“Astroworld” breaks records

Shortly after Travis Scott unveiled his newest album, Astroworld, it broke the record for the biggest sales week of 2018. Now, the album remains at number seven on Billboard’s top 200.

Scott highlights his Houston pride in Astroworld, with the album named for the city’s long-closed Six Flags outpost. The album is energetic throughout, and so cohesive that songs seamlessly transition from one to the next.

Astroworld features popular artists like Frank Ocean, Drake, Swae Lee and Gunna, yet Scott still stars in each song. In “Carousel,” Frank Ocean’s voice mixes with Scott’s and makes for a good listen. His track “Butterfly Effect,” released as a single months before the whole album dropped, has the smoothest production in the album. High quality production combined with Scott’s laid back lyrics—“You in the mob soon as you rock the chain; She caught the waves just thumbin’ through my braids”—creates a masterpiece with chill vibes but also a hard accompanying beat.

“Stargazing,” the album’s opening track, has a psychedelic feel. The autotuned falsetto coupled with electrifying snare drums and low vocals make it a high quality song.

Yet “Sicko mode” is probably the most difficult song to pull off in terms of the jolting beat switch and energizing lyrics. It boasts a jolting beat switch up, yet somehow perfectly transitions into the next melody.

The best chorus of the album is found in “Yosemite.” Scott’s lyrics on the track are subpar and lack depth, but Gunna’s verses—“Ice on my neck, flawless baguettes; Hop off a jet, barely get rest”—the melody, guitar samples and a background groovy trap sound makeup for the lyrics. “No Bystanders” is undoubtedly the party song of this album. The heavy beat combined with upbeat lyrics making it an absolute banger.

This album will definitely be played for many years after its release. It’s cemented Scott as a groundbreaking artist, but he still has a lot to prove in terms of depth of lyrics and originality. Even so, it would take a lot for Scott to make an album better than this one.

Rating: 4/5