Travis Scott's new album, Astroworld, has blown up. It's a great album with every song telling a different story in a different way littered with metaphors. And while listening to each song and watching the music videos I discovered there is a lot of hidden meaning behind it. Here are some of my interesting findings:
1. The title
The album is named after the Six Flags amusement park in Houston, Texas that was shut down when Travis was a kid. Much like an amusement park, this album is thrilling and takes you through a roller coaster of happy and haunting memories of Travis. In an interview, he explains how he identifies with the amusement park and when it closed down he started making music. It was a way for him to escape from the world.
2. The paranoia
His song "5%Tint" illustrates is paranoia with fame and the fear of someone always being out to get him, as the lyrics reference people looking through his window and watching him. Even the title means something—it is the name of a certain tint they put on cars that is so dark it only lets in 5% of light.
3. The philosophical concept
One of the popular songs on this album, "Butterfly Effect," is taken from the concept that one insignificant unrelated action or event can have a huge impact somewhere else. This song analyzes the question we all ask ourselves, is our life already paved or do our decisions impact what happens? He repeats the line "For this life, I cannot change," which can be interpreted in many ways. I think Travis is trying to say that his life is not the result of his decisions but a formation of events that occurred a while ago. Also, Travis' references to drugs and falling into fame show the butterfly effect.
4. The message to himself
The whole album seems to be a walk through his life and how he came to fame. In some of the songs, it sounds like he is getting caught up in the life of fame. Like in "Yosemite" he talks about how he feels like he is the chosen one. But then "Stop Trying To Be God" seems like a message to himself, a message to bring himself back to earth and to not lose himself. If you listen to the song and watch the music video it seems like he is talking to himself, saying that he is not god and he needs to chill. Through the song, he talks about his money and possessions but then in the next line he brings himself back saying he needs to remember the people important to him. The whole album is a peek into his life and how he sees himself.
