In today’s era of music it is easier than ever to become a sensation overnight. With social media, 24 hour news cycles, and unlimited to access to any and all information people are constantly looking for the next big thing in all walks of life, including music. If any generation encompassed the term “overnight celebrity” it is this current one, where strong followings can be cultivated from the stroke of your keyboard or the right number of clicks on your Soundcloud page. Artists such as Playboi Carti, Lil Yachty, and Nav are some of the poster children for this, guys who seemingly hit it big overnight parlaying well crafted Soundcloud loosies into major success. But the artist of today who best represents the times is Bryson Tiller.
Tiller, like a bevy of current popular musicians, used Soundcloud as his medium to share his music as a relative unknown who didn’t have a major label backing or a huge social media presence. His superstar moment came with the release of “Don’t” in 2015, a single that caught fire on the internet and seeped onto radio becoming an undeniable hit record. Tiller turned this success into a major label record deal with RCA and the release of his debut album Trapsoul in October 2015. Off the success of the album (Trapsoul was certified platinum by the RIAA in April 2016) Tiller would go onto to do a full tour and even perform at the BET Awards, also winning best new artist that same night. In the span of a year Tiller went from complete unknown to the hottest name in urban contemporary R&B. What was next for Tiller? How could he follow up the unprecedented level of success from Trapsoul?
His answer is True to Self, a sophomore effort that comes a little over a year and a half after the release of his debut album. The album is an ambitious 19 tracks long and honestly could be shaved down to about 14 songs to form a more cohesive listening experience. And though True to Self isn’t a bad album by any means there weaknesses that hold the album back from being truly special. The production on the album is truly what standouts, but while the production is stellar the songs can run together, almost sounding as if you’re listening to the same song on an endless loop. The songs transition almost too well, blending into one another and if you aren’t careful two or three songs can pass without you realizing. But this also speaks to how uninspired Tiller sounds on this album. The title of the album is True to Self but we still don’t know who he is from his lyrics, to know what he is being true to. While Trapsoul had unflinching honesty on tracks such as “Exchange” and “Been That Way” nothing here comes close to that same level of emotional depth. He comes close on the lead single “Something Tells Me” when describing the rough patches in his relationship, through no fault of his own, that cause apprehension of whether he and his girlfriend are in this for the long haul. But those moments are few and far between here.
More than anything though, most of the songs here come off as Tiller singing or rapping about what is expected of him. The most honesty we get from Bryson on this album is probably on “Before you Judge” where he speaks of his anxieties of being famous, how he would rather just live a normal life but understands what comes with being a superstar. It’s one of the few times we get a peak into Tiller’s psyche and finding out what makes him tick. That’s the next step for Tiller to make, challenging himself as a writer, giving us more insight into his life. There’s more to Bryson Tiller than he is letting us in on. We would all like to know what that is.
Kameron Hay 