Tyler, The Creator & The Art of Worldbuilding

A little over a week ago, Tyler, The Creator announced that his next studio album Chromakopia would be dropping on October 28th.

Announcements about the album have been made on social media via mysterious visuals and music. But other than that, the theme has been left up to interpretation (for now).

Needless to say, fans are excited about the direction of the album based on what they’ve seen from Tyler in the past.

That’s to be expected, because not only has Tyler put out incredible albums, but he’s also a great storyteller who’s mastered the art of worldbuilding.

Whenever he drops, not only do we get the music, but we also receive characters with interesting backstories and other elements to help extend the life of the album and the subsequent tour.

It was something we talked about in an earlier edition of SNOBHOP concerning Tyler’s rollout for “Call Me If You Get Lost,” and it represents a mindset more brands should adopt.

Yes, campaigns are about the commercial, the influencers, and the other channels that make up an integrated effort.

But one question that should enter minds throughout the campaign planning process is how are you building a world around the creative idea? Never mind the strategic thread — that’s a given.

Maybe a better clarifying question is…

Can the creative translate into expressions that live beyond the idea?

When you think about truly great work, whether the medium is film, text, or anything in between, those works impact culture because they often have a structure around them that helps the audience LIVE the story even when they aren’t actively viewing/watching/listening to it.

The Harry Potter series is a great example.

At its core, Harry Potter is about a young wizard going up against an evil dude who murked his parents, but what else do we know about the world around Harry?

Well, we know the laws of the wizarding world, the different Hogwarts houses, the village bars, and even the driving motivations for non-important characters in the story.

All of this manifests in real life too.

World-building turned a 7 novel series into an 8 movie collection, a theme park, book prequels, spin-offs, and in-person conventions.

That’s something brands can tap into and it’s a skill that Tyler has employed masterfully in his work.

So with the release of Chromakopia happening this Monday, let’s talk about some of the worldbuilding lessons Tyler is giving us in the meantime.

I. Inviting Fan Interaction or Theories

Shortly after the trailer for Chromakopia was released, fans on Twitter went wild with theories.

For many, it was a mystery, but the power of worldbuilding is such that it creates fan interaction like this. And in the best of cases, it leads to theories.

In one theory, a Twitter user named boymolish, says that Tyler could be imitating Chroma — a character from the novel The Phantom Tollbooth.

In the book, the world the characters live in is black and white. Only through Chroma conducting the orchestra does the world ever gain its color.

If you look below at the first teaser from Chromakopia entitled ST. CHROMA, then this theory bares some level of credence.

While only time will tell how true theories like this are, the important takeaway here is that Tyler is dropping his album in a way that invites interaction — it’s not just a drop of a single. It’s a well-thought-out visual that challenges the viewer to think.

In today’s time with everything feeling so microwaveable it shows that consumers want to be challenged. They want to be impressed. They want artists to make art.

II. Building Character-Driven Narratives

Throughout the course of Tyler’s development as an artist, he’s introduced various alter-egos and personas to create deeper emotional connections.

Perhaps the best example of this is what he’s done on IGOR and Call Me If You Get Lost, with both albums being centered on a character — one navigating the world of love and the other navigating life, imploring his friends to call him and tell him what they’ve got going on.

Tyler even gave a nod to the evolution of his art in one of the videos from the Call Me If You Get Lost era (seen below).

With Chromakopia, we can only infer for now that the central character is named ST. CHROMA. His drives and motivations remain shrouded but it creates an air of excitement and conversation on social, which helps build hype for the music.

For now, the only thing that is clear is that we’re following Chroma on an adventure of sorts and that he’s doing “something.”

What that “something” is will be revealed only to those who listen to the album, the clues show us about his world.

For brands, the message here is asking how one can develop a central character or spokesperson to embody their values and vision.

IGOR’s heartbroken character is a metaphor for emotional complexity, and layered storytelling, and that helped sell in the larger world around him; It doesn’t have a name per se BUT we know it by the vibe.

III. Planting Easter Eggs or Hidden Meanings

You can’t really build a great world, or tell a story by extension if you don’t leave something for the die-hard fans and sleuths who are tuning into your work.

Again this is something Tyler does perfectly on NOID, which we can assume is the first single from the album.

In the video we see St. Chroma being hounded by people, and quite literally running for his life.

As for the easter eggs of the video, the first and most obvious one is a cameo by Ayo Edebiri from FX’s The Bear.

If you look close during her cameo you can see the message that Tyler is trying to convey in the song/video.

In the 10ish seconds she appears, Ayo spots Chroma on the streets and she looks deranged as she approaches him asking for a picture.

In the midst of her request a frame flashes by that quickly shows that her phone is a gun, and thus we’ve been given the deeper meaning of the record.

Just that fast, we’ve been gifted an easter egg that gives depth to the world that Chroma is living in.

In this world, an overly enthused fan is easily the same as deranged person with a gun — Chroma is practically a hostage to that person’s wishes. If he doesn’t do what the fan wants at that moment they can easily weaponize their phone to end him.

IV. Setting Clear Rules and Logic for the World

In order for any world to be set apart, it requires thinking about the rules that help it operate.

Setting clear rules and logic for your world and how everyone operates in it helps envelop fans even more as is the case with Chromakopia.

From what we know so far…

1. Chroma doesn’t talk

2. He wears a mask.

3. The world is black and white until he adds color to it.

4. The primary color that he adds is green.

Moreover, with Tyler not talking during the rollout, one can assume that he’s not around right now — in fact, this entire rollout is Chroma The Great sharing his art with us. Tyler will come back at some other time.

Logically, to some, this may seem like semantics, but Tyler carrying the rules of that particular world into our reality is a big part of what’s exciting about his art.

For brand stewards out there who aren’t into music, doing something similar could be as simple as making sure the ethos of the brand is embodied by the mascot or influencers used.

The movie SMILE comes to mind. Consider how the experiential activations all included regular people popping up at places with an eerie smile. They created a world around the horror by bringing it to communal places. It was shocking, unexpected, and just real enough to get people asking “wtf is that” — what more could you ask for?

EPILOGUE

Tyler stated on social that the album is slated to drop on Monday at 6am.

Not only is that a departure from the Friday release dates that have become an industry standard over the past few years, but it also catches people right at the top of the week which gives them time to really sit with the album on the way to and from work, at the gym, and more (which is when most music is consumed anyway).

If NOID is any indicator as to how the album will sound then I think we’re in for a treat.

I normally don’t buy Vinyl of newer projects (I like to crate dig, ya know), but I think I’m gonna pick up some merch from this drop. Between the rollout, the visuals, and the world he’s built around this project I wonder if it’ll be hailed as his best yet.

Tyler continues to amaze.

Do your best to do the same.

One.