Dissect - S4E14 - Epilogue: IGOR by Tyler the Creator

Episode Date: July 23, 2019

Today’s special episode dissects Tyler, The Creator’s 2019 album IGOR. After a thorough dissection of the album’s narrative, we hypothesize about thematic and narrative connections between IGOR and Flower Boy. Purchase limited Season 4 merchandise at shop.dissectpodcast.com. Stay in touch over the break by following @dissectpodcast on Twitter and Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From Spotify Studios, this is Discept, long-form musical analysis broken into short digestible episodes. I'm your host, Cole Kushner. Tyler, the creator's 2017 album, Flower Boy, is a story of self-discovery and acceptance. Over the course of the album, Tyler confronts his insecurities, anxiety, loneliness, and sexual identity in order to evolve as a person, something he compares to a flower blooming from seeds. Tyler's journey culminates with him expressing his feelings to a male loving. interest, a moment made possible through Tyler's acceptance of his sexuality and his recognition of living in the moment. Tyler expresses his feelings through the album's penultimate track, Glitter,

which he attempts to leave on his crush's voicemail. The irony of Flower Boy's conclusion is that Tyler's voicemail doesn't actually go through. We didn't get your message either because you were not speaking or because of a bad connection. Despite its bittersweet conclusion, we recognize that Flower Boy was never really about Tyler's crush. It was about Tyler himself, and all the demons he had to confront to overcome his fears, accept himself, and simply make the phone call. Indeed, Flower Boy isn't so much about finding love, but rather it's about Tyler putting himself in the position to love, which as we know was no small feat. But despite the importance of Tyler's journey to get to this point, Flower Boy's narrative does leave us wondering where the story goes from here.

Would Tyler find love? Would he try again to connect with his crush? If so, was the interest mutual? And would Tyler continue the story on his next project? Well, after nearly two years, Tyler has returned with his follow-up to Flower Boy, and we finally get some answers to these questions. Well, kind of. Of course, we're talking about Tyler the Creator's 2019 album, the subject of today's special episode of Dysect, Igor. Igor was released on May 17, 2019, debuting at number one on the Billboard 200 chart. The opening moments of the album we just heard immediately make clear that Igor is not an attempt to replicate the sound and success of Flower Boy. Though it contains no shortage of beautiful moments, generally speaking, Igor is aesthetically

less polished than Flower Boy. It's a little rough around the edges. And while Tyler may have preferred a grittier aesthetic this time around, his attention to detail and deliberate constructive of an overarching narrative is just as thought out as its predecessor Flower Boy. Case in point, Igor's opening track is aptly titled Igor's theme. Igor's theme foreshadows many of the thematic and sonic motifs that will hear throughout the album. In fact, we can compare Igor's theme to something like an overture. An overture is a brief piece of introductory music performed before an opera. A kind of sophisticated version of a medley, the overture introduces many of the musical

themes that will show up later in the opera. Functionally, this gets the audience's ears acclimated to what they're about to experience. So when those musical themes show up again later in the story, they're somewhat familiar to the listener. On Igor's theme, Tyler puts a modern twist on techniques typically utilized in classical overtures. Tyler introduces many of the sounds that would reoccur throughout the album, a heavy distorted bass synthesizer, sampled drums, piano, and brassy synthesizers. And while the majority of the song is instrumental, the track does feature an array of diverse voices, and the lyrics they perform actually foreshadow lines that will reappear later in the album.

Take, for instance, the song's main refrain, heard about 45 seconds into the track. The lyric here is, riding around town, they're going to feel this one. On the album's next track, Earthquake, the hook contains a similar line about riding around. The second main phrase that emerges from Igor's theme is the line, I Got My Eyes Open, which has heard multiple times throughout the piece. The line, I Got My Eyes Open, reappears on Igor's ninth track, What's Good? As we'll come to find out later this episode, these two phrases, riding around town they're going to feel this one,

and I Got My Eyes Open, will have structural and thematic significance in the album's overarching narrative architecture. As Forbes's Chris Lambert points out in his piece on Igor, quote, The prominence and dominance of these two phrases on Igor's theme serves as a microcosm of the album as a whole. Part 1 is an emotional journey that you feel. Part 2 is about awareness, seeing things for what they are, and moving on, unquote.

