Dissect - S4E11 - November by Tyler, the Creator

Episode Date: July 2, 2019

Our season long analysis of Flower Boy continues with the song “November.” In terms of the album’s narrative, “November” represents rock bottom, an emotional low point. But after a near death experience, Tyler is inspired to pull over his sports car and seize his moment. Purchase limited Season 4 merchandise at shop.dissectpodcast.com. New episodes of Dissect release every Tuesday. Follow @dissectpodcast on Twitter and Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From Spotify Studios, this is Dissect, long-form musical analysis broken into short digestible episodes. I'm your host, Cole Kushner. Today we continue our serialized analysis of Flower Boy by Tyler the Creator. On our last episode, we dissected 9-1-1 Mr. Lonely, a two-part song that finds Tyler getting to the root cause of his materialism and loneliness, expressing how his inexperience with love creates a void in his life that he fills with material goods. We also heard Tyler connect his loneliness to his inability to articulate his sexuality to others. In Tyler's own words, 9-1-1-Mr. Lonely is the saddest song he's ever written, and marks an acceleration in the downward emotional spiral we've heard since the revelation that was the song Garden Shed.

Flower Boy will continue this plunge toward rock bottom, but first we're met with an interlude, a brief respite from Tyler's emotional descent, dropping seeds. Dropin Seeds is produced by Tyler the Creator and prominently features rapper Little Wayne. Indeed, Tyler only appears as a vocalist for four bars at the end of this minute-long track. The rest is given to Wayne, a conscious decision Tyler made the instant he composed the beat. Why the decision for you not to join? Because I was like, you know what, I just have a little hook at the end, but I want to hear Wayne over these notes. notes and this pocket and I want to see what he would do.

And his hype, his voice over this lower tone of like this, this weird Brian Bennett, like lounge library music I made. I want Wayne over that because- Yeah, I was going to say, what did you tell him? The whole album was supposed to be about, every song is supposed to be about flowers and gardens and so it's supposed to sound like a score. But it ended up changing and this is one of the first songs finished, like pothole and dropping seeds and I was like, yo, um, just wipe about flowers and garden.

trees, whatever. It makes sense that drop in seeds was one of the first songs completed for Flower Boy before the album's narrative took shape. Despite Wayne's virtuosic rhyming, which for the most part details his virtuastic abilities in the sack, drop in seeds doesn't advance the album's narrative, though it will come to have some symbolic meaning as we discover in our analysis of Flower Boy's next song, the subject of our episode today, November. November was written and a winter cold water, cold water, you take me back to November.

November was written and produced by Tyler the Creator. The song features two main chord progressions. The first progression is comprised of four chords, repeated twice in the opening moments of the track. Just like we've heard throughout Flower Boy, this progression isn't really in a fixed key signature. Instead, we find Tyler once again using stepwise motion and common tones to play a unique sequence of chords. We have an A major 7 chord, an A sharp minor 7 with a G sharp in the bass, an F sharp minor 7, and an A natural minor 6 with a D in the base. While we won't detail every note in this sequence, know that just about every note

utilizes either stepwise motion or common tones to make this progression work. But before moving on, I do want to draw your attention to this progression's baseline. Of interest for our purposes is that it's a descending baseline, that is, each note gets lower and lower. We'll keep that in mind as we take a look at the second chord progression Tyler uses after this brief introduction. This second chord progression features three chords played on electric piano. It begins with a G-sharp minor 7 add 9, a flat 5 E-9 chord with the 9th in the base, and a flat 5 E-major 7th chord with the E now in the base. The latter two chords contain the interval of a tritone, an E and B-flat.

