Why ‘SORRY NOT SORRY’ is Tyler, The Creator’s best song
Tyler, The Creator has been at the centre of a whirlwind of controversies over his 15-year music career. Among these, multiple people have tried to block his access into their countries to perform: one notable moment being former prime minister Theresa May attempting to use anti-terrorism legislation in the hopes of refusing him entry into the UK in 2019. But with Tyler’s 2021 release Call Me If You Get Lost, he turns a corner from his troubled, problematic past.
Tyler first gained popularity in 2007 after co-founding the hip-hop collective Odd Future, which later included Earl Sweatshirt and Frank Ocean, among other music greats. However, Tyler, The Creator’s solo music career received a lot of attention for the troubling and excessive use of homophobic and misogynistic lyrics.
On ‘She’, Tyler boasts a disturbing narrative of necromania behind a jazzy instrumental: “I just wanna drag your lifeless body to the forest // And fornicate with it but that’s because I’m in love with you.”
This wasn’t well-received by swathes of people outside of his accepted audience, and Tyler would later cancel legs of his tours in 2013 and 2015 after feminist groups protested for their countries to restrict him touring access.
Die-hard Tyler fans would argue that these unsettling lyrics come from the artist’s alter-ego Wolf Haley, similar to how Eminem can hide behind Slim Shady’s alarming lyrics. However, with the validity of ‘creep rap’ and alter egos up in the air, Tyler’s 2021 release shows that he’s turned a new leaf and, despite the song title, he is truly sorry for the actions of a younger, wilder, and more shocking rapper.
Within the incredibly honest song, the artist switches between his Wolf Haley alter ego that caused problematic discourse. This comes in the form of Tyler bursting out into his braggadocio persona that unleashes his feelings to some people who don’t deserve apologies: “Sorry to the fans who say I changed, ‘cause I did // Sorry you don’t know me on a personal level to pinpoint what it is.”
The main, present Tyler quickly shuts down this voice and talks on more modern topics that he seems dejected and lost within: “Sorry, I don’t know your pronouns // I don’t mean no disrespect’. He then alludes to his bisexuality over the span of his career: ‘Sorry to the guys I had to hide // Sorry to the girls I had to lie to.”
On ‘SORRY NOT SORRY’, Tyler, the Creator turns a corner from his problematic and controversial past that shot him to fame and caused audiences multiple issues with his music. The Tyler we hear on this track, compared to those from the beginning of his career, is the rawest and most honest version of himself to date.
Audiences are able to track his progression from an 18-year-old rapper releasing demos on SoundCloud to the full production of Call Me If You Get Lost. Because of this, it’s undeniable to see Tyler’s influence on alternative hip-hop, even if it was on troubled ground at first. This track is his best as it rounds off his career that was filled with enraging some in the attempts to please others.