But before we get too entrenched in the album's narrative, I do quickly want to point out one last thing about Igor's theme. The song begins with a distorted synthesizer playing a single note, an E flat, for 23 seconds. This distorted bass synthesizer reappears all over Igor. In fact, it's featured in every single song on the album. On tracks like New Magic Wand and What's Good, it's the dominant instrument. But this distorted bass synth also appears in songs where it doesn't entirely make sense, or at least in places you wouldn't typically expect.

Take for instance a song running out of time. The song's verses are filled with lush vocal harmonies and an intimate electronic piano, and yet there's a distorted bass synth stabbing away. Tyler's decision to interesting, introduced the distorted synth so dramatically in the album's opening moments, coupled with his decision to feature the sound on every song on the album, well, it seems to be pretty intentional, and thus warrants some consideration. On one hand, the distorted synth is something like a compositional adhesive, a familiar, recurring sound that helps stitch together Igor's diverse palette of musical

styles, influences, and moods. But aside from this compositional function, there's thematic implications as well. Again, implied by the title Igor's theme, it's not entirely out of the question that a distorted bass synth represents the character Igor himself. Similar to Sergei Prokofius Peter and the Wolf, an orchestral piece in which each instrument represents a different character in the story, Igor's instrument might just be represented by this distorted synth, something that comes into focus when we learn more about the character Igor himself and the journey he undergoes over the course of the album. And now is perhaps as good a time as any to briefly discuss the album's title and the character it implies. Igor is an archetype character. He originated and is

most associated with the Frankenstein film franchise. Igor is the sidekick and man-servant to the mad scientist. Igor is a lackey, loyal to a fault, and addresses the mad scientist as master. He's typically grotesque and ugly, often portrayed as a hunchback. Despite his loyalty, the mad scientist sees Igor as a servant and dedicates his time and attention to Frankenstein, his monster. As we'll see, Tyler purposely draws on this Igor archetype in order to express his role in a relationship that is explored throughout the album, beginning with the album's second track, Earthquake. If Igor's theme was something like an overture, the album's second track Earthquake is something like a thesis statement. Tyler sings, because you make my earthquake, riding around your love is shaking me up,

and it's making my heartbreak. This idea of up and down, of emotional turbulence, sets the stage for the narrative that will eventually unfold, which is very much Tyler tottering between love and despair, infatuation and malice, devotion, and frustration. At the end of earthquake, we hear Tyler in the background start a counting sequence. One, two, three. This leads directly into the album's next track, I Think, which completes the four count. With I Think, the central relationship explored in Igor slowly comes into focus. As expressed on the song's hook, the overall impression we get from I Think is one of infatuation of Tyler falling in love, or so he thinks.

This hook, as well as I Think's chord progression in over. overall musical environment is an interpolation of the 1982 song Special Lady by Nigerian musician Bee B.B. Maskell. Despite the hook's emphasis on Tyler's infatuation, I think's only verse contains several cues that begin revealing the complicating circumstances regarding this relationship. On this verse, Tyler asks, what the fuck is your motive? And later says, you're such a distraction, fucking with tea on and off. It would appear that Tyler's love interest isn't reciprocating his feelings in a manner that is satisfactory, something that comes into focus more when we extract meaning from a few subtle references Tyler hides in the

verse. The first of these clues is found in the line, man, I wish you would call me by your name because I'm sorry. This cites the 2017 film Call Me by Your Name, which centers around two males Elio and Oliver, getting romantically involved during a summer in northern Italy. At the end of the film, it's revealed that Oliver intends to marry a woman, crushing Elio. As we'll discover when we get deeper into Igor's narrative, the plot of Call Me by Your Name will contain a number of parallels to Tyler's story. The second clue planted in, I think, is found in the line, You Drive Me Cuckoo and I Cough, because I want you like Leon Warr. This references the song I Want You performed by Marvin Gay, but co-written on War.

