Tyler, The Creator - “Don’t Tap The Glass” Review
Written by Beau Croxton
DON’T TAP THE GLASS finds Tyler, The Creator dialing down concept in favor of amped-up bravado, bangers & bops — he delivers a fresh, fun and perfectly timed surprise-drop that screams “summer”.
To the delight of many, Tyler, The Creator started rolling out his 9th album DON’T TAP THE GLASS less than 9 months after releasing his 8th LP, Chromakopia. Just ahead of the surprise-release drop, Tyler emphasized that this record is all about “body movement” of any kind, and it's “not conceptual” like some of his last few records. The record is booming with braggadocious rap, dancefloor energy and an urgency that is clearly meant to be felt in the body. Tyler even sets the rules of enjoyment on track 1 of the record: “Number One..body movement…no sitting still”. Ultimately, it's an incredibly refreshing and bangin’ change of pace from Tyler’s more moody (but excellent) 8th LP, Chromakopia.
While there's plenty of Tyler’s chest-beating bars on DON’T TAP THE GLASS , he shines the most in the production and curation department. The record frequently demonstrates how multifaceted he is as an expert curator of energy, vibes, moods and colorful instrumentals. To me, this record seems like Tyler’s version of the Vince Staples album, FM! – both albums are short, sweet, bravado-filled, block-party anthems that are intended for pure fun from start to finish– and both are over in under 29 minutes.
This fast and fun record combines two of Tyler’s most successful modes. One half of the record often booms with the overblown synths and brash bravado of Tyler’s tracks such as “WHAT’S GOOD” from Igor, or “Rah Tah Tah” from Chromakopia. It often feels like your car stereo might explode when blaring tracks like “Big Poe” or “Stop Playing With Me”. The majority of rap verses carry the same cocky energy of Tyler’s recent track “That Guy” ( a freestyle Tyler did on Kendrick Lamar's west-coast-tinged “Hey Now” beat in late 2024), which could have easily served as a thesis statement for the energy of this new album. You can practically imagine the B-Boy crew breakdancing on cardboard to the majority of these flex-centric tracks. The other half of the record is defined by ultra-catchy, poppy, nostalgic, dance-bops with neo-soul vocals that often feel like hyper-renditions of Tyler’s pop songs like “Darling, I”. The record is a yin/yang of Tyler’s most bangin’ and most boppin’ characteristics, chiseled down into a rowdy and energetic summer party. It might be the most loose, chaotic, and fun album he’s done in nearly a decade– Tyler seems to lean into his more raw and youthful edge from the earlier days of Cherry Bomb.
“Big Poe” is a party-starting banger with golden-era breakbeats, “hip-hop hooray” backing vocals and cranky synthesizers. Tyler is commanding right out of the gate as his new character/alter ego Big Poe– “Burn this shit down/ turn this shit up”, and he’s right, as this type of dirty material hits best with top volume-treatement. It’s suiting that this song has a Pharrell Williams feature, because a large amount of this record is very Pharrell/N.E.R.D/Neptunes-coded. An incredible Busta Rhymes sample gets things to “Jump! Jump!” – and it's about time, because Tyler’s more unhinged material always gave me a big Busta vibe.
“Sugar On My Tongue” thumps with rapid bass-drum quadruplets, sparkling synths and nightclub appeal. It's got nostalgic Robert Troutman-style talk box vocals, and some dazzling synth arpeggios that run wild in the final stretch. Overall, it fuses some of Tyler’s more groovy, pop-leaning moments with electro in a great way.
“Sucka Free” is a brilliant spiritual sequel to Tyler’s “That Guy” freestyle, in the form of a retro synth-funk jam (it references that track in the chorus, too). It’s ultra vibey, and like much of the record, it’s a nod to awesomely goofy 80’s disco, retro R&B and club music. It's a great throwback vibe with its G-Funk-style talkbox and smooth synths– Carlton Banks could probably cut a serious rug to this, and it's easily one of the best tracks on the LP.
“Mommanem” is aggressive and eerie with pure machismo, and it has brash instrumental blasts that feel like gunshots. It's a brief moment with a frustrating potential… Perhaps its biggest sin is that it builds all the way to no beat drop and it truly feels as if it's going there, but then, it just ends. Instead, it serves as a sort of interlude/ramp up to “Stop Playing With Me”, and if you are able to view it as such, it actually does work very well.
