Dissect - S4E3 - Where This Flower Blooms by Tyler, The Creator

Episode Date: May 7, 2019

Our season long analysis of Flower Boy continues with the song “Where This Flower Blooms.” Tyler contrasts his childhood roots in poverty with the initial feeling of “making it” as a successful musician. But the song ends with a cliffhanger -- what exactly is Tyler hiding? New episodes of Dissect release every Tuesday. For 60 free days of Spotify Premium, visit spotify.com/promo/dissect. 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 Kushna. Today, we continue our serialized analysis of Flower Boy by Tyler the Creator. On our last episode, we dissected the album's opening track forward. There we heard Tyler establish the majority of the themes and symbols that will be developed and explored over the course of the album. Because these will be key in our understanding of Flower Boy, I'd like to take a few moments. now to recap what we heard. Thematically, Ford finds Tyler questioning his success, his motives, and his materialistic

lifestyle as he searches for something truly meaningful in his life. This self-examination leads to an existential crisis, a fear of losing everything, and a deep, underlying loneliness he feels despite being surrounded by friends and material goods. We heard how this loneliness and alienation stems from not only a lack of meaning in his life, also from both his position as a black male in America, as well as his closeted sexuality. Symbolically, Tyler presents two opposing large-scale structures, material objects and nature. These help to center flower boy within a larger thematic framework. Material objects like sports car, chains, and his multi-floor mansion contrasts with natural objects

and elements like the ocean, water, trees, and flowers. We can read these opposing symbols as a conflict between the material versus the natural, the superficial versus the meaningful. It's this conflict that seems to be at the heart of Tyler's distress and instability, a conflict he'll look to resolve in various ways over the course of Flower Boy, beginning with the album's next song, the subject of our episode today, Where This Flower Blooms. Where This Flower Blooms is written and produced by Tyler the Creator.

Additional writing credits are given to Frank Ocean, who performs the song's hook. The majority of Where This Flower Blooms uses a descending three-quarter, chord progression, beginning with the C-sharp minor 7 add 9, C major 7 add 9, and B minor 7 add 9. Now I'm going to spend a good amount of time pointing out a few key attributes of this chord progression. And while it may seem extremely granular, know that the techniques we're going to discuss are hallmark to Tyler's compositional identity. Spending the time now to define a few of these key compositional features will allow us to use them as reference point throughout the season, as we'll run into them time and time again in Tyler's work.

So as we discussed briefly last episode, Tyler rarely plays by the rules of traditional harmony. That is, he rarely writes a chord progression that stays in one key, which is one reason his sound is so distinct and interesting. Tyler gets away with non-traditional harmony by using a number of compositional techniques that allow him to bend the rules without totally alienating the listener. I personally like to think about these compositional tricks

as music's equivalent of sleight of hand, techniques that deceive our ears and allow Tyler to do some really interesting things harmonically. Now where this flower blooms is in the key signature of C-sharp minor. Without going down the rabbit hole of key signatures, just know that within a certain key signature there's a set of chords that are traditionally used, and as long as a composer sticks to the chords in this set, one can move pretty freely between the chords without issue. Being in the key of C-sharp minor, it's nothing out of the ordinary that where this flower blooms begins with a C-sharp minor chord. That's pretty standard. But the progression's second chord, C major 7 add 9, is a chord that traditionally falls outside the key signature of C-sharp minor.

In music theory, we call this a borrowed chord because you are quote-unquote borrowing a chord from another key signature. To effectively use a borrowed chord, you have to be very considerate. that is a composer, especially a composer of popular music, can't simply jump to a chord outside their key signature without jarring the listener. To smoothly move from the C-sharp minor chord to the borrowed chord of C major, Tyler applies to quote-unquote slide-of-hand compositional techniques. Technique number one is what's known as common tone. Common tones refer to notes that two chords share or have in common. The C-sharp minor chord and the borrowed chord of C-major we've been discussing have two notes in common, E and B.

The C-sharp minor 7-cord ad-9 is comprised of the notes C-sharp, E, G, B, and D-S-sharp. The C-major 7-ad-9 chord is comprised of the notes C, a common tone E, G, or second common tone B, and D. Now I'll play these chords back to back while emphasizing the two common tones, the two notes share between these chords. So even though we're transitioning to a borrowed chord, a chord outside of our key signature, two of the five notes in these chords are the same exact pitches, which helps to smooth the transition.