I Want You is all about unrequited love, a one-sided love. In the song's verse, Gay sings, I give you all the love I want in return, but half a love is all I feel. And in the song's hook, he sings, I want you, but I want you to want me too. I want you to want me just like I want you. Tyler's reference to this song seems a deliberate choice to express the dynamics between he and his love interest, a relationship that is one-sided. where love is not reciprocated equally.

Igor then progresses with the first of a handful of voice recordings featuring comedian and artist Gerard Carmichael. Exactly what you run from, you end up chasing. Like you can't avoid, but just chasing it and just like trying, giving it everything that you can. There's always an obstacle. Drod's reappearance throughout the album act as narrative threading, helping to weave together the story into a cohesive hole.

With Girard's first appearance, he says, Exactly what you run from, you end up chasing. Similar to the up and down motif introduced in earthquake, this idea of running and chasing implies a dichotomy of back and forth, of conflicting emotions. Indeed, as we'll see, Tyler will run from his love interest one moment and chase him the next. Drod's quote ends with the line, There's always an obstacle,

foreshadowing the obstacles Tyler will face when attempting to sort out the relationship in question. Cleverly tying into Drod's quote about running, Tyler expresses one obstacle he faces, which is running out of time. Why time would be an issue is somewhat of a mystery until Tyler presents two more obstacles in the song's second verse. Take your mask off, I need a out of the picture. Take your mask off. Stop lying for these niggas. Stop lying to yourself. I know the real you. Tyler says, take your mask off, better lose the costume. You need to chill. Tyler says,

Take your mask off. I need her out the picture. Take your mask off. Stop lying to these N-words. Stop lying to yourself. I know the real you. Halloween ain't for a minute. Lose the costume.

Tyler here presents a her and a mask that his love interest wears. Similar to the aforementioned film, Call Me by your name. It seems that Tyler's love interest also has a woman in his life, and that the mask he wears is a straight or heterosexual persona. And so with running out of time, The love triangle Tyler is involved in comes into focus. Tyler wants the guy, the girl wants the guy, and the guy wants, well, it's not entirely clear what the guy wants yet.

But Tyler doesn't plan on waiting around. As he makes clear in the album's next track, Tyler is going to make the choice easy for him. Sometimes you've got to close the door to open a window. At the beginning of New Magic Wand, we hear the second appearance of Gerard Carmichael. The expression, close the door to open a window, is typically one of consolation. isolation, used to look on the bright side of a dark situation. It means something to the effect that when one opportunity ends, it opens the possibility of a new opportunity. As we soon find out on new magic wand, Tyler's interpretation of the expression is much more sinister. He plans to slam the door

shut. The song's first verse finds Tyler looking at a photo of his love interest with his girlfriend. Tyler's eyes are green with envy, and he says, I need to get her out the picture. She's really fucking up my frame. She's not developed like we are. This leads into the song's hook, like magic gone, new magic wand. Tyler here is playing off the magic wand tool

used in the photo editing software Photoshop, where one can select and remove objects from a picture. Tyler, of course, wants this girl out of his love interest life. But as the song progresses, this desire takes a dark turn. If his love interest doesn't choose to leave his girl, Tyler threatens to kill them both. It's here that we realize that New Magic One is also a murder weapon, a gun, which leads into the album's next song, A Boy is a Gun. On a Boy is a Gun, Tyler begins to recognize the danger he's in.

He compares his love interest to a gun, an object that protects as well as threat. threatens. The entire song embodies this dichotomy, as Tyler says things like, How can you the best for me? I know you're the worst for me. And later he says, Don't leave. Stay right here. I want you right near. You invited me to breakfast. Why the fuck your ex here? Tyler's resentment grows stronger throughout the track, culminating as a threatening command near the song's end. A Boy is a Gunn's production is based around samples taken from a 1971 song, by Ponderosa Twins Plus One.

