Throughout the years, music has been in our ears since the day we were born, Making us moody, happy, mad, and sad. But, in the 1940s, folk singer Woody Guthrie created an album called Dust Bowls Ballads where the songs had deeper meanings and combined to tell a story or a narrative
One of the most famous examples of a concept album is Pink Floyd’s The Wall. The Wall explores Themes of isolation and abandonment as the album follows the character Pink, who battles with relationship troubles, growing up, childhood trauma, and redemption.
Another classic concept album is Kendrick Lamar’s good kid m.A.A.d city. Where Kendrick raps about growing up in Compton. The album tackles how Kendrick would kill gang rivals, break into a house, his cousin getting shot, and try to make it out of the hood to stardom. But my all-time favorite Concept album is Tyler the creator’s 2019 studio album IGOR.
IGOR tells the story of Tyler’s alter ego of the same name. Igor falls in love with a boy who isn’t gay and learns to let go. The album is divided into two equal sides, not including IGOR’S THEME which acts as the album’s trailer. In the first half, Tyler falls in love with another man and the half ends with him realizing that the man is hurting him and needs to let go.
The story starts with EARFQUAKE where Tyler is depending on this man but is fearful of him leaving. I THINK is Tyler thinks that he is in love with him and suggests a puppet relationship between him and the boy. RUNNING OUT OF TIME shows the boy being in a relationship with a girl. Tyler gets mad and needs her out of the picture. So on NEW MAGIC WAND, he plans on killing the girl, with a magic wand being a metaphor for a gun, Tyler also says that if the boy doesn’t leave the girl, Tyler will kill both of them. The first part ends with A BOY IS A GUN*. The song tells us that Tyler realizes that the boy is dangerous to him and he never wants to see him again, which leads to the second half of IGOR where Tyler learns to let go.
The second half starts with PUPPET where the strings from the toxic relationship are still there but Tyler learns to cut himself from the strings and finally comes to his senses and becomes angry on the next song WHAT’S GOOD. The song is very heavy and jarring much like Tyler’s old work. But at the end of the song, he sees the light and learns how to let go of the boy. GONE GONE/THANK YOU is two songs combined into one. On GONE GONE Tyler looks back on his relationship with the boy and on THANK YOU instead of Tyler hating the boy forever, Tyler thanks the boy for all the positive times. I DON’T LOVE YOU ANYMORE is where Tyler is ready to move on but wonders if a platonic relationship is possible with the boy. The last song on this amazing album is ARE WE STILL FRIENDS? Tyler doesn’t want the boy to just say goodbye to Tyler. He still wants to be friends with this boy. The album ends with a distorted synth which is very similar to how IGOR’s THEME starts. The album is played on a loop where Tyler is riding around chasing a boy and on the second half his eyes are open and he realizes he needs to let go.
Concept albums are some of the greatest albums of all time. They show that music is more than if it sounds good to the ear, it’s an experience worth the while
Middle8 made a terrific video talking about the story of IGOR. I highly recommend watching the video. The link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wI-fyoZqBQI&t=592s&ab_channel=Middle8