IGOR, the latest from Tyler, the Creator and arguably his magnum opus, remains in heavy rotation for people who enjoy things that are great. From the execution of the album's brief promo window down to its character-driven cover art, watching this era of Tyler unfold has been fulfilling as fuck for fans who understood the necessity of an album like Cherry Bomb before the graduation to Flower Boy and IGOR.
In a new extended interview with Beats 1's Zane Lowe, Tyler detailed the '80s love that contributed to IGOR's cohesive tonal flourishes, and shouted out Pusha-T and others simply for continuing to do cool shit that inspires him. He also teased his possible plans for the years ahead, including more production work and the continued growth of the GOLF WANG empire.
Below, catch an all-over-the-map roundup of some Tyler x Zane interview highlights.
Tyler was aiming for '80s pop with IGOR.
This new era began with the track "EARFQUAKE," which started in some form as far back as May 2017.
"Very '80s pop is what I was going for," Tyler said around eight minutes into the discussion. Tyler added that, while he "used to hate" the decade, it's now becoming a personal favorite.
"It's slowly becoming my favorite cause of the sector of music that I've, like, I found over the years," he said.
He wants to focus on producing and clothes for a couple years.
Asked later, around 21 minutes in, if he felt he was now just ready to "go out and produce," Tyler agreed.
"That's all I want to do," Tyler, who noted he has "an ear for stuff" and just tries to execute that, said. "I'm gonna spend the next two years, probably working on clothes and just producing for others . . . I want to go, 'You want pop shit? You want rap?'"
He considers Drake's "Started from the Bottom" one of the greatest pop songs.
Deeper into their talk, the topic of song structure was broached, with Tyler shouting out the Neptunes and Frank Ocean for their giftedness at this integral part of the creative process. More specifically, he considers Drake's "Started from the Bottom" to be "one of the greatest pop songs" ever.
Jack White didn't want credit for his IGOR contributions.
White appears on "ARE WE STILL FRIENDS," to Zane Lowe's surprise, but didn't want formal credit because he wasn't able to pick out his parts when hearing the song back.
"He played guitar," Tyler said. 'He didn't want to get credit, though, because he couldn't hear himself."
Pusha-T remains his favorite rapper.
"That n***a hit me when [IGOR] came out and said I killed it, and I replied back, 'N***a you don't know how much this mean to me,'" Tyler said of Pusha, with whom he's previously collaborated.
He really wants to work with Billie Eilish.
Noting that he's a big fan of her "sick" album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go, Tyler expressed admiration for what she's crafted in her unique sphere so far. He's also hoping to work with her at some point.
"I don't know what the fuck we would make," he said. "Even if it don't come out, if it's trash, I still just want to see what we could."
Billie caught wind of Tyler's praise and seemed truly taken aback by the praise from her apparent idol.
Camp Flog Gnaw, by Tyler's assessment, is a top three festival.
It's hard to argue against the objective awesomeness of Tyler's annual Camp Flog Gnaw throwdown in Los Angeles, and Tyler agrees. While he doesn't yet consider it the best of the fests, he's aiming for exactly that distinction.
"I think I have one of the best festivals," he told Zane. "Like, I have [one of the] top three festivals right now. It's Coachella, then it's me, and then I don't know who the fuck ever is next. But I have to make sure I keep pushing that to get to number one at some point."
Tyler felt a sense of accomplishment after debuting at No. 1 over DJ Khaled
On the same day Tyler released IGOR, DJ Khaled dropped his star-studded album, Father of Asahd. After the first-week sales were tallied up, Tyler's project secured the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200, with Khaled's album following at No. 2. The latter artist clearly wasn't pleased with results and expressed his frustration in a since-deleted Instagram video.
Now that the controversy has pretty much fizzled out, Tyler opened up about the No. 1 debut and the sense of accomplishment it gave him.
"No disrespect to Khaled or anyone, but this n***a had every person in the industry, everyone on that fucking album," Tyler said. "Everyone. Everyone. Cardi B. 21 Savage. Travis Scott. Post Malone. Beyonce. Jay. Everyone who sells billions of records and the fact that I beat him with this that isn’t parallel to all the popping music right now was fucking crazy, bro. It ... Are you serious? Like, that was insane to me. And it’s new to me, bro. I’m on album five and six. And it’s work. It’s effort. It’s work. This is fucking whether n***as like it or not, bro, it’s so much work and detail put into this shit like—I’m so proud of myself."
Watch the full interview below.
