Astroworld (album)
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| Released | August 3, 2018 | |||
| Recorded | 2016 – July 2018 | |||
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| Length | 58:33 | |||
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| Singles from Astroworld | ||||
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Astroworld is the third studio album by American rapper and record producer Travis Scott. It was released on August 3, 2018, through Cactus Jack Records and Grand Hustle Records, and distributed by Epic Records. The album follows his second studio album Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight (2016), and his collaborative album Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho (2017) with Quavo.
The album features guest vocals from The Weeknd, Kid Cudi, Frank Ocean, Drake, James Blake, Philip Bailey, 21 Savage, Swae Lee, Gunna, Nav, Quavo, Takeoff, Juice Wrld, Sheck Wes, and Don Toliver, among others. Production was handled by multiple producers, including Scott himself, Mike Dean, Allen Ritter, Hit-Boy, WondaGurl, Tay Keith, Tame Impala, Frank Dukes, Sonny Digital, Murda Beatz, and Thundercat.
The album title is named after the defunct theme park Six Flags AstroWorld, which was located in Houston, Texas prior to its closure. Scott, a Houston native, aimed for the album to sound like "taking an amusement park away from kids". He also described the album as a continuation of his debut album Rodeo (2015). Astroworld is a hip hop and psychedelic rap album, incorporating elements of trap and psychedelic music. The album was supported by four singles, "Butterfly Effect", "Sicko Mode", "Yosemite", and "Wake Up".
Astroworld received widespread acclaim and performed well commercially, debuting atop the US Billboard 200 with 537,000 album-equivalent units, of which 270,000 were pure sales. It was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It won Album of the Year at the 2019 BET Hip Hop Awards. The album was named one of the best albums of 2018 and the decade by several publications.
Background[]
The title of the album was announced in May 2016,[3][4][5] and initially teased for a 2017 release.[6] The album title is named after the defunct theme park Six Flags AstroWorld, which was located in Houston, Texas prior to its closure in 2005. In a 2017 interview with GQ, Scott spoke on the title of the album: "They tore down AstroWorld to build more apartment space. That's what it's going to sound like, like taking an amusement park away from kids. We want it back. We want the building back. That's why I'm doing it. It took the fun out of the city."[7] Scott described the album as a continuation of his debut album, Rodeo (2015), stating: "My whole idea was, if you locked into Rodeo, you definitely locked into Astroworld. I'm just finishing the saga I started on my first album. This is supposed to be my second album. I had to go quick, because like I said, I had all these ideas, I just had to get off real quick, but now I'm finally back home with Astroworld."[8]
Recording[]
Recording for the album took place between 2016 and 2018, with Travis Scott posting updates through social media.[9][10][11] In July 2018, it was reported that Scott was completing the album in Hawaii with a variety of recording artists and producers, such as Mike Dean, Nav, Frank Dukes, Sonny Digital, WondaGurl, Sheck Wes, Gunna, Wheezy, Don Toliver, Allen Ritter and Amir "Cash" Esmailian.[12][13][14]
Composition[]
Astroworld is a hip hop and psychedelic rap album, incorporating elements of trap and psychedelic music.[2][1][15][16] "Stargazing" has been described as a "psychedelic trap" song,[17] while "Coffee Bean" is said to inhabit "old school hip hop territory with a blissed-out funk guitar".[18] The song "Skeletons" has been labelled as "kaleidoscope-pop" by Pitchfork that draws lyrical influences from Kanye West.[1]
Artwork[]
The cover was shot by American photographer David LaChapelle, and features a giant golden inflatable of Scott's head as the entrance to an amusement park, with children, parents, and park employees in front of it. A second cover features the same amusement park entrance at nighttime, replacing the family-friendly features with adult-themed content.[19][20] On August 1, 2018, transgender model Amanda Lepore, who is a known collaborator with LaChapelle, questioned why she had been excluded on the final version of the second cover.[21] LaChapelle later responded, stating that it was due to Lepore upstaging the other models on the cover.[22] Travis Scott would also respond via Twitter, explaining he had "nothing but respect for the LGBTQ community".[23]
In September 2018, TMZ reported that featured artist Frank Ocean filed a cease and desist against Scott to have his verse on "Carousel" removed due to disagreements over the song's sound.[24] Ocean soon issued a clarification, stating: "I think the song sounds cool [...] I also approved it before it came out so the cease and desist wasn't about