This is the same song Kanye West samples in the final song of his album, Yeezis, Bound 2. She said she only here for a girl birthday. They order champagne but still look Thursday. Fun fact. The original unreleased version of Kanye's Bound, Bound 1, was produced by Tyler the creator. And who would show up on Igor's next song, Puppet, the track that follows the bound sampling a boy as a gun, Mr. Kanye West. Kanye appears midway through Puppet, a song that finds Tyler once again under the control

of his love interest. Indeed, despite his best efforts to escape the relationship at the end of Boy as a Gun, Tyler is now comparing himself to a puppet and his love to a puppeteer. He literally can't control himself around this person. This puppet relationship has been alluded to a number of times throughout the album. We heard it as far back is song three, I think. And in the hook of a boy as a gun, Tyler claims, you got me by my neck. For the first half of puppet, Tyler reasserts the album-long notion that he's being controlled by his love interest. He says things like, I need your company, I want you to want for me. I can't

maneuver without you next to me. And later he says, what is your wish? It can be granted. But despite being pulled by strings, near the end of the song's second verse, we hear signs of Tyler breaking free. He says, you're number one on my list. I am Santa. Where is Rudolph? Rudolph here is the girl in the love triangle, triggering Tyler to say, you're parasitic. Tyler then becomes self-aware, saying, I do not have self-control. I'm starting to wonder, is this my free will or yours? This is followed by the song's hook, which introduces the Kanye West feature we heard earlier. Kanye then adds a verse of his own, a half-spoken, half-sung passage that fades over time. Kanye's presence on puppet seems metaphoric. He begins, You lost, son, and you've been trying to find your way to me.

It's possible Kanye here is playing some kind of father figure, pushing Tyler to snap out of his lover's spell. Indeed, puppet's outro finds voices singing, Cut Me Loose, of course referring to cutting the puppet strings. Meanwhile, Kanye tells Tyler to quote, breathe on a song. In the context of the puppet motif, breathing here is a very human characteristic, perhaps invoking the puppet Pinocchio's transformation into a real boy. But at some point, you come to your senses. punctuated by the Gerard Carmichael quote we just heard, the end of puppet is to me a critical juncture of Igor's narrative.

Having teetered back and forth between infatuation and resentment, between love and hostility, Tyler finally cuts the strings and comes to his senses. This shift is signaled by What's Good, a dramatic change in musical mood and tone from the previous song Puppet. What's Good seems to be the purest expression of the Igor character. The distorted synth that we speculated represents Igor dominates the entire track. And midway through the song, Tyler actually names himself Igor directly.

Lyrically, what's good is all brash egotism and bravado. The threads of Kanye West continue here too, as the song's hook evokes two tracks from Kanye's album Yeezis. Tyler wraps Endwards turning it up, I'm tearing you down. This interpolates lines from Kanye's newslet. Directly following this new slave's About to turn shit up I'm about to tear shit down I'm about to edge shit out

Now what the fuck they're gonna say now Directly following this new slave's interpolation Tyler says quote Hard to believe in God when there's no mirrors around This seems to evoke the song I Am a God Also from the Yeezus album As Lambert points out in his Igor piece Tyler seems to be using the Igor character

In the same way Kanye used the Yeez's character Both utilize extreme ego to alleviate the pain and inadequacy they feel from failed relationships. Specific to Igor, Tyler exemplifies this concept clearly on what's good, as it's the song in which he reclaims his free will. Thano snaps his dependency on his love interest and becomes autonomous. His eyes are now open. Tyler sees the light. At the top of the episode, we observed how Igor's theme foreshadowed the album's two large parts through its use of lyrical fragments. The lyrical fragment that foreshadowed part two was,

Got My Eyes Open, the same lyric we just heard featured on What's Good. Indeed, What's Good is to me the crux between parts one and two, the bridge that divides Tyler's emotional struggles to win over his love interest, and the emotional journey he'll undergo an attempt to move on. This divide is all but confirmed by Girard's appearance at the end of What's Good. I don't know what's harder letting go or just being okay with it. This passage signals an emotional and tonal shift into Igor's second half, which will focus on acceptance and moving on.