This is the reason why common tones work in connecting two unrelated chords. It gives our ears something familiar to latch onto. So two of our five pitches stayed the same. That helps to smooth the transition. between the unrelated chords. But what about the other three notes? This is where the second slide of hand technique comes into play. The remaining three notes utilize what's called stepwise motion.

Stepwise motion occurs when a note moves to the closest neighboring note directly next to it. So for instance, in the two chords we've been analyzing, the first note of our chord is a C sharp. In our second chord, that note moves down one half step to a C natural. This move from a C-sharp to a C-natural is the smallest interval in our western tuning system. That is to say, there's no note found in between them. C-sharp to C-natural is what's called a half-step apart, which is the shortest possible distance between two notes and music.

The remaining two notes in the chords we're examining also use stepwise motion in the same exact way. Our G-sharp moves to a G-natural, and our D-sharp moves to a D-natural. This is stepwise motion, a note that moves to the closest note directly next to it. This works as slide of hand, because even though we're moving to notes that fall outside the key signature, the two notes are so close together that our ears accept it, that is we don't find it too jarring. You can think about this like a volume knob that goes from zero to 20. If you got music playing at a volume of 8, you'd probably notice if someone suddenly turned the volume up to 20. but you probably wouldn't notice if someone turned the volume up from an 8 to a 9.

A similar thing occurs tonally with stepwise motion. The notes are so close together that you don't really notice the shift, even though we're moving to notes that don't belong in our key signature. So let's recap. Tyler moves from a standard chord to a borrowed chord or a chord outside the song's key signature by using two slide-of-hand techniques. Two of each of the chord's five notes are the same. their common tones, giving our ears something familiar to latch onto.

The remaining three notes in our chord use stepwise motion. That is, they move to the closest neighboring note possible, fooling our ear into not noticing these notes are outside of our established key signature. So what about the third chord and a three-cord progression used on where this flower blooms? Remember, we had a total of three chords, C-sharp minor, C-major, and B-minor. minor. Tyler relies exclusively on stepwise motion to transition from the second chord C major to the third chord B minor. The C moves down one half step to its closest neighboring note B. The E moves to a D. The G moves down one half step to an F sharp. The B moves to an A and the D moves to a C sharp. And now

the entire progression again. Now like I said before we started the segment, I took this much time to explain the inner workings of this chord progression because Tyler will return to these compositional techniques time and again. And now that you have a basic understanding of the concepts, I can point them out when they occur. Tyler uses the three chords just discussed as the primary progression will hear throughout where this flower blooms. We first hear it beneath the song's lush orchestral-like introduction. This introduction marks the beginning of Flower Boy's narrative. As we noted on our last episode on Forward, the word forward means, an introductory piece of writing that comes before the beginning of a book. True to form,

forward the song is an introductory track, followed directly by the beginning of the narrative of Flower Boy. The sweeping string intro we just heard sounds to me like the sonic equivalent of two grand double doors opening into some kind of dream world, something Tyler spoke about in conversation with Gerard Carmichael. When you do, when you perform in this album live, you start on where this flower blooms, usually. And it's like, it's like, it's, it's a, it's Is it a longer intro? Yeah, yeah. So when this album, I wanted this album to sound like a Disney score, just like very magical,

my perfect little indie movie and fucking where I- Sound like the album cover looks. Yeah, it sounds like the album cover looks like, but it turned into, you know, when it turned into, but when it's flower blooms, I would have this really beautiful longer intro. I shortened it a bit, but it sounds like the beginning of a movie. sweeping and yeah and i start the shows with that because it's like bringing them into my world and then it drops and gets crazy but yeah and wait how long did you why did you trim it and not just like go it just by just wanted to cut the fat i wanted this album to be no longer than 45 minutes

and i think we hit like 45 and 36 seconds or 46 minutes and i was like okay cool it's short as possible wanted to be short and get to the point. After the orchestral string opening that serves as the introduction to Flower Boy's world and narrative, Tyler allows a solo piano to take center stage, playing arpeggiated versions of the three chords we just discussed at length as he enters with verse one. Let take it back to them date, counting sheep on say the henna float. Carpet with my baby mama ate a dollar profit from the coffee I poke. Rent-in-center calling they're dead.

Nobody home ain't knocking on a dope. Now I skirt, skirt, skirt, skirt, skirt. It's where the only dream that I can afford. Now I rode to the carpet. It's fitting that here at the beginning of the album's narrative, Tyler wraps a verse dedicated to character development. He begins with his childhood saying, Let's take it back to them days counting sheep on Sadie Hanna's floor.