This is one of the more dissonant intervals in music and contributes to the overall moody, somber quality of this harmonically rich progression. We also realize that this progression is constructed on a descending baseline, just like the first progression we heard. As we've discussed throughout the season, many of Tyler's chord progressions are descending in nature, but I'd argue none thus far have sounded this somber. The tritone interval contributes to this mood. but we also note that descending baselines and progressions are traditionally used to evoke feelings

of sadness or melancholy. Composed in the late 1600s, Baroque composer Johann Pocket Bell's Shokone and F. Minor features a descending baseline, contributing to the piece's brooding mood. Written in 1749, Johann Sebastian Bach's crucifixes, a depiction of Christ hanging from the cross, features a repeated descending baseline. Romantic era composer Johannes Brahms, utilized a descending bass line in the opening of his piano sonata number three in F minor. Despite each of these examples being written in different points in history, they all evoke a similar musical mood. They're grave and gloomy.

The descending baselines they all share help to create this musical environment. The same kind of musical environment Tyler creates with his descending progression on November. This darker musical mood is a fitting environment for November's thematic content, which I noted earlier was a continuation of the emotion. downward plunge, Tyler has been experiencing since garden shed. In fact, in my view, November represents the moment of crisis in Flower Boys' narrative arc. In a traditional three-act story structure, what you commonly find used in movie screenplays and novels, there's a moment about three-fourths of the way into the story where the protagonist undergoes a final moment of crisis, a moment where the

protagonist is up against insurmountable odds, and it appears that all is lost. In the Wizard of Oz, for example, Dorothy is attempting to find her way back home. About three-fourths of the way into the film, Dorothy is captured and the wicked witch sets an hourglass and threatens that Dorothy will die when it runs out. Imprisoned, her life in danger, we're left wondering if and how our protagonist will escape this fate. As we'll see, November is this moment of crisis in the narrative of Flower Boy. Throughout the album, Tyler has been attempting to reconcile his anxiety and loneliness and sets out to find meaning in his life. This narrative is presented in the form of a car ride, with Tyler driving aimlessly toward an as-yet-undetermined destination.

This represents his life in general. He's driving a nice car, but has nowhere to go, and no one is riding shotgun. We later learn that Tyler's loneliness stems from his inability to articulate his sexual identity to himself and to others. This is of course crystallized in the song Garden Shed, a moment we can compare to another common plot point in a three-act narrative structure known as the point of knowledge. return. It's here that the protagonist takes an action that is irrevocable and forever alters their situation, forcing them to commit to their goal. Tyler articulating his sexuality on

Garden Shed forces him to confront the relationship between his sexual identity and the chronic loneliness that's occurred because of its inability to do so up until this point. Interestingly, this point of no return in a screenplay commonly occurs exactly halfway through the story, and we recall that Garden Shed is track 7 of 4. exactly halfway into the album. As we noted several times this season, Garden Shed is a revelation Tyler comes to in the privacy of his garden shed, in his own head, and he now must work to articulate these feelings to someone else, specifically to the fantasy love interest he's alluded to throughout the album. This of course is no easy task, and Tyler faces a new set of obstacles.

We heard this in the song's Boredom, I Ain't Got Time and 9-1-1 Mr. Lonely, each song more anxiety-ridden than the last. And thus we reach November, the crisis point, the point in the story in which we wonder whether our protagonists will be defeated, or if he'll transcend his obstacles and claim victory. What's up? Can we go back to, took me back to November? Who that boy's rhetorical when this shit is over? What if I'm hustling backwards? What if my accounting ain't paying my taxes, fill in his pockets, and the IRS show up asking me questions, I couldn't answer because I was too busy trying to make classes. What if my music too wait for the masses? And I'm only known for tweets more than beats, all. Tyler begins verse one with the series of questions.

What if Clancy fucking me over? What if who dat boy is rhetorical and this shit is over? What if I'm hustling backwards? What if my accountant ain't paying my taxes? These rapid fire questions remind us of the album opener Forward, which was also a verse filled with questions. How many cars can I buy until I run out of drive? How much drive can I have until I run out of road?

