Houston rapper Travis Scott, best known for his autotuned melodies and psychedelic beats, has released his fourth Studio Album, Utopia. Since its release Utopia has earned the fifth-highest streaming debut in Spotify history, along with the most prominent streaming debut in 2023 on both Spotify and Apple Music, racking up a large total of over 128 million plays. In addition to its grand debut on streaming platforms, Utopia also sold 500 thousand copies debuting at #1 on the Billboard 200, marking his third number #1 album. However, despite its outstanding performance on the charts, the album has been met with mediocre reviews. Trusted and renowned critic sites such as Pitchfork and Metacritic rating the album 5.7/10 and 63/100, respectively. Other respected sources in the industry have commented on the album as “empty” and lacking proper sustenance. However, outside the scope of critics, Utopia has been met with praise and loving arms from fans and casual listeners alike.
Students at Wheeler High have also given their thoughts on the album. Gregory Persaud (12) comments, “Utopia was okay; it’s not his best album. My favorite track was ‘FE!N’.” Gregory also mentions that he was not a big fan of the album’s slower, more vocal-heavy tracks and that it wasn’t worth the five-year wait. He ends his review by rating the album a 6/10.
Cam Oliver (12) states, “It was a good album. 11 of the songs were good, the others were all right, I don’t think any of them were bad.” Cam’s favorite songs on the album were “Telekinesis” featuring SZA and Future and “SKITZO” featuring Young Thug; his least favorite was K-Pop featuring Bad Bunny and The Weeknd. Cam also believes the album should’ve been five songs shorter and that despite being good, it was not worth five years of waiting just because it’s a long time. He ended his review rating Utopia an 8.5/10.
Vicente Ruiz (11) adds that the album “could’ve been better. I felt like he could’ve put more effort into the album. Most of it sounded the same; the beats were nice.” Vicente thought the 19-song tracklist was a perfect fit for the album, though he also believes it was not with the five-year wait. Despite its repetitive nature, he ends his review by giving the album an 8/10.
In conclusion, there are many opinions on Utopia and Travis Scott’s musical delivery of the album. That said, it still has achieved unparalleled success for rap artists this year. In addition to Utopia the album, Travis Scott also released a film alongside it titled Circus Maximus. There were also plans for a showcase concert in Egypt that was unfortunately canceled due to production issues centered around the desert environment. Travis Scott will promote the album on tour later this year, starting September 25th and stopping in 28 cities across North America.