Carpet was my baby mama. As we know from the first episode of the season, Tyler moved often during his youth, attending 12 schools in 12 years, mostly in the Los Angeles area. Sadie Hanna is Tyler's grandmother. Tyler told Spin Magazine, quote, My mom had to move up to Northern California, so I stayed with my grandma. There were nights I went without eating, but she made sure I had a place over my head.

I slept on the floor for like three to four years, unquote. Tyler continues the verse rhyming, $80 profit from the coffee I poured, referring to his job at a Starbucks in Los Angeles, a position he held for over two years before being fired in 2010. Tyler continues, Rent-to-Center calling every day, nobody home, they're knocking on the door. Rent-a-center is a rent-to-owned furniture and appliance store, and their phone calls and visits to Tyler's house implies that monthly payments were late, further establishing the family's low-income. In what is the lyrical equivalent to a flash-forward in film, Tyler transitions from his childhood roots in poverty to his now successful lifestyle. He rhymes, Now I skirt and toys I only dreamed that I could afford.

Tyler once again chooses to represent his success via a sports car, which he cleverly calls a toy, tying into the verse about childhood. Hearing a reference to a sports car so early into the song, reinforces the car as a main thematic symbol of wealth and materialism he established on the previous track forward. Tyler ends the verse saying, Now I roll through Ocaga. Ocaga is not a real place, rather it refers to a fictional location in Tyler's imagination. The final song on his previous album Cherry Bomb is titled Ocaga California. The song is a duet with Alice Smith, and the two fantasize about running away together to this fantasy location of Ocaga. With Okaga California being the final song on Cherry Bomb and Where This Flower Blooms being the first song

in the narrative of Flower Boy, we could speculate that this is a direct link between the two albums. With a line, Now I Roll Through Okaga on Where This Flower Blooms, Tyler has reached the destination he fantasized about in the closing moments of Cherry Bomb. Okaga may also be the destination alluded to in the song's title, Where Does This Flower Bloom? Perhaps in Okaga. As the song continues, Frank Ocean enters to perform the song's hook, but first, a word from our sponsors. Welcome back to Dissect. Before the break, we discussed the end of Where This Flower Bloom's first verse. There we heard Tyler reference the fictional fantasy location of Okaga, which we tied back to the last song of Cherry Bomb. Knowing that Okaga is located in California, it makes sense that Frank Ocean enters where this flower blooms, referencing the state directly.

Narratively speaking, the hook of where this flower bloom signals Tyler's moment of arrival. Frank sings, I ride to California, these frog over. goggles. As noted, California here seems to be a direct reference to Ocaga, California Tyler ended his verse on. Frog oval goggles seems to make reference to what are known as clout goggles, bug-eyed, round, white-framed sunglasses. These sunglasses have been made famous by a number of celebrities over the years, including Kirk Cobain in the 1990s. Riding through California in a sports car with these clout glasses on, ties into Tyler's newfound life of wealth and success he established at the end of his verse.

Ocean continues, I'm leaning out the window, O.J. shining on me, Simpson shining on me. Here, Frank uses O.J. and Simpson to refer to the California sun shining on his face. These both make reference to the infamous football player O.J. Simpson. The official lyric sheet of where this flower blooms has Simpson spelled with two words, Simp, S-I-M-P, and Sun, S-U-N. A simp typically refers to a man who is infatuated with a woman who most find undesirable. If we consider the context of this song and Tyler's newfound success,

we might speculate that Simp here applies to the California Sun. That is, Tyler has infatuated with his new life of success in the glamorous golden state of California. But as we know from the feelings expressed on forward, success is not in reality the fantasy world we imagine it to be from a distance. We might speculate this to be the reason O.J. Simpson is alluded to here, a celebrity who obtained incredible fame and fortune, but ultimately ended up on trial for murder after a lengthy car chase through the freeways of Los Angeles. O.J. represents the dark side of fame, an example that fame isn't a cure-all, doesn't forever immune you of conflict, anxiety, or the whole host of negative

emotions inherit in the human experience. After Frank's performance of the song's hook, the sonic landscape of where this flower blooms shifts dramatically. The most noticeable shift is the entrance of drums. Layered atop this drumbeat is an arpaciated guitar playing the chords that were previously heard on piano. We also have layered into this mix a really nice single-line melody played by a synthesizer. This synth is followed by another higher fluttering synth riff. Quick aside, it was actually this little two-second synth riff that personally sold me on Tyler the Creator as a composer. This riff is completely orchestral in character, something that would most likely be played on a flute in a traditional orchestra. To hear this kind of brief but completely

