On July 28, Houston rapper Travis Scott released his fourth solo studio album, Utopia. This anticipated album comes after Scott’s last project Astroworld, a great success which has already surpassed the triple platinum ranking status. With many fans wondering if Utopia could live up to Astroworld, the uncertainty surrounding the album continued to mount. An additional concern was whether or not Scott’s style would be more experimental and new, with Astroworld’s release coming over five years ago.
However, the response in days immediately following the album’s release has been widely positive from fans and critics alike. An additional element of acclaim from the listener’s perspective, is that Scott makes the decision to not include the name of featuring artists in the names of his songs, as is considered traditional in the music industry.
This aspect of the album allows the listener to be surprised throughout the album rather than jumping around, creating a much more enjoyable experience overall. Many well-known artists are featured on the album, so their voices are very recognizable. This specifically allows the names being missing to work because the voices are so unique. For example, the album includes features from Drake, Playboi Carti, and Beyonce.
Overall, the album follows a little more of an experimental approach, using harder hitting bass samples coupled with sampled indie rock and mellow beat transitions. However, the question within the music community remains whether or not Utopia is better than Astroworld.
What it seems to come down to is a matter of personal preference. However this can be considered typical when comparing art mediums like music. In my personal opinion, Utopia is technically better from a talent and execution level. Where Astroworld tends to limit its features to hip hop based artists, Utopia expands much beyond this limited genre. With features from artists like Yung Lean, Teezo Touchdown, and samples from The Japanese House, the versatility of Utopia is wider than that of Astroworld.
While that is my personal opinion, the general music community regarding hiphop may not agree with this assessment. With the whole fiasco back in 2018 regarding Astroworld’s loss to Invasion of Privacy by Cardi B, many wonder if this album can actually win the best hiphop album category. After being the clear favorite going into the Grammy’s, Astroworld lost to the Cardi B album. If Utopia does win the award, then it seems almost popular consensus that it is Scott’s best work. On the other hand, if it draws even with Astroworld in the voting, then the debate will most likely rage on until the next project releases sometime in the distant future. Nevertheless, with the album immediately reaching the top of the Billboard 200 chart, the album can be considered an overall success.