We'll break down that second half in detail, draw some final conclusions, and examine the connection between Igor and Flowerboy right after the break. Welcome back to dissect. Before the break, we reached Igor's emotional and tonal shift, the divide between the album's two large parts. Whereas part one detailed Tyler's struggle to win over his love interest, Part 2 will detail his process of letting this love interest go. We recognize this shift straight away in Igor's 10th track, the first track of part 2,

Gone Gone, Thank You. With Gone Gone Gone Thank You, Tyler reflects upon his relationship with this person, recognizing the mistakes that he made and acknowledging that his love is gone, both that his love has left him for the woman, and that Tyler's love for this person is gone. He displays here a maturity and objective analysis of the situation, acknowledging that each of their lives has a different set of blueprints with different timelines, and their sets of blueprints just didn't align this time around. At the end of this verse, Tyler wraps, you never lived in it, I'll just bob some new shit, never down with a lease. You never lived in your truth. But I finally found peace, so peace. It's implied of this verse, Tyler wraps, you never lived in your truth. I'm just happy I lived in it. But I finally found peace, so peace.

It's implied here that Tyler believes the real reason his love interest chose the girl was because he wasn't ready to take the mask off, to live in the truth of his real sexual identity. Before saying goodbye, Tyler shows gratitude for being able to live in that truth, if only temporarily. This shift toward gratitude continues into the second half of the song, but first we hear the album's final appearance from Drod Carmichael. I hate wasted potential. That shit crushes your spirit. It really doesn't. It crushes you some. This idea of wasted potential will carry us through to the album's end,

most specifically on Igor's final track. What immediately follows this quote is the song Thank You, wherein Tyler continues to express his gratitude for the time he and his love interest spent together. At the same time, Tyler reveals that, quote, I never want to fall in love again. Despite the good times he's had, the wounds from the relationship are still fresh,

and like many of us after a breakup, Tyler writes off love altogether. Thank You's hook is an interpolation of Japanese singer-songwriter Tatsuro Yamashita's 1998 song, Fragile. Thank you for your love. Thank you for the heart. There'll never be a long and lonely night again. Having established his acceptance of the end,

Tyler begins the process of moving on with Igor's penultimate track, I don't love you anymore. While Tyler seems ready to move on, it becomes clear in the second verse that he doesn't exactly know how to do so. Without a roadmap forward, Tyler feels like he'll be stuck in limbo forever. Because he can't picture a life without this person, he can't live with the idea of wasted potential. Tyler proposes a solution on Igor's final track, Are We Still Friends? Tyler plays off the common idiom, we can still be friends, which typically one says when breaking up with someone, It's more of a formality than anything, something you say in the moment to ease the pain of leaving

someone. You propose a reduction in the relationship, not an altogether abandonment of it, though many of these proposed friendships fail to materialize, because when it comes to love, oftentimes it's all or nothing. Of course, Tyler flips this let's be friends idiom, as typically it's the one who's leaving someone who suggests being friends, not the one who's left. And while Tyler's intentions may sound pure, that he really does just want to be friends. There are indications throughout the song that imply he might still be holding hope for a chance at romance later down the road. In this last iteration of the chorus, Tyler interjects between the line, Are We Still Friends, saying, this can't end, and need someone to say hi. This is

followed by the final moments of the song, an outro that finds Tyler singing, Can't Say Goodbye. These are the last words we hear on the album, Can't Say Goodbye. It's not quite the resolution we expected given the progress Tyler has made over the course of the album's final three songs. All signs pointed to Tyler letting go and accepting the end. Now in the final hour, it seems as asking to be friends comes from a place of desperation. Perhaps the wasted potential that crushes one's spirit was simply too much to bear. Ultimately, it appears Tyler would prefer to have some.