How much road can they pay until I run out of road? Knowing that forward can they crave until I would run out of land, how much land can it be until I was running the ocean? Knowing that forward before the album's narrative begins, and that its utility is to foreshadow things to come in the story. The series of questions that begins November is for me a full circle moment,

a return to the album's beginning. Again, to draw a cinematic comparison, this is similar to a mysterious opening scene in a film, one that doesn't totally make sense at the time. Later in the film, we return to the same scene, and now having the context of the events that led up to that scene, things snap into place. Just like Forward, Tyler asked rhetorical questions about his life, but whereas Forward looked forward and foreshadowed things to come,

November looks backwards, as Tyler will several times directly reference songs and lines from Flower Boy. Case in point, the verse begins, What if Clancy fucking me over? This refers to his longtime manager Christian Clancy, who he first heard about on Pothole. right hand to trust her only my heart and that elder white man his name is clancy i fancy him gotta give him props he have the reason why dealerships even let me cop while pothole expressed a deep and unique trust in clancy

we hear now on november tyler second guessing that trust as we'll see this is less about clancy than it is about tyler second guessing everything in his life tyler continues what if who dat boy is rhetorical and this shit is over who dat boy is of course track five on flower boy and thumman dramatically is full of egotism and braggadocio. In our analysis of this track, we questioned the authenticity of Tyler's ego, viewing it as a defense mechanism, a front. Confirming our suspicions, Tyler here is second-guessing his display of ego and fears that his career is in jeopardy, likely influenced by the mixed reception of his previous album Cherrybong. Tyler continues the verse, What if my accountant ain't paying my taxes, fill in his pockets, and IRS show up asking me

questions. There's certainly no shortage on musicians who have been in trouble with the law due to tax evasion or back taxes, including artists like Little Wayne, Mary J. Blyge, Prince, Naz, and Lauren Hill, just to name a few. Tyler, like many in his position, exhibit a kind of more money, more problems mentality and fears that the people around him are taking advantage of his attention being focused on creativity, not finances. Indeed, Tyler continues this line, and IRS show up asking me questions I couldn't answer because I was too busy trying to make classics. Classics here refers to classic records or albums. After this line, we hear a voice say, boy ain't got no motherfucking classics. We might

suspect this voice to represent the critics of Tyler and his music, as it sets off a chain of insecurities Tyler expresses in the next lines. What if my music too weird for the masses, and I'm only known for tweets more than beats. Tyler here is expressing his insecurities around his reputation as a provocateur, fearing that he'll always be someone known more for controversy than artistry. His music being too weird for the masses, eludes to his lack of commercial success, at least as compared to his idols Farrell and Kanye West, something that was on his mind after the release of Cherry Bomb. Because everyone hated it, except for like real music level. He cares about drums. Like I opened a rap album with a rock song. Most niggas is like, ugh. And then Buffalo

comes. You can barely hear what I'm. saying then pilot come and it's this 80s music so they're out because they won't rap then run comes do-d-do they don't know and then find your wings come and it's like okay this is chill then cherry bomb just punches them so they're out and a lot of people didn't know how to take it so tyler's verse on november continues with another self-reference to flower boy he says i'm only known for tweets more than beats where all my day ones turn to three fours because of track seven here we have nice wordplay on the numerical sequence one two three four Tyler uses a phrase day ones, which is slang for friends who have been there since the beginning.

In Tyler's case, it's likely he's using this to mean both his day one fans and his friends, those he was close to before he got famous. He fears these day ones will turn to three fours, meaning they'll distance themselves from him because of track seven. Of course, track seven here refers to the song Garden Shed, track seven on Flower Boy. This confirms our suspicion that Tyler was reluctant to share his sexual identity to others, fearing that he'd be judged by his fans, friends, and family members. We also have to note the cleverness of saying three-fours because of track seven

as three plus four equals seven. As verse one continues, Tyler resumes his self-scrutiny and questioning. We'll unpack the rest of this verse right after the break. Welcome back to dissect. Before the break, we discussed the first half of November's first verse. As a verse resumes, so does Tyler's introspective question in. What if I get stuck? What if I got comfortable?

