Cherry Bomb is the third studio album by American rapper Tyler, The Creator. It was released on April 13, 2015, by Odd Future Records. On April 9, 2015, the album was informally announced on iTunes, along with the release of two tracks. The album features uncredited guest appearances from Schoolboy Q, Charlie Wilson, Kali Uchis, Kanye West, Lil Wayne and Pharrell Williams. The album was supported by two singles—"Deathcamp" and "Fucking Young", both songs having a single music video.
Background[]
In November 2014, Larry Fitzmaurice wrote a piece for The Fader magazine, giving details about a forthcoming album from Tyler, The Creator. The project features a multitude of guests, but likely no features from other Odd Future members, the rap group of which he is the face of, stating: "Everyone's on their own island." Tyler cited artist Stevie Wonder as his inspiration for the album. Associate editor ofThe Fader, Matthew Trammel, reported that the album would feature Tyler lyrically tackling many current social issues. Trammel noted that "[Tyler] offers up heavy-handed indictments of gang culture and rapper consumerism, calling them detrimental not just to the progress of his race, but to humanity as a whole."
Alternate covers
Release and promotion[]
On April 9, 2015, Rap-Up reported that Tyler had announced his Cherry Bomb tour, which will visit various locations around the world, starting with his live debut of songs from the album at Coachella on April 11, to September 13 in Tokyo. On the same day, after announcing his Golf Media app and Golf Magazine, Tyler released a music video for the song "Fucking Young" on the app and onYouTube.
Cherry Bomb appeared on the iTunes Store with two tracks, "Fucking Young" and "Deathcamp", available for download before the album's release, as both lead and second singles. The music video for "Fucking Young" contains snippets of both songs, two different album covers, and formally announced the release date as April 13, 2015. Tyler announced on Twitter that Cherry Bomb will receive a physical release two weeks after its digital release and it would have five different album covers.
Critical response[]
Upon its release, Cherry Bomb received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 68, based on 18 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". The Guardian's Paul Lester described the album's sound as "fizzy sonics and lush eruptions of synths and strings" in his 3/5 star review for the album, whilst also noting the influence of N.E.R.D, comparing the opening song "Deathcamp" to N.E.R.D's 2001 release "Lapdance".
Tom Breihan, writing for Stereogum, felt the album was "cluttered and chaotic" but also believed it to be an improvement on Tyler's previous studio album Wolf (2013). Breihan also praised the album's musical choices for being "brave and commendable" but added that "I'm not sure they add up to a great song." Calum Slingerland of Exclaim! praised Tyler's work with R&B and soul music sounds on "Find Your Wings" and "Fucking Young," though their juxtaposition with moments of poorly-mixed, blown out aggression lessened their effect.
Track listing[]
- All songs produced by Tyler, The Creator
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Deathcamp" | Tyler Okonma, H. Weems | 3:09 | |
| 2. | "Buffalo" | Okonma | 2:39 | |
| 3. | "Pilot" | Okonma | 3:29 | |
| 4. | "Run" | Okonma | 1:09 | |
| 5. | "Find Your Wings" | Okonma | 2:59 | |
| 6. | "Cherry Bomb" | Okonma | 4:29 | |
| 7. | "Blow My Load" | Okonma | 3:10 | |
| 8. | "2Seater" | Okonma | 6:49 | |
| 9. | "The Brown Stains of Darkeese Latifah Part 6–12 (Remix)" | Okonma, Quincy Hanley | 3:11 | |
| 10. | "Fucking Young/Perfect" | Okonma, Kali Uchis | 6:41 | |
| 11. | "Smuckers" | Okonma, Dwayne Carter, Jr., Kanye West, Gabriele Ducros | 5:34 | |
| 12. | "Keep Da O's" | Okonma, Pharrell Williams, A. Dubin, H. Warren | 4:08 | |
| 13. | "Okaga, CA" | Okonma, Clementine Creevy | 6:37 | |
| Total length: | 54:04 | |||
| Physical copy bonus track | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length | |||||||
| 14. | "Yellow" | Okonma | 2:57 | |||||||
- Notes
- "Deathcamp" contains an uncredited appearance from Cole Alexander of Black Lips.
- "Pilot" contains an uncredited appearance from Syd Bennett.
- "Run" contains uncredited appearances from Chaz Bundick and Schoolboy Q.
- "Find Your Wings" contains uncredited appearances from Roy Ayers, Syd Bennett, Jameel Kirk Bruner, Samantha Nelson, Tiffany Palmer, Onitsha Shaw and Kali Uchis.
- "Blow My Load" contains uncredited appearances from Wanya Morris and Dâm-Funk.
- "2Seater" contains uncredited appearances from Aaron Shaw and Samantha Nelson.
- "2Seater" contains the hidden track "Hair Blows".
- "Hair Blows" contains uncredited appearances from Austin Feinstein and Syd Bennett.
- "The Brown Stains of Darkeese Latifah Part 6–12 (Remix)" contains an uncredited appearance from Schoolboy Q.
- "The Brown Stains of Darkeese Latifah Part 6–12 (Remix)" contains the hidden track "Special" on the physical version.
- "Fucking Young" contains uncredited appearances from Charlie Wilson, Chaz Bundick and Syd Bennett.
- "Perfect" contains an uncredited appearance from Kali Uchis.
- "Smuckers" contains uncredited appearances from Lil Wayne and Kanye West.
- "Keep Da O's" contains an uncredited appearance from Pharrell Williams and Coco O.
- "Okaga, CA" features additional vocals from Leon Ware, Clementine Creevy and Alice Smith.
- Sample credits
- "Smuckers" contains a sample from "Metropolis Notte" performed by Gabriele Ducros.
- "Keep Da O's" contains a sample from "I Only Have Eyes for You" performed by The Flamingos.
- "Cherry Bomb" contains a sample from "Christcontrol" performed by Cancer Killing Gemini.
- "Buffalo" contains a sample from "Shake Your Booty" performed by Bunny Sigler.