rather than nothing, even if it means the cycle of him falling in love might begin again. And with this in mind, let's have a listen to the album's final moments, as there's something very interesting about the way Igor ends. The final note we hear on Igor is a sustained B-flat that rings out for approximately six seconds. This is significant tonally because the song itself is in the key of F-major. Nine times out of ten, a song in F-major resolves or ends with an F-major chord, yet are we still friends ends on a B-flat. This will make more sense if you hear it. Here is the four-cord progression used throughout the song. Having heard this throughout the song, we would expect the song to end like this. Sounds complete, right? It sounds like a resolution, like we'd be comfortable and satisfied with the song

ending there. That's because we're in the key signature of F-major, and we just ended on an F-major chord, the home chord in this key signature. Again, this is the ending you would hear in the vast majority of songs in F major. But that's not what happens at the end of Igor. Instead of resolving into an F like we expect, we get this. Not really satisfying, right? That's because we've added on a B-flat, which does not resolve properly in the key signature of F-major. The harmonic tension is never relieved, and so it feels like we've been left hanging. It feels incomplete. Just as the song title itself is an unanswered question, are we still friends by definition does not resolve. It doesn't resolve tonally, nor does it resolve narratively.

Because in the end, Tyler doesn't win over his love interest. He's destined to be Igor, the archetype character that is loyal to a fault, the grotesque sidekick and man-servant to the mad scientist, whose attention and affection is focused on the monster, who in this story is the woman. Much like Tyler's failed dream of a happy life with his love, Igor ends without resolution. But there is just one more thing.

Notice the instrument Tyler chooses here to use the final moments of Igor. It's the same instrument with which the album began, a solo distorted bass synthesizer, Igor's instrument, though it's now softer, more subdued, and perhaps even docile. We think of how Tyler pleaded for his love interest to remain his friend, to not abandon his life completely, an act that could be viewed as coming from a place of weakness. In this way, it would make sense that a distorted bass sounds a little, well, weak. But things take an extremely interesting turn when we consider the note with which the album began. At the top of the episode, I noted that Igor's theme begins with the sustained E flat. Igor's theme beginning with an E flat

makes sense because the song itself is in the key signature of E flat minor. And in every key signature, there's what's known as a dominant chord. A dominant chord is a chord of tension in a given key signature. Its function is to provide the tension necessary for a satisfying resolution into a key's home chord. Once again, this will make more sense if you hear it. Here's a chord progression in the key of E-flat minor. Does this sound complete? No, right? We're hanging here on the key signature's dominant chord, that chord of tension. Our ears really, really want us to land on the home chord, which in this case is E-flat minor. Ah, feel that? That's a satisfying resolution, made possible by the tension inherent in that dominant chord. This use of dominant chord is extremely

common in all Western music. It's something you've heard thousands of times whether you know it or not. So bringing this back to Igor's theme, the song, like we noted, is in the key signature of E-flat minor, and the track itself begins with a sustained E-flat played on a distorted bass synthesizer. The dominant chord in the key signature of E-flat minor is a B-flat. That's the chord we heard create all that tension in our example. B-flat, resolution into E-flat. Again, in the key of E flat, the dominant chord, the chord of extreme tension, is a B flat. Now, do you remember the note, Are We Still Friends ends with? The note that left us hanging, that ended the song in the album as a whole on a lack of resolution. You guessed it, that note is a B flat. The final

unresolved note that the album Igor ends on is actually resolved when he begin the album again. Igor, the album and its story, is a loop because what you run from is exactly. what you end up chasing. There's a number of thematic implications we can extract when we realize the connection between the album's beginning and end. Specifically, we think of where we landed on the final song, with Tyler asking his love if they can remain friends. It seems implied by the cyclical nature of the album that if they remain friends, if Tyler

is able to keep this person in his life in some capacity, the cycle will repeat. The earthquake up and down, the turbulence of emotion, his falling in love, his frustration, with the woman, the puppet strings, and the lack of free will. All of that will repeat, leading him to feel unsatisfied, leading him to open his eyes and see the light, leading him to cut the puppet strings only to realize he can't imagine living without this person in his life, asking him to be friends, which triggers the entire cycle over again. Like I implied a moment ago, this gives new meaning to the phrase, what you run from you end up chasing. Tyler appears to be caught in the loop, and each time through the cycle, he's doomed to his fate as a third wheel,

