Review Summary: Travis Scott follows up last year's surprisingly eclectic Rodeo with an album that is aggressively trying to put the listener to sleep.
IT’S LIIIIT! Travis Scott, the Houston auto-tune and possibly (probably) lean addicted rapper/producer that made some huge waves last year with the sleeper hit Rodeo. An album so grandiose, so hyperbolic in it’s trap powered cavernous structure it was able to turn the sound of “New Atlanta” into a surprisingly artful behemoth winning over even the most ardent of detractors. I would know, I was one of them, I was a total hater, and much to my surprise, I was won over pretty quickly with Rodeo. However this album over here, while thematically covers the same territory, sonically feels extremely one note compared to the former album.
Almost every song on Birds is a listless slog at the end of a drunken lean fueled night of debauchery. Unlike Rodeo where the hedonism was electrifying, high-wire excitement mixed with sleepy, woozy deep-in-the-trap sleepwalks Birds is almost entirely devoid of the excitement that preceded it and operates only on the woozy, banger-free side of the trap music spectrum. Even with a surprisingly eclectic feature list at his disposal to compensate for his often bereft rapping style Travis manages to squander them.
The album starts out very strong however with “The Ends” it’s probably the closest to a straight up boom-bap track I’ve heard Travis on, complete with a solid staccato laden verse from Andre 3000. In fact the first three songs are all quite good, it’s not until it reaches the painfully dull interlude “SDP” (with an absolutely wasted feature from Cassie) that the threads of this album become painfully clear. This is not to mention the kind of preposterous song “Through the Late Night” ft Kid Cudi who actually does pretty well, sans the monotone moaning he provides throughout almost this entire track. I understand that Cudi is one of Travis’ idols and I’m sure he loved having him on this album but the idea to interpolate one of Cudi’s most popular tracks (“Day and Night”) really just makes me want to hear the original because Kid Cudi pulls off this whole drugged out sleepwalk so much better than Travis does.
There are some pretty notable highlights however. I can only assume Travis wanted Kendrick on the album because you’re not going to see him on a bad track and if that’s the case he’s half right. Kendrick drops a short verse on the really silly titled “Goosebumps” that elevates the album, much like Andre’s appearance on the intro. The seemingly islander influenced “Pick Up the Phone” with Quavo and Young Thug is also a notable highlight, it’s very groovy and catchy pop rap ear candy that sticks out among the overly woozy drones on the track list. Unfortunately this album is just so drab, it falls prey to everything that makes rap albums bland now a days and there’s even a tasteless dance-hall track (“Guidance”). Yeah, thanks Drake for making everyone think that’s okay.
I wanted to like this album. I wanted to love it honestly, but for how listless Travis consistently is it’s so hard to care about anything that is taking place. Although I do have to give props to Travis for making an effort to make a cohesive album, which this no doubt is. The songs all have similar motif’s and every track flows very nicely to the next one, sometimes with lyrics that reference each other in somewhat clever ways. However there’s just no fun to be found on this album. It’s so drab and even while hiding behind walls of effects and auto-tune Travis seems so bare, almost naked and his easily scrutable lyrics are put under more of a microscope given the consistent melancholy of the album. I mean, he’s never been the most compelling lyricist or rapper but it seems like he’s dropping lines that would not feel out of place on a Lil B album, except without the obvious irony and fun that someone like Lil B has. He rhymes words with the same words, he repeats very bland hooks again and again until they’re just beaten into the ground and throughout the album is almost making a conscious effort to put the listener to sleep. Listening to this vapid degeneracy with no satirical bite, depressive anger, or even some hanging-from-the-chandelier/party-all-***ing-night attitude makes me really glad for one thing.
Danny Brown has a new album right around the corner.
Solid Songs That Would Fit in Nicely On a Better Album: The Ends, Way Back, Coordinate, Goosebumps, Pick Up the Phone
I’m Sleep: Biebs in the Trap, SDP Interlude, Sweet Sweet, First Take, Guidance