I gotta keep it buck. 50 what? If I lost it all and ended up back in LaDara at them shitty apartments that's across the Bank of America. Damn, I will be hurting. Writing all of these songs because why I wasn't working?

Last year in total, I put out two versions of five, seven figures since then. Like, it's kind of perfect. Oh, is it really? Or is it really? Oh, is it really? Tell it, silly, hold that billet. How I millie rock.

When they can't relate them, when they start to hate them, they don't drive this car. So is it a person? Tyler, what if I thought the brake was the gas? What if I crashed? What if these deep thoughts was my last? Let me pull over quick.

Tyler continues the verse, What if I get stuck? What if I got comfortable? And later asks, What if I lost it all? And ended up back in Lederah at them shitty apartments that's across from Bank of America.

Here, Tyler refers to his grandmother's apartment in Lederah Heights in Los Angeles. It was here that he slept on the floor for four years when he was a teenager. This is another callback to the beginning of Flower Boy's narrative, referenced on verse one of where this flower blooms. On November, Tyler imagines the scenario in which his career goes cold, and he's once again living in poverty. It's not a fear without basis, as there's a substantial community of musicians who've gone bankrupt after finding extreme success in music. Tony Braxton, MC Hammer, Marvin Gay, just to name a few.

Tyler continues the verse, last year in total, I put out two verses, but five, seven figures since then, life's kind of perfect. This refers to his musical output in the year 2016, which amounted to only two guest verses. Despite this low output, he still made five, seven figures, which translates to $5 million. Tyler momentarily relishes this fact, saying, life's kind of perfect, a state. statement of contentment, the same kind of contentment that Tyler just expressed leads to getting stuck and comfortable. It makes sense then that he quickly counters himself, saying, Life's kind of perfect, oh, is it really? Oh, is it really? Clearly it's not. Tyler has now

realized that being wealthy has both its limitations and its stresses. Wealth is not a cure-all, not something that can immune him from life's difficulties. As Tyler nears the end of the verse, the meaning behind the song's title begins to reveal itself. He says, tell me, what's your November? Is it a person? Mine was the summer of 06. While we'll discover that the month of November holds a special place in Tyler's heart, November here is also used to mean something more universal.

He's asking, what brings you happiness and joy? Is it a person? Is it a passion? A certain time or event in your life? November of 2016 was probably the greatest time on my life. Why? We had rented a house out. Every morning we will wake.

up right for the jellies. I was starting to get involved with Converse. After that was done, we would spend time, at least me and Jasp were playing the game. I went about the VR, stupid PlayStation game. We had the new Mario Switch. When we were done working, why it would come out, we would go to the park or just like go bike riding or just whatever, go to shows. And then I would go to studio and I'll be working on the album.

Tell me what show November? Is it a person? It could, like, it could be a person, it could be a song, it could be a time, but just those things that just make you super happy. As Tyler stated, November of 2016 was the greatest time in his life, giving one meaning to his personal November. But in the song itself, Tyler says, mine was the summer 06. In 2006, Tyler would have been 15 years old.

This was the year Farrell released his solo project in my mind, which if you'll remember from our first episode this season, inspired Tyler to begin odd future, a collective of like-minded creatives. This was a time of creative purity, before the fame, before the money, when Tyler was discovering who he was and finding his creative voice. Comparing this to the anecdote we heard about is November of 2016, and we can speculate that there were parallels between these two quote-unquote November's that occurred 10 years apart. Both were times. of what appears to be carefree creativity and fun, times when Tyler wasn't worried about taxes, critics, the future of his career, or his chronic loneliness. The complexities of adulthood were

at bay, and Tyler was at peace. It's no wonder that in the song's hook, he over and over again please, take me back to November. Hawaiian shirts in the winter, cold water, cold water, take me back to November. Literally, and that house we had on cold water was just an amazing time. And I was literally wearing Hawaiian shirts in January, and it was cold. Yeah, but you just love, but it was... Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was the mindset you were in. Yeah, it was just, it was fucking great, dude.