forever running and forever chasing, forever the grotesque, forever Igor. Now we began today's episode with a short recap of Tyler's previous album, Flower Boy. We heard how the album ends with Tyler expressing how he feels to a male love interest via a phone call, only to find out that his message failed to go through. We acknowledge that while this ending is bittersweet, the real accomplishment was that Tyler even made the phone call in the first place, as he had to overcome a lot of inner conflicts to make that call,

including coming to turns with his sexuality. In short, Tyler had to learn to love himself in order to put himself in a position to love someone else. And despite the beauty of this sentiment, we still couldn't help but wonder if Tyler and this fantasy love interest would ever connect one day, and whether that would be addressed on his next album. While the story of Igor isn't exactly a clear and linear connection

to Flower Boy. There's evidence that the two stories are related. The closest thing we get to a direct connection is found in the song A Boy is a Gun, wherein Tyler references Flower Boy directly. Tyler says, they be bringing us up. Yeah, like now and again, bowed, I see you as a tin. I'm a leave it at that. I'ma leave it's strange. The irony is I don't want to see you again. Tyler says, they be bringing us up like now and again. Give a fuck what they're talking about. I see you. you as a 10. I'm going to leave it at that. I'm going to leave us as friends because the irony is I don't want to see you again. Tyler here is defending his love interest to his friends who seem to recognize that this person is toying with Tyler's emotions. The last line, because the irony is I don't want to see you again, makes direct reference to the song See You Again from Flower Boy. As you remember, see you again is a song in which Tyler first romantically introduced the love

interest on Flower Boy. He's Tyler's dream boy, and it's assumed that this boy is the same person Tyler calls at the end of the album. Saying the irony is, I don't want to see you again, seems to imply that the love interest on Igor is the same love interest Tyler wrote See You Again about, which is why it's ironic that Tyler doesn't want to see this person again. But there's a larger irony, perhaps even tragedy, that comes when we realize that the love interest on both Flower Boy and Igor are the same. Throughout Igor, Tyler implies that the main reason he and his crush are not together is this person's inability to live in his truth, to take the mask off and fully commit to his attraction to the same sex. He hasn't yet undergone what we witness Tyler undergo on Flower Boy, and so he chooses the

girl because it's safer. Having been there himself, it makes sense that Tyler shows empathy for his love interest toward the end of Igor, acknowledging their different blueprints and that everyone is on their own timeline when it comes to self-discovery and self-acceptance. But while we recognize this larger irony in the stories of Flower Boy and Igor, we'd be remiss if we didn't also recognize the story's silver lining. Because despite Tyler's heartache, despair, and desperation exhibited throughout Igor, we have to acknowledge the fact that Tyler got to experience love in the first place. He got to experience a shared truth with this person, even if that truth, that love, was turbulent. Knowing how much Tyler wanted even a chance at love,

how lonely he truly was on Flower Boy, experiencing love for the first time is a benchmark event in anyone's life. So is experiencing your first heartbreak. And frankly, isn't that part of the deal when it comes to love anyway? Most of us don't hit a home run in our first at bat. It takes a series of experiences to grapple with the intensity of love's power, to understand its highs and lows enough to assimilate it into our life successfully. And so in a way, there's beauty in the fact that Tyler had his heartbroken on Igor, because at least he was in the position to have his heartbroken, rather than still confined inside the suffocating walls of his garden shed. He got to experience the earthquake that is love, all of its highs and lows, the full bouquet of emotions only love can

inspire. Knowing Tyler's journey to get to this point, the fact that he experienced heartbreak to me is rather beautiful. It calls to mind the famous words of poet Alfred Lord Tennyson, quote, I hold it true whatever befall. I feel it when I sorrow most. Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. Thanks everyone. I'll talk to you next season.