A Review of Travis Scott's "ASTROWORLD"

Initial Thoughts:

Coming off his 2016 project "Birds in The Trap Sing McKnight" and his 2017 collab with Quavo of the Migos titled "Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho," hip-hop rock star Travis Scott finally hits us with "ASTROWORLD." With Travis Scott being one of the hottest artists in hip-hop and possibly the world right now, I have super high expectations for this project. La Flame's 2015 project "Rodeo" and 2016 project "Birds in The Trap Sing McKnight" are both platinum selling projects (YA!), while his collaboration with Quavo, "Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho," did very well itself, as it debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200. Mix all this with the numerous features Travis Scott has been violating (STRAIGHT UP!) and now we understand why people are so hype for "ASTROWORLD." If you haven't listened to Travis Scott before, be prepared for auto tune, adlibs, lots of guitar rifts, lots of beat switches and melodies all mixed together to form a work of art that can only be described as rap rock. Now, let's get to the track list! Travis Scott is providing us with seventeen songs on this new project with no features listed on the track list. This isn't the first time Travis Scott has done this, on "Birds in The Trap Sing McKnight" the only listed feature is Young Thug however, Kendrick Lamar, André 3000 and Kid Cudi all have appearances on the project. This being said, the anticipation for the "features" on "ASTROWORLD" is greater to me because you don't know who it will be and when they will come. I'm super excited to go to "ASTROWORLD," so let's get to the review! 👂🏾

Review 👂🏾

STARGAZING
"STARGAZING" starts off with Travis Scott using a cadence similar to Kid Cudi's with the "Rollin', rollin', rollin', got me stargazin'." We also get a more high-pitched Travis on the hook of the first part of the song. We then get a beat switch which I love, and Travis Scott starts rapping for us and the verse is solid. Does anything blow me away about this particular track? No. However, it's still a solid introduction.
+1

CAROUSEL
Our first "feature" of this project comes with Frank Ocean on this song titled "CAROUSEL." Frank Ocean gives us a nice hook and third verse. Travis is also just rapping, which is disappointing because I was hoping for more auto tune thus far into the project. La Flame also addresses how his sound has been used by a lot of rappers in hip-hop today with the line "They bitin', they bitin', the cadence." I found it interesting that he chose to rap those lines instead of actually using the cadence he was referring to. Nothing blows me away about this song either. However, it's still a solid song.
+1

SICKO MODE
We get three "features" on this track. Drake, Big Hawk and Swae Lee all have a role on this song. Drake gives us a small verse on part one to set up the Travis verse on part two. We also get a beat switch from a melodic dark sounding beat to a slow, awkward sounding beat. The beat works for these Travis verses where he is also rapping. On the third part of the song we get a Tay Keith beat similar to "Shoot" by Blocboy JB and "Nonstop" by Drake with Drake and Travis rapping on the beat. I'm a bit disappointed with the project so far because it doesn't really have anything unique to Travis Scott. There's no auto tune or beats that would only work for Travis. It feels like more of a mainstream sound than Travis pioneering and making a sound mainstream like he has in the past. There's a lot of moving parts on this song, but they aren't different from the music we have been hearing this year.
+.5

R.I.P. SCREW
Another Swae Lee "feature" on this song. The beat or verses don't blow me away at all. However, I thought the content of Travis Scott trying to honor the late D.J. Screw (R.I.P.) was important. All things considered, this song doesn't have any playback value to me because of the delivery of the content.
+.5

STOP TRYING TO BE GOD
On this song we have a Kid Cudi appearance as he does his iconic humming and some Phillip Bailey vocals. Both artists appear on the hook which I enjoyed. James Blake comes in at the end of the song to give us his great vocals. However, once again Travis Scott hasn't blown me away with his verse on this song.
+.5

NO BYSTANDERS
We have Sheck Wes, famous for making the song "Mo Bamba" and Juice Wrld on this song as well. On this song Travis Scott sounds more La Flame than he has on the first five songs. Travis gives us two verses and another seamless transition through a beat switch. However, Travis Scott's rapping doesn't move me at all which brings down my opinion of this song.
+.5

SKELETONS
On this song we have Travis Scott using a flow similar to the flow of Kanye West. Once again, Travis Scott's rapping doesn't blow me away. We have Pharrell Williams, The Weeknd, and Tame Impala giving us background vocals on this track. This song feels like one if those slow jams you would hear at the end of a movie, where a character may be reminiscing about some of the previous scenes in the movie. The content of this song is good, as he may be referencing his first encounter with his girlfriend, Kylie Jenner. The song feels like an interlude which is something new to a Travis Scott project. Overall, I thought this song was concise and to the point with a slow, mellow backdrop.
+1