It was so goddamn good. At the end of November's first verse, we come upon a crucial plot point in the album's narrative. Let's have another listen. Let's have another listen. break was the gas. What if I crash? What if these deep thoughts is my last? Let me pull over quick. As you know, Flower Boy's narrative is a car ride. We first heard Tyler driving off in a sports car on where this flower blooms, which signal the beginning of this car ride. Since then, we've heard a number of car-related plot points, including the radio station featured on sometimes, the rapid acceleration

of Who That Boy, and the pothole he hits on pothole. We also heard him get out of his car for the song's Garden Shed and Boredom, only to re-interested. the car and begin to drive again on I ain't got time. When we reach this moment in November, Tyler is still behind the wheel, still attempting to find his destination, still attempting to find himself. The concluding lines of verse one we just heard state, tell me what's your November, is it a person? Mine was a summer 06, I remember the. Tyler's unable to finish the sentence, and instead we hear a loud car horn. Tyler's daydreaming about his November has distracted him from the road, and he nearly hits another vehicle. This snaps him out of his daydream, and then he says,

what if I thought the brake was the gas? What if I crashed? What if these deep thoughts was my last? Let me pull over, quick. The scare of a near collision gives Tyler a snapshot of his mortality, inspiring him to pull over the car. At this point, it's not clear what his intentions are, but more information is revealed as November continues. My November is summer 2015 when I fell in love with someone who bought. 2014, my 43rd Street every day was November. After a repetition of the song's hook, we hear a montage of characters sharing their personal Novemothers, the things that make them, as Tyler said, super happy.

These voices aren't credited in the album's liner notes, but it's speculated that they're Tyler's personal friends and members of Odd Future. The first voice describes his November as the Odd Future Sundays, when the crew would skateboard all day. The second voice says, my November, and I was performing and Little Wayne rap with me. This is where we might find some narrative significance in Flower Boy's previous track, Drop in Seeds, which you know prominently features Little Wayne. We note that drop in seeds is the album's 11th track, and that November is the 11th month of the year. With this in mind, we might wonder if Drop in Seeds is a depiction of a November-type moment.

The repeated line, Take Me Back to November, then becomes a clever nod to drop in seeds, as in take me back to the 11th track, the 11th month. The montage of voices on November continues with more memories. We hear voices talking about booking their first feature film, a prized Geta and Gilberto album, seeing Erica Baudu perform live and falling in love. We notice that all these shared events here take place in the past, and as expressed throughout the track, Tyler's longing to return to better days, days where life was easier, filled less with the anxieties of adulthood and more with the careless freedom of youth. This harkening back to better days is in sharp contrast with the album's narrative thus far. The whole point of the car ride

is that Tyler is searching for a destination and as implied by the album's first track, attempting to move forward. Lonely, stressed, and feeling a general existential dread about the present, Tyler is yearning for yesterday to go backwards, which is the exact opposite of progress. This is why feel November to be the crisis point of the narrative. Tyler is now pulled over on the side of the road. He's stalled. He's lost momentum, no longer driving forward. And as November continues, the downward spiral tightens, and we get the darkest, most turbulent passage of the entire album. In this tumultuous bridge, Tyler repeats, take me back over and over in later screens, I ain't doing fine, lost my motherfucking mind, time travel back and help me find. We hear now the

desperation in his voice and he pleads for better days. This dark emotional mood is accentuated musically through Tyler's choice to redact the song's made chord progression, instead choosing to repeat over and over again a single chord. This chord contains two extremely dissonant intervals, a tritone and a major seventh. This dissonance throughout the bridge creates a strong feeling of sustained unrest. Just like Tyler, who has stalled on the side of the road, this chord progression isn't going anywhere. Instead, both Tyler and this chord are dwelling in their dissonance, in their turmoil. Returning again to our comparison to film, the bridge on November and Tyler's desperate emotional screams are the summation of all the anxiety, turmoil, self-doubt,

