doing a start to finish listen. Very well made for its specific album type. As I did mention it does have resemblance to other popular artist, but I was being very generic as to just describe the album, not bad mouth it. I do enjoy those album types a little (The Life of Pablo, Ye, Days before Rodeo, ext.), there are certain songs I enjoy and might listen to again, overall not my music type though. Still the album production and flow was A+

[jazzy]

thought this was going to be about surf_utopia

[gween]

Here is my unbiased and in-depth analysis of Utopia

 

[ArcticWolf]

4 hours ago, gween said:

Here is my unbiased and in-depth analysis of Utopia

 

Looove c is criminal

[destroylonelyfan2011]

On 7/29/2023 at 4:03 PM, lynxie said:

especially the beginning (not the weird vocal part) felt a lot like I was watching a 1990's black basketball like film, where the camera pans in a shitty part of the Bronx's, a couple kids are playing b-ball and we cut to Ice Cube smoking in his car. Very descriptive, I know.

i was on r/HipHopHeads they said the same thing yall gotta compare some notes.

 

 

[Manny]

So fucking good.

 

Don't let mouth breathers tell you other wise. 

[Phoenix_]

I've listened to this album all the way through twice now. I think I'm ready to give some thoughts on it. This album is both really good but also frustrating at the same time. The production is solid throughout. The thing that really gets me is the tracks with features. I feel like the features either absolutely make or break the song. Let's take it track by track.

 

1. HYANEA - I don't really have a lot to say about this song. It's solid production wise but doesn't feel super standout-ish. 
2. THANK GOD- My thoughts are similar to Manny's. This is what you would think of when you think of a Travis Scott song. Again, not amazing but not bad.
3. MODERN JAM - This is the first song I can say I genuinely LIKED on the album. I really liked the Teezo feature. I can't quite explain why but the feature almost felt reminiscent of a new era David Bowie type sound at the start then transitioned into just vibing.
4. MY EYES- I can appreciate the experimentalism, but the lo-fi didn't work for me. The last verse was pretty solid though.
5. GOD'S COUNTRY- This is actually one of the very few songs on the album I hated the production. The sample was really obnoxious to me. I couldn't even enjoy the vocals because the production felt offensive.
6. SIRENS - Solid song. Nice verses. Cool outro.
7. MELTDOWN - I hate drake's feature so much. I don't feel like this is a beat made for Drake. I feel like at least 5 other artists would have absolutely slaughtered the same exact lyrics. Call me a Drake hater, you'd be right. He's just so corny to me. It sucks because the beat is fire and Travis kills the track.
8. FE!N - HOT take I absolutely hate the carti feature. The chorus is uncreative and annoying. His actual verse sounds so fucking stupid I genuinely didn't know it was him I thought it was lil baby trying to sound like carti I can't even lie. Production again is fire tho. Unlistenable to me because I can't stand the carti feature. 
9. DELRESTO (ECHOES) - HOLY FUCKING SHIT. This song is one of the best songs on the album in my opinion. I'm not even a huge Beyonce fan but this song is just really nice sounding. 
10. I KNOW - It's a fun song, makes me wanna dance like
     
11. TOPIA TWINS - THIS SHIT IS FUCKING FIRE 21 KILLED IT TRAVIS KILLED IT
12. CIRCUS MAXIMUS - Not huge on the black skinhead drums but the weeknd got me mf floating
13. PARASAIL - This shit got me in my feelings, good song. Yung Lean is a cornball tho
14. SKITZO - FIRE. Just fire. 
15. LOST FOREVER- I don't like westside gunn so i don't like this track. personal preference issue
16. LOOOVE - Good track. Good flows
17. K-POP - I mean I already heard the track as a single. I like it but already heard it so
18. TELEKINESIS - shit got me FLOATING. everyone killed it. sza is heavenly
19. TIL FURTHER NOTICE - really good outro track, really smooth

 

Overall - Solid 7/10. The few tracks I really don't like bring this album down but it's really good overall.