spot-on detail in one's head and execute it in a quote-unquote hip-hop song, well, it just tells me that Tyler's musical mind is more akin to a composer than a typical hip-hop producer. Anyway, let's hear both of these synth lines incorporated into the drum and guitar parts we just heard. Because this musical material is so interesting and entertaining on its own, Tyler has to do very little vocally. He adds a simple vocal part accentuated by a number of ad libs. Tyler compares his growth as a person to a blooming flower. This helps to further establish the various nature symbols that ground much of the album's thematic material. In the context of this song, and the album up until this point, it would seem he's referring to his growth from a kid

living in poverty to a successful quote-unquote rock star living in sunny Los Angeles, California. Of course, we're still in the character development stage of the album, and as foreshadowed on the song Forward, Tyler has a lot more growing to do. Where this flower blooms continues with verse two. Let's go! And nobody fucking with tea, but that just may be my ego. But don't be too cool, you might freeze, because niggas get stuck in the cold. Shit weighs a ton. Water your guard and my niggie. Stunner these niggas.

throughout your hair blue shit I'll do it too I smell like Chanel I never want good with my manicule nails I'm poking up oil of skin I keep the top though because the follicle's thinning but other than that minute feels like I'm Throughout this second verse Tyler shares an internal dialogue

as he thinks more critically about his success He begins with a boastful statement Ain't nobody fucking with tea But quickly counters himself saying But that just may be my ego But don't be too cool you might freeze Because N-words gets stuck in the cold We then hear an adlib, man, look at this ice.

There's a number of metaphors woven into these lines. We first think of the last few lines of Forward's opening verse in which Tyler expresses fear of going cold as he perceived his career to be in jeopardy. On where this flower blooms, Tyler's expressing a similar sentiment. He recognizes how ambitious, and personal growth are stunted by ego. Specifically for those who find fame and wealth, that success becomes validation of who they are. They're constantly being catered to and have

millions of adoring fans. If one doesn't check themselves, that constant validation can create a armor of ego and the superstar feels flawless and invincible. Of course, if you see yourself without flaw, if you're quote unquote too cool, as Tyler puts it, you don't recognize where you can improve, where you can grow. You become stunted and freeze to death. Tyler also works in materialism when he adds the ad lib, man, look at this ice. Commonly touted by rappers, ice is slang for jewelry. Similar to forward, Tyler is implying that using material goods as one's main motivation has its limitations. Chase ice too long and you freeze to death. A lot of people just want, I'll say rapists, for example, like they'll, oh damn, I can't, I want that land.

I want that bag. I want a bad, I want a bad one. Ooh, I want, and then they get it. And then it's like no more motivation or anything that's keeping them going. So they're just like, oh. But me, like, I want to success. I want to just make good music. I want to have good help.

And that's like stuff that you can't just grasp. You got to work hard for that. Referring to his ice or jewelry, Tyler continues verse two rapping, shit weighs a ton. This is a similar sentiment to the phrase, heavy is the head that wears the crown. more evidence that Tyler feels success in celebrity is more complicated than we often assume or perceive from afar. Tyler then offers an alternative ideology as he rhymes,

Water your garden my end word, and stunt. Tell these black kids they can be who they are. Die your hair blue, I'll do it too. In one of the more poignant and powerful lines of the album, Tyler offers words of encouragement to African Americans that feel alienated from their communities due to their alternative interests and preferences that fall outside black norms. This subject has been a point of emphasis throughout Tyler's career, stemming from his own experience as a black teenager who was teased by his black peers for his atypical appearance and interests. Seventh grade, they used to fuck with me.

I wore a black trucker hats and fucking the shiny fucking little accessories, like all black, black fucking slip-knock and good Charlotte teas and shit. They used to call me white boy and shit, and I hate it. that shit like why can't I just be a fucking human that shit erks me when people bring race and a dumb shit like why can I just be a fan of the music you know it's fucked up for the black community there black community's already fucked up don't give me no shit like that tell these black kids they can be who they are dude were you saying that to you're saying that to like the well I was saying

that to me too but like it's a it's a it's no one saying that to kids that look like me or to anyone that looks like me we've got this conversation just wanting to snowboard when I was 12, but someone saying, oh, that's white people's shit. Black people don't do that. Yeah. No, you don't do that. Don't put a damper on me and tell me what I can and can't be

