Tyler, the Creator, has been known in the past for his harsh, offensive lyrics and hard beats, but in “Flower Boy,” Tyler strays from the path he has beaten for himself with soft piano and guitar accompanied by more singing and emotion than rapping.

Tyler brought in all his favorite singers as features, from his old friend from Odd Future, Frank Ocean, to beautiful voices like Kali Uchis and Rex Orange County. There is a feature on almost every track, with “911/Mr. Lonely” having Rex Orange County, Anna of the North, and Frank Ocean.

Comparing this album to Tyler´s previous work, it is much more uplifting and cheerful. “Cherry Bomb,“ his previous album from 2015, was somewhat sloppy and the songs just didn’t tie in together. Some of my favorite songs by Tyler are from “Cherry Bomb,“ it’s not a bad album, it just doesn’t come together like “Flower Boy” or “Wolf.”

“Wolf” (2013), his second best album in my opinion, is much more heartfelt and personal. He rapped about his personal life and experiences he has been through, opening up and showing his true colors.

“Goblin” (2011) is my least favorite album by Tyler and is just an angry mixture of his problems tied together in one continuous song. Each song sounds very similar and all coincide with each other, creating a frustrated and angry jumble of lyrics and simple beats. “Goblin” is really the album that gave him his start, with “Yonkers” being his breakout single.

In my opinion, the main theme of “Flower Boy” is Tyler coming out. When I first heard the lyrics that supposedly solidified this claim, I was doubtful and thought he was just trolling; Tyler being Tyler. Upon further listening, I realized that he seems pretty serious about it. Starting in “Foreword,” the first track on the album, his rap showed this different tone.

“Shoutout to the girls that I led on/ for occasional head and always keeping my bed warm/ and trying their hardest to keep my head on straight/ and keeping me up enough till I had though I was airborne,” Tyler said.

It seems like Tyler is saying that he led on girls just to keep him company, not because he was actually into them.

In Track 7, “Garden Shed,” is the literal and figurative centerpiece of the album.

“Garden shed for the garçons/ Them feelings I was guardin’,” Tyler raps.

This is already questionable, as guarding feelings implies that they were feelings he was not proud of or did not want to share. He then comes back in saying:

“All my friends lost/ They couldn’t read the signs/ Truth is, since a youth kid, thought it was a phase/ Thought it’d be like the phrase, poof, gone/ But, it’s still goin’ on,” Tyler said.

I think that these lyrics are undeniable, there is no way someone could argue against it.

In Track 9, “I Ain’t Got Time!” Tyler starts off saying:

“Passenger a white boy, look like River Phoenix.”

This isn’t too damning, but another line in the song is.

“Next line will have em like whoa/ I been kissing white boys since 2004.”

This line seems like it could be a joke, but you never know.

There are a few more instances of Tyler talking about his sexuality in “Flower Boy”, but that’s besides the point. All of his previous projects have been much more angry and harsh, but “Flower Boy” is just so jazzy and peaceful that it doesn’t even sound like Tyler. I waited a long time for this album to drop, and it came as quite a surprise when I first heard “911” or “Boredom,” two extremely cheerful and upbeat songs.

In my opinion, one of Tyler’s top 3 songs is in “Flower Boy“, being “See You Again.” In this song, Tyler brings back Kali Uchis for vocals, which creates the best duo found on any of his songs. She was also featured in “F*****g Young/ Perfect,” the #1 song from “Cherry Bomb“, which also happens to be my favorite song by Tyler. “See You Again” features beautiful vocals from Kali Uchis as well as bass-heavy rapping by Tyler, a perfect duet over a cheerful beat.
All in all, I think that Tyler really surprised his fans with “Flower Boy“, and it is his best