The Daily Spin, August 28
Travis Scott | UTOPIA
Welcome back to the Daily Spin, the series in which I review 365 albums during 2023.
Each album will be given a rating on a scale from 0 to 10. You can look at the entire set here. Additionally, you can check out a list of my favorite song from each album right here.
Album: UTOPIA (2023)
Artist: Travis Scott
Link:
With UTOPIA, it’s clear that Travis Scott wants to create his Yeezus, a subversive and egarded outside of tight critical circles, and a record that will be remembered fondly.
The problem, of course, is that he’s not Kanye West and never could be - for all of Ye’s flaws, one thing that it’s almost impossible to categorically deny is his talent as a producer, and though a lot of his great strengths have been emulated better by Scott than they have by most anyone else, there’s a certain comfort within a soundscape that West has that no one else can replicate, and it’s that final push that will keep UTOPIA from being the album it could be.
There are undeniably strong moments, largely brought forward by the features - Bon Iver’s unmistakable identity slithers forward twice on the album that I can easily pick out, and his production lurks throughout. James Blake does the exact thing with Metro Boomin, coming forward with 21 Savage on closer ‘TIL FURTHER NOTICE’, pull-no-punches RnB consistent with the expectation for a song bringing together four very strong artists together. So, too, does ‘DELRESTO’ shine, with Bon Iver and Beyonce coming home strong to push forth the best of what Travis Scott’s music can be.
It’s no ASTROWORLD, nor is it Birds In The Trap Sing McKnight - instead, UTOPIA feels a bit like a world unrealized, the culmination of ideals that may have been better left sat on paper, because the culmination of it all feels hollow.
Rating: 7.8/10
Best Tracks: LOST FOREVER; SIRENS
Worst Tracks: HYAENA