just because of the way everyone else was, that's my same color. And I just feel like I just wanted to tell them like, no, be you. Tyler continues verse two, accentuating his more feminine idiosyncrasies. He refers to a Chanel Cologne, his coconut oil lotion, and says, quote, I never mall grip with my manicured nails. A mall grip refers to a way of holding a skateboard, specifically when one holds the board by the trucks, and the skateboard hangs lengthwise from one's hand to the ground. In skateboarding, this is a tell that you're either new to skateboarding or a poser. Tyler doesn't want a mall grip because he doesn't want to mess up his manicured nails

against the metal dirty skateboard trucks, again accentuating its more feminine attributes. Such a free expression of one's feminine side is a rarity in hip-hop, a genre of music that's historically viewed femininity as a weakness and has placed currency in black male masculinity. Coming off the line, tell these black kids they can be who they are. Tyler freely detailing his femininity works to showcase his fearlessness when expressing himself, perhaps inspiring others of his color to do the same. Tyler closes verse 2 by tying in how societal expectations might contribute to the black community feeling limited in their expressions. Tyler Rapsed went from statistic to millionaire,

Cynon downed because my skin is dark. Then they forget when I get in my car. Tyler Raps went from statistic to millionaire. CNN doubted because my skin is dark. Tyler here is likely referring to the statistic that one-third of black males are either dead or face jail time by the age of 25. CNN seems to be used here to exemplify mass media in society's low expectations for males in America. Tyler has, of course, beat the odds, found a way to dodge these low expectations

and find success. With the last line, Tyler acknowledges how that success puts him in another class and helps immune him from the kind of racial assumptions just discussed. He says, Then they forget when I get in my car, and we hear the sound of an accelerating sports car. This is akin to verse 2 of forward, in which Tyler details how his wealth and fancy car helps him to avoid the racial tension and a routine traffic stop. How many wires can it be until in black lives matter when niggas big clack splatter? After citing the game of basketball, you better shoot that nigger because if that cop got tripped me, he better pool.

Because when I get pulled over, I usually play cool. Because I know what I'm driving is usually paid in fool. And my ego and possessions will not let me be one be because I got a mansion. My mansion got some rooms. After citing the death of black men at the hands of police, Tyler acknowledges how his quote, ego and possessions will not let me be one. That is, his wealth and success put him in another class and immune him from the dangers of lower class black men. The meaning behind the line, and then they

forget when I get my car, is the same. Because of his wealth and celebrity, again symbolized here by his sports car, Tyler is viewed differently than the average black male. He's able to hide behind the tinted windows of his luxury car, as his wealth elevates him into a higher class status, and thus he's afforded privileges that the average black male doesn't receive. Because Tyler is questioning the limitations of his possessions and the nature of materialism itself, it's only natural that he would question this juxtaposition of class and race, questions why wealth supersedes race in the hierarchy of American society.

After a repetition of the song's hook, where this flower blooms continues with verse three. Let's go! Flower boy tea, nigger, that's me rooted from the bottom, blooming to a tree, Took a little wild nigga making leaves, keep it in my branches family, can eat, favorite color green, energy is scrone, giving niggas life, birdie and the bees, dropping them seeds, not what you want. You don't know what I keep in the trunk.

Oh, shit. With the song's final verse, Tyler summarizes the message in arc expressed in the first two verses. To do so, he frames his ascension from his roots in poverty to his status as wealthy celebrity within a metaphor of a growing tree. He describes his transition from humble beginnings to see. success as, quote, rooted from the bottom, bloomed into a tree. He says making leaves to describe the money he earns, then plays off the phrase family tree to describe the financial support he gives his

family, saying, quote, keep him in the branches so my family can eat. Tyler then uses the line favorite color green green he makes, the color of most plants and trees, and his signature green golf hat, the latter being something Tyler has referenced several times throughout his previous albums. Tyler works towards the verse 3 by continuing the nature metaphors. Quote, giving N-Words life like Bertie and the bees, dropping them seeds, not what you want. Here Tyler seems to be boasting his influence, claiming to father or give life to the culture.

