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Travis Scott’s ‘UTOPIA’: It’s T-Time


Travis Scott- UTOPIA Album Cover

Between billboards, briefcases, and teased snippets, Travis Scott’s UTOPIA has finally been released with a feature-length film Circus Maximus. Since ‘Astroworld’, Scott’s rollout of his fourth album has rallied fans with momentum and excitement for UTOPIA, including not to mention features in the song titles, allowing listeners to be surprised throughout the album.

With nineteen full songs, UTOPIA features over eighteen artists, among some of the industry's most applauded hitmakers. Guest vocals include Beyonce, Drake, the Weeknd, Bad Bunny, SZA, Kanye West, Future, Pharrell, 21 Savage, Young Thug, Dave Chappelle, Playboi Carti, Bon Iver, Swae Lee, Kid Cudi, and James Blake. 

Clocking at an hour and 13 minutes, Scott produced 15 of the 19 tracks while five were singly produced by him, making this project his most produced album yet. Having said that, Scotts’ artistry in UTOPIA has advanced showing versatility and a range of myriad genres throughout the songs. Accompanied by BNYX, Guy-Manuel de Homem, Metro, Mike Dean, Kanye, Tay Keath, and Travis himself, UTOPIA enhances a house of incredible mixed production and influence. 

Though the production team is versatile, it is evident that UTOPIA is greatly influenced by Kanye West and his albums YEEZUS and DONDA. The album possesses three common production credits from West on the songs, “GOD’S COUNTRY”, “TELEKINESIS and “THANK GOD.” While both “TELEKINESIS” and “GOD’S COUNTRY” were meant to be on West’s 2021 album, DONDA, Scott finds a way to use West as a protege towards the tracks and the album, molding it into a modern rap landscape for his LP release. 

UTOPIA is no doubt an album that guides fans through an adventurous musical world of psychedelia-trap with its lyrical artistry and upbeat switch-ups. The album’s hidden features are a key element to UTOPIA as each selected artist has been cultivated through Scott's previous collaborations. Whether it’s Beyonce, Bon Iver, or Mike Dean in “DELRESTO (Echoes)”, PlayBoi Carti’s baby rap vocals on “FE!N”, or Drake's verse on “MELTDOWN”, each feature was grounded for what they are best known for. 

While UTOPIA is created with a variety of music melodies, Scott allows his listeners to be guided through his utopian world of complexities, synthesizers, and uncomfortable places–Yet the multiple experiences within the album have a potentially strong communication about the reimage of Scott and evolution of La Flame.

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