"Stop Playing With Me" feels like a cousin of “WHATS GOOD”-- it's full of aggressive bars and dirty breakbeats paired with distorted bass-blasts. Its music video features gigantic speakers that visually vibrate with an earth-shaking rattle that lives up to Tyler’s signature blown-out, sub-bass sound. This braggadocious and abrasive anthem makes sense as the video-treated potential single, it's full of much of the hype energy and hard bars that characterize the record.
“Ring Ring Ring” is an 80’s slapper full of pop falsetto and campy, telephone-themed love song lyrics– it might be the biggest bop. It's got a Michael Jackson Off The Wall style groove with more vibey talk-box vocals, and it yields another great rump-shaking beat with its bass-drum triplets.
“Don’t Tap The Glass / Tweakin” snaps with in-your-face raps and cheerleader chants. The second half of the track, Tweakin, carries more of a halftime break full of alarm samples and cheerleader chants; it's a fun diversion with some hilarious quotable bars by Tyler.
“Don't Worry Baby” is quite irresistible, and carries its own retro-pop-bop vibes, equipped with a speedy “Planet Rock”-esque beat, twinkling synths and a knock-out vocal feature from Madison McFerrin.
“I’ll Take Care of You” finds endearing lead vocals by Yebba and Tyler, nostalgic piano, and dream-sequence synthesizers juxtaposed brilliantly with Tyler’s speaker-rattling bass, more aggressive Cherry Bomb-esque drums, and hype samples of Crime Mob’s “Knuck If You Buck”. It melds the yin/yang duality of the LP together in a chaotic yet somehow cohesive way.
DON’T TAP THE GLASS album artwork, out now
“Tell Me What it Is” follows Tyler’s great ability to bring a sense of tender closure to his records like he does Chromakopia and Igor– it has a similar ramp-down to his tracks such as “ARE WE STILL FRIENDS?”. These types of tracks always have an epic “hold your hands to the sky”, ending-scene vibe– and “Tell Me What It Is” delivers similarly.
DON’T TAP THE GLASS is an album full of party-starters that will surely pack the dance floor. Even though it has a more narrow purpose of “straight-up-fun” compared to Tyler’s more lyrically ambitious and conceptual works, it’s still in the same ballpark as his most potent work. Tyler is cutting loose, having a blast and encouraging his listeners to do the same– and all the while, his creative genius effortlessly makes its way into the bombastic, rough-around the edges fanfare of this record. He’s bringing a lot of what everyone knows he is capable of– but it's the curation and the pure attitude that's so thrilling. He isn't reinventing the wheel– but he is absolutely adding some hydraulics to level up his whip. It’s refreshing to see an artist of his stature so hungry to create so quickly after one of their most successful releases. He could have coasted on his success with Chromakopia for a while, but he chose to strike again with another great record while the iron is hot.
One drawback from this record’s reception may be that its intention feels closer to what artists may deem as a “mixtape”, especially in comparison to his usual output. Also, the less refined, punk-rock approach to the production might not be for everyone. But ultimately, DON’T TAP THE GLASS is an incredibly satisfying album that doesn't overstay or understay its welcome for what it sets out to do, it hits just right. This record arriving so swiftly after Chromakopia is very fitting considering its contents — Tyler had his finger on the pulse of a very urgent vibe to meet the moment, and he suceeded. At its fun-sized length of 28.5 minutes, it's also an extremely fun and easy listen. This album's (surprise) arrival directly in the middle of the summer makes perfect sense, as it’s a fun, brash and unapologetic album full of rump shakers— strictly built for the good times.
While DON’T TAP THE GLASS and its simple intention may not be the definitive creative peak of Tyler’s essential run of recent records (aka every record since Flower Boy), it is still an undeniably fantastic record that extends his winning streak. It feels like a well-earned victory lap of the hot-streak he's been on since 2017. Tyler is on a stretch of quality right now that seems to never end– even when he lets his creativity run rampant with the chaotic and unfiltered feel of this project. When it comes to Tyler’s music, this is the type of material he makes that’s “the sound of summer” and it couldn’t be more welcome at this very moment.
Occult Highlights: Stop Playin With Me, Sucka Free, Big Poe, Ring Ring Ring, Don’t You Worry Baby
(…but we recommend you blare the whole thing on the boombox, in the car, or at the party…so long as you move — no sitting still)