Sometimes I'm just like, it's a lot of things that, and I don't want to take credit, but it's a lot of things that I was doing and people were like, what is he doing? And then two years later, it's what everyone's doing, whether it's the way videos are doing or these stupid pop-up shop things or whatever. And I'm not taking credit, but it's like I was doing that and no one ever puts me on any of these lists or even respects me in the sense that I wanted. With these lines, Tyler also employs a double entendre. playing off birds and bees being a euphemism for sex, how things are created, and following with

the line about seeds, which birds eat, and is also how things like plants, trees, and flowers are created. All these lines lead up to the final and most significant line. You don't know what I keep in the trunk. Trunk, as in tree trunk, of course relates to the central tree metaphor this verse is constructed upon, but it can also be heard as the trunk of a car. Again, just like we heard on Forward, Tyler is weaving together this dichotomy of contrasting symbols, the sports car and the tree, the material and the natural, the superficial and the meaningful. And just like the woods we heard about and forward, Tyler yet again hints to the audience that he's hiding something with the song's final line, you don't know what I keep in the trunk. Perhaps it's a

reference to emotional baggage, perhaps a reference to his closeted sexuality. In any case, it seems we're getting too close for emotional comfort as Tyler's verse is cut short, and we hear him exclaim, ah shit, which is followed by a musical interlude without vocals. Indeed, save for a few ad libs, where this flower blooms contains no more further vocals, making the final line a cliffhanger, as we wonder what it is Tyler might be hiding in his trunk. Give a niggas life birdie in the bees dropping them seeds, not what you want, you don't know what I keep in the trunk. Conclusions

Where this flower blooms is the narrative beginning of Flower Boy. As such, Tyler spends most of the track establishing the album's protagonist, himself, beginning with his childhood and teenage roots in poverty. This seems to be the meaning behind the song's title. Where do flowers bloom? In dirt, from the ground up, a metaphor for Tyler's humble beginnings. The narrative then flash forwards to the time in which Tyler escaped the statistical odds of his upbringing and found success as a blackmail in America.

Tyler's moment of arrival is epitomized in the song's hook, a dreamy, lush passage that describes riding through the sunny streets of California wearing clout glasses. It's the feeling of making it in audio form. With the song's second verse, Tyler begins to examine his success more closely, acknowledging that ego and the temptation to boast about one's success can stunt your personal and creative growth.

And for me, it's this point that's worth revisiting. It takes Tyler just four bars to express this idea, but it's one of those passages of music that contain a lifetime worth of wisdom. Tyler's Tyler's Tyler's intuition Cause a Tyler's intuition causes an involuntary boast But his conscience quickly tempers his ego

He's observed too many of his peers rendered frozen Becoming stunted by their own success of success while simultaneously neglecting the ingredients responsible for their success in the first place. It's like the snake who eats its own tail. Ego can help sustain you, but if it's not tempered, it also has a capacity to completely devour you. That's because when carried out to its extremities, excessive ego ends in self-destruction. Ego forever defends your inadequacies, avoids learning, and instead overestimates one's own abilities. As Tyler points out, that's a kind of death, because you lose your capacity to learn and grow.

Ego also only thinks of itself and does not consider the thoughts, feelings, and experiences of others, eroding one's capacity for empathy. This ultimately leads to self-imposed emotional isolation, another kind of death. Confidence, on the other hand, is much different than ego.

Confidence allows you to accept your inadequacies but is not defeated by them because you are confident in your ability to learn. Confidence allows you to admit when you're wrong, because confidence understands you are never a finished product and accepts the fact that you're in a constant state of becoming. Confidence welcomes failure because it sees it as an opportunity to grow. And it's this dichotomy of ego versus confidence that Tyler presents on verse 2 of where this flower blooms. He follows his bars about ego with bars about confidence, using dying one's hair blue as an example

of having the confidence to do something outside the inherited social norms we often feel pressure to uphold. In the same way, Tyler's rejection of ego is atypical for someone in his position and class status. It seems to be the exception rather than the norm. But as contradictory as it may sound, it takes true confidence to reject ego, because extreme ego is a function of insecurity. It's attention-seeking and constantly craves external affirmation because there's not enough internal confidence to sustain oneself. Confidence, on the other hand, is a function of self-security, of true self-accept.

And it's this notion that brings us to the end of where this flower blooms. Verse 3 is all about growth as Tyler likens his story to that of a blooming tree. The final line leaves us in mystery as Tyler ends the track alluding to something he's hiding, something that seems to be plaguing him emotionally, something we suspect is stunting his growth because he doesn't have the confidence to accept this about himself, much less share it with others. While we have our suspicions, at this point in the narrative, we don't exactly know just what Tyler's just what's hindering his growth. But with the album's next two tracks,

sometimes and see you again, we'll get a little bit closer to finding out. That's 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 Dysect Podcast on Twitter and Instagram and join our newsletter at Dysectpodcast.com. Okay, thanks everyone. I'll talk to you next week.