and confusion Tyler's expressed throughout the entire album. It's the final push in a film, the final battle scene. In Tyler's case, his battle is two-fold. In the first battle, Tyler is fighting himself, and he must overcome his insecurities in order to face his second battle, which is articulating his feelings to the fantasy love interest he has alluded to throughout the album. As we know, this love interest is male, and so at its heart, the battle is rooted in his inability to express his feelings for men to someone other than himself. And so now with November's bridge, we've entered the narrative's lowest point, the moment when we think our protagonist is down for the count. It's a scene in the film where our beaten and bruised hero must give every last

ounce of strength and courage to overcome his obstacles. And just as the walls seem to be closing in on Tyler, we reach the eye of the storm and get the breakthrough moment of the entire album. My November is right now. A voice says, my November is right now, and we hear a record scratching sound. While we'll discuss the thematic implications of this decision in our next episode, suffice it to say this emphasis on right now snaps Tyler out of his emotional tailspin. He now seizes his moment. My November is right now. I wrote a song about you. I want your opinion. I'll proceed on my heart rate to slow down

at the ending because the love that I got for you has exceeded appearance to lyrics on. Matter of fact, I'm going to just call you so you can hear it. If you do answer, I'll play it to state With the last Although I already know the response You gonna save back At that point I'll hang up disappear and just stay back And if you don't

I'll leave a voicemail with the playback With the last verse of November Tyler, still on the side of the road, gets the courage to call his love interest in order to tell him how he feels. In the verse, he speaks directly to this person He says,

I wrote a song about you, I want your opinion. Here Tyler is referring to the album's next song, Glitter, which is a love letter to this person. He continues, opposite my heart rate, it slows down at the ending, because the love I got for you has exceeded appearance. These lines allude to the second half of glitter, which will learn switches to half-time.

This slower tempo is opposite of Tyler's heart rate because his heart races or speeds up when he sees this person. Tyler continues, matter of fact, I'm going to just call you so you can hear it. If you do answer, I'll play it to state facts. At this point, we actually hear a phone ringing in the background. Tyler is now calling this person and plans to play glitter for them. Tyler then predicts defeat, saying, although I already know the response you're going to say back, at that point I'll hang up, disappear and just stay back. Tyler is still insecure about what this person might say, but that's not really the point. The point is that Tyler is finding the courage to say how he feels despite this insecurity. Finally, Tyler says, and if you don't, I'll leave a voicemail with the playback.

At this point, the phone has rung three times in the background. His love interest doesn't pick up, and November ends with the sound of a voicemail message. In the climax of a traditional film in three-act structure, the hero confronts the villain and determines his or her own fate. As we'll discuss at length in our finale, the villain of Flower Boy has always been Tyler himself. It's a side of Tyler we heard on Who That Boy and I Ain't Got Boy. time. It's his ego, his defense mechanisms, the side of himself that indulges in materialism

and puts on a charade in order to avoid his inner emotions and chronic loneliness he feels within. At this point, Tyler seems to have finally overcome that side of himself, finally built the courage to articulate his feelings to his love interest, which he does in the form of a song he leaves on their voicemail. Of course, this is Glitter, the penultimate track on Flower Boy, the culmination of Tyler's album-long journey, the song will examine note by note, line by line. Next time on Dysect. Dysect is written and produced by me, original theme music by Birocratic, song recreations by Andrew Atwood, audio editing by Eric Bass and me.

If you enjoy Dysect, please help me spread the word by telling a friend, family member, or co-worker about the show. Follow Dysect Pod playlist on Spotify, where you can find music playlist curated by yours truly. Also, be sure to say hi at Dissect Podcast on Twitter and Instagram and join our newsletter at dissectpodcast.com. Okay, thanks everyone. I'll talk to you next week.