WAKE UP
This song feels like a love song, something I'm not accustomed to hearing from Travis Scott. “WAKE UP” backs up my hypothesis about “SKELETONS” being the interlude because it goes from just wanting to fuck once to actually enjoying Kylie's presence. Once again, the delivery from Travis Scott doesn't blow me away. The Weeknd being on this song was a smart choice, making it a solid song.
+1

5% TINT
This song has more auto tune and melody than the previous songs on this project. The adlibs are on point in this song as well and we have that heavy bass we get from a typical Travis Scott song. Not really a hit, but still a solid Travis Scott song.
+1

NC-17
We have a great 21 Savage verse on this song. Just how 21 Savage surprised some people with ability to be melodic on "rockstar" with Post Malone, we get the same melodic surprise from 21 Savage on this song as well. This time his melody flows with the melody Travis Scott establishes in the hook and the first verse. We get Travis Scott with auto tune, however the pitch on the auto tune is higher than normal. This doesn't take away from the quality of song because it's still a really good song.
+1.5

ASTROTHUNDER
This is more of a self introspection song. I enjoyed the content and the delivery of the content is better to me than has been in previous songs. Travis seems to be realizing that the life he wants may not be the life he needs. The hook changes in the beginning from "Seem like the life I feen's a little distant, yeah," to "Feels like the life I need's a little distant, yeah (yeah, yeah)" towards the end. This is an example of Travis's growth as a person.
+1

YOSEMITE
On "YOSEMITE" we get Gunna on the hook and Nav on the outro. Upon first listen I thought Young Thug was on the hook but instead it was Gunna with the melodic delivery. I like the flow Travis used on his verse as well as the calmness of the beat. There's a clear difference in the quality of the audio between Travis Scott and Gunna vs. Nav's outro.
+1

CAN'T SAY
Don Toliver "features" on this song. There's more Don Toliver than Travis Scott on this song, which is interesting to me. This song screams T-Pain because of how much Don Toliver sounds like the master of auto tune. Maybe a T-Pain feature would have put this song over the top.
+1

WHO? WHAT!
QUAVO! TAKEOFF! are both on this song with Quavo giving us adlibs and a verse and Takeoff giving us a verse. This is one of my favorite songs on the project thus far.
+1

BUTTERFLY EFFECT
The lone single we have off of this project. Initially I didn't like this song but after seeing how it flows with the rest of this project I like it more. It's still not my favorite Travis Scott song. However, it is one of his more “Birds in The Trap Sing McKnight" sounding songs on this project because of the adlibs and the delivery from Travis. The cadence of La Flame's voice, the flow, timing of adlibs and high paced feel of the beat all sound similar to those found on the last project.The one thing that separates this song from songs you would hear on “Birds in The Trap Sing McKnight" is that the beats on that project sound a bit darker than the beat we hear on “BUTTERFLY EFFECT.” For reference, listen to the first verses on the songs “way back" and “the ends,” from “Birds in The Trap Sing McKnight.”
+1.5

HOUSTONFORNICATION
HOUSTONFORNICATION is one of the most Travis Scott of the past songs on this project. The auto tune and flow help La Flame to gather momentum through the song and keep the listener engaged. I would have liked it more if the beat had some more bass.
+1.5

COFFEE BEAN
A great outro track for this album. Not the Travis Scott song we expect, but a more introspective song. We finally get the guitar riffs I had referenced earlier in the initial thoughts portion of this review. The song reflects on Travis' relationship with his girlfriend Kylie Jenner with lines such as,
"Your family told you I'm a bad move
Plus I'm already a black dude."
This line is interesting to me because the Kardashians have become synonymous with cultural appropriation in many people's eyes. For Travis to have that black dude line in the song is a bit eye opening. There's a lot of lines to read into in this song which shows Travis' growth a rapper.
+1

ASTROWORLD
Raw Score: 13/17 | 76.5%
Quality Score: 17.5/17 | 102.9%

Overall a solid project from Travis Scott, and it could be his worst or best project out of the three depending on what you were looking for out of it. If you are looking for that Turn up Travis that we have gotten used to, this isn't the Travis Scott project for you. However, if you are looking for a more introspective project, this project could be his best. Personally, I was looking for that Turn Up Travis that I love, but I was pleasantly surprised by the content Travis gave us on this project. Although the content on this project was good, I didn't think the delivery and sound was up to par with "Birds in The Trap Sing McKnight." Also, in the beginning of this project, there was a heavy reliance on other artists which at times made it feel like a D.J. Khaled project. Towards the end we got more of Travis Scott in the solo songs which I enjoyed more than the songs with all the other artists on it. The three standout songs to me were: NC-17, ASTROTHUNDER, and HOUSTONFORNICATION. Overall the vibe of this project was a calm consistent one, making this a solid Travis Scott project. Go out and stream Travis Scott's "ASTROWORLD" today on your favorite streaming platform! Also, don't forget to follow oldmilktheblog on Instagram at oldmilktheblog!