Travis Scott — Skeletons: Does Sam Rate It?
Stormi’s old man Travis Scott released his third long-player Astroworld on Friday. On first listen, it’s nothing new. There are glimmers of cool, interesting production and a shit-tonne of special guests, but it seems to be classic hit-maker Trav for the most part. Who knows if I’ll go back for more. There is one song, though, that stands out from the rest.
On the back of a few pop, hip-hop and R&B collaborations, Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker has drawn on his love of pop and diverse talent to produce the beat for SKELETONS. It’s classic Kev, with harpsichord and other retro synth sounds. There’s plenty of reverb and compressed percussion to intrigue the Tame fans and Kev’s floating, Lennon-esque backing vocals are actually a comforting sound amid a hip-hop album.
As for Scott’s contribution, it’s all pretty stock standard. He sounds a lot more like Kanye than anything else — his flow is quite low energy and the autotune is turned way down. He’s also got Pharrell and The Weeknd doing their things in the back and at the bridge. Again, pretty stock standard. In the scheme of the whole record, it definitely feels like an album track.
It’s a song that can easily slip past you when you’re listening to Travis Scott’s Astroworld, but if you’re listening to that Travis Scott song with Kevin Parker on it because Kevin Parker’s on it, it goes down pretty well. I’d love to hear an instrumental version or even a version where Kev opts to use the beat for the next Tame album. It induces those vintage feelings of bliss that only Tame Impala can stir and, for that reason, I rate it.
