Tyler, the Creator’s “IGOR’S THEME” — A Bazaar Combination of Sound and Emotion
Eight to twelve seconds, or often four bars, is the standard length of a song intro, before the main beat and the first verse take over the track. “Igor’s Theme” by Tyler, the Creator completely ignores this norm and blasts an eerie synth through your headphones for 24 seconds before you get to hear anything else. This is only the first of the many times in this track when Tyler redefines the standards of what a song can be. He conveys an impressive amount of emotion in inspiring ways, allowing this track to have a special influence on its listeners in ways unlike anything else.
“Igor’s Theme” is the first track on the grammy-winning album Igor, a masterpiece from 2019 that brings back old sounds and introduces new ones. Possibly the most noticeable sound in the track is the distorted synthesizer. This instrument was first introduced to the music industry in the late 1970’s and soon after became one of the most iconic sounds of the 80’s, featured in songs like “Sweet Dreams” by Eurythmics. In this day and age, it’s pretty uncommon for songs to use such predominant synth sounds. Synthesizers are still commonly used, but typically in a much more subtle manner which makes “Igor’s Theme” unique for being released in the late 2010’s, with the synth bass adding the first bit of texture and color on this number.
After 24 seconds of heavy synth, Tyler brings in a strong drum set that he sampled from “Attention,” a song released in 1970 by the band Head West. Soon after the drums come in, we hear a few note changes in the synth bass which end up creating the chord progressions that define the track. A few bars later and the first non-adlib lyrics come in. In an interview with Tyler, the Creator from The Panther Eye News, he explains that his original plan for “Igor’s Theme” was for it to be an instrumental-only track without any real lyrics. However, some time before the release of this song, Tyler remembers playing “Igor’s Theme” while in the studio with fellow rapper Lil Uzi Vert who immediately started jamming and singing along with the instrumental track. It didn’t take Uzi long to land on the lyric “Ridin’ round town they gon’ feel this one,” that Tyler described as “just right,” as soon as he heard it. Coincidentally these few words by Uzi made it into the final product, creating the first verse we hear in the grammy-winning album.
I believe part of the beauty of this song is the simplicity in the lyrics that make up the song. Apart from the few lines that we hear from Lil Uzi Vert, the song is comprised of many odd adlibs like “one,” and “he’s comin’,” that are repeated all throughout the track. Without the typical lyrical structure that a majority of songs have, that consist of multiple verses, it leaves quite a bit for the listener to interpret for themselves. Rather than trying to understand exactly what the text means, I personally view the lyrics more so as sounds and feelings that are guided by the words that stick out to me upon each listen. The lyrics are broken up and messy in an organized way which is the exact way I’d describe the emotion that I interpret from it.
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It’s hard to not associate songs with certain memories from personal experiences. Usually it’s a memory that the song reminds me of or memory of an event or situation that happened my first time listening to the song. Every listen of “Igor’s Theme” brings back quite a few memories for me. Most these memories are of late night drives I would often take with no destination in mind. Since the day I got my license, it has been my primary form of therapy to blast music through the car stereo while going at classified speeds. Over the years “Igor’s Theme” has become one of my most played songs during these drives, imbuing it with a strong sense of nostalgia for me. Tyler, the Creator was able to make this song feel broken yet complete, and intense with the wide variety of sounds that compose this piece. Really this song has the ability to portray just about any emotion to match the mood of the listener which is why it was so commonly played on these “therapy drives.”
People that personally know me well typically recognize that I am at my happiest when I feel creative and when I’m able to use my creativity. This usually involves hands-on artistic ideas coming to me left and right. These ideas range from things as simple as imagining a better way to arrange my room or getting inspired to create something new from clay or wood or a drawing, sometimes even to make my own music. This creative inspiration I get also comes out in many other ways, non art related. A simple example is when I’m at work, I constantly ponder ways to rearrange the workspace more efficiently. Despite the desperate examples, they collectively illustrate how creativity and inspiration is infused into all aspects of my life, no matter the task or situation at hand.
Few days out of every week I struggle to find this creativity and inspiration in my life. It’s obvious that when I battle to find creativity, I am not my usual self. Often I will try different methods to get myself in a more clever mindset. The one technique that tends to work more than most is listening to songs that make me feel more inspired and imaginative. “Igor’s Theme” is always a song I can fall back on to feel my normal self.
The variety of texture and color from this masterpiece make it one of very few songs with the ability to inspire me in my own creative ways, even on the dullest of days. It always has me feeling as if I’m listening to myself in song form. The uniqueness, the emotion and the bold intensity from “Igor’s Theme” is something that I feel like gets me and allows me to feel grounded with myself like no other song does. It serves as a reminder for myself of the incredible capabilities of what music can be and what it can do for us.
Levi Jones, born and raised in Oregon, is a first year student at Linfield University where he studies Applied Physics. After college he hopes to travel the world before settling down and working as a solar engineer. Nearly half of Levi’s days are spent on school work while the other half is spent on activities like running, listening to music, playing soccer, camping, and snowboarding when he can afford it.
