Two articles in one night??? Yes, your eyes are not deceiving you. That’s just how I was feeling tonight. I had the idea of doing throwback album reviews a long time ago but never went out and executed the idea. I feel like this year I have been the most active I’ve ever been on this website. In a total of 42 articles on this website, now 43 including this one, I’ve written 10 in 2021. And hopefully the momentum keeps up and I’m able to keep on delivering some good content for both you guys and my own portfolio. Enough of the chit chat, let’s get into what we’re here for.
May 26th, 2017 Bryson Tiller surprised his fans with his second studio album, “True to Self”. The album was originally scheduled to be released on June 23rd (my birthday) but Tiller surprised his loyal fans with his album. “True to Self” would go on to become Tiller’s first, and only (so far), #1 album selling 107k units in its first week. However, after a classic like Tiller’s debut album, “TRAPSOUL” some fans were left wanting more. Some fans went even as far to claim that Tiller’s sophomore album was a miss, not coming close to what was once heard in his debut album. Despite the commercial success, hitting #1, and eventually being certified gold, “True to Self” became just “the 2nd album” to some people and nothing more. I’m here to tell you why that is simply outrageous.
There is one problem that a lot of fans have within the music community. It leaves a lot of artists in a double-edge sword/lose-lose situation. Whenever a music fan discovers a new artist that they end up liking, the thrill of new music is unmatched to them. The fan continues to use that standard of hearing an artist’s music for the first time as a base comparison to whatever the artist releases in the future. This is exactly the case of Bryson Tiller. Tiller came out of the gate in 2015 with a certified classic in, “TRAPSOUL”. This unintentionally set a crazy standard for whatever music he decided to drop in the future. No matter what he would go on to do, these type of fans just wanted to return that feeling of hearing his debut album for the first time. So instead of appreciating the new music they were trying to find “TRAPSOUL” in a whole new album, which obviously it wasn’t there. This is the age-old take between music fans whenever they say they “I miss the old _______” (insert artist). These type of fans don’t give any room for these artists to grow or even find new sounds. They just want to regain that feeling of discovering them for the first time. However, here comes the double-edge sword/lose-lose part I was talking about. There is another side to this stupidity. The opposite of this is in an example of an artist like DaBaby. DaBaby has gained extreme amounts of fame and riches in a short span due a fanbase that has increasingly grown over the past three or four years. The Charlotte rapper has developed his own signature sound and it has brought him success. However, after some time fans wanted to hear a “different sound” and were tired of the “same beats” being used. In spite of all that, the second DaBaby tried to venture into a new sound (ex. Rockstar) he was ridiculed for becoming “pop” and “going mainstream”. This is the problem I have with present-day hip-hop and music fans in general. Give artists room to grow and stop holding on to a certain sound/album of your favorite artist. Let them use their God-given talents the way THEY want to. Stop holding them to a standard created in your own head.
Back to my point, True to Self is a great album. And no it’s not because I’m a Bryson Tiller fan myself, it’s just sonically good. Songs like, “In Check”, “Stay Blessed”, & “Before You Judge” are perfect examples of just that. Fans weren’t trying to hear a new Bryson Tiller album, they were just trying to hear another “TRAPSOUL”. If Bryson Tiller were to ever see this I would just want to tell him that I’m sorry for his fans. I’m sorry that they held you to a ridiculous standard and put you on an impossible pedestal that made you get to the point of depression. I’m glad that you have regained your love for music and have used that newfound passion to get back into working on “Serenity” but just know that you can take your time. I promise the real fans understand.
True to Self is separate from any other piece of work Bryson Tiller has released. It is unique in the sense that it has no features, each song transitions perfectly into the next, and there is a lot of “rapping” Bryson on it. The album was never a miss to me, because I knew that it was a separate piece of work from his debut and I appreciated it for just that. I hope that other people are able to let go of their first impressions of other artists. Just let them do them. Please. This is YSN, signing out.
Favorite Songs:
- In Check
- Don’t Get Too High
- Set It Off
- You Got It
- Stay Blessed
- We Both Know
- Before You Judge
- Rain On Me (Intro)
- No Longer Friends
- Somethin Tells Me
- Teach Me a Lesson
- Run Me Dry
- Money Problems/Benz Truck
- Self-Made
- Blowing Smoke
- Nevermind This Interlude
- High Stakes
- Always (Outro)
- Rain Interlude
