Life After Astroworld, Where Did Travis Go?
by: Devyn Imholt
It's hard to imagine that it's nearly been two years since Astroworld dropped. It is arguably the album that brought Travis into superstardom, helping him gain various collaborations and endorsement deals, even a Netflix documentary detailing its creation. Travis recently took on his newest business venture, a collaboration with the videogame Fortnite. After an in-game concert, he dropped “The Scotts” featuring his musical hero Kid Cudi. The pair have worked together numerous times before, most notably on 2016’s “Through the Late Night” and 2018’s “Stop Trying to Be God.” Travis credits Cudi as one of the main reasons he began making music—the “Scott” in Travis Scott is paying homage to Cudi’s legal name Scott Mescudi. It seemed that little could go wrong on a song that the duo unite on.
However, the song—despite its commercial success—was a disappointment. Not bad by any means, but it simply felt as if both Travis and Cudi were punching under their weight and playing it safe. The song is three minutes and features a fairly typical Travis Scott beat with two verses and a thirty second instrumental outro. With the two taking on the same flow and little to no chorus, “The Scotts” felt underwhelming especially considering what we have seen the pair make when joining forces before. A Cudi and Travis song should not be mid.
Since Astroworld, Travis has become bigger than ever, but it also seems that his music has taken an unfortunate turn towards mediocrity. His only other single since the 2018 project has been “HIGHEST IN THE ROOM,” a song that has the same fundamental issues as “The Scotts.” The song features a typical Travis Scott beat, spacy with heavy reverb and a simple melodic loop, as well as a fairly basic flow that is kept throughout. Arguably the best part of the song is the extended instrumental outro, the same could be said of “The Scotts”.
In December of 2019 a remix of “HIGHEST IN THE ROOM” made it onto JACKBOYS, a collaborative project between Travis and the members of his Cactus Jack label. On this album Travis himself is consistently outshined whenever he appears. On the posse cut of the record “GANG GANG” Travis delivers a measly four bars, whereas everyone else on the label has at least one full verse. On “OUT WEST” —the now viral Tik Tok track—Young Thug handles the chorus and the first verse, making it feel as if Travis is a feature on his own song. This is a similar issue to that of the album’s closer, “GATTI” with the late rapper Pop Smoke who has the chorus and opening verse. After a mediocre single, Travis delivered a project that was at its best when he was not in the spotlight. If anything, JACKBOYS served as a coming out party for his Houston signee Don Toliver, rather than proof of Travis’ ability to coordinate a quality group showing.
One of the biggest aspects of Travis Scott, especially his moniker “La Flame,” was how well he would perform on features. Thinking back to songs like “Love Galore” with SZA, “Sky Walker” with Miguel, and “4AM” with 2 Chainz, Travis was able to easily steal the spotlight and make the songs he was on better. Often his performances even help turn the songs into memorable hits. Since Astroworld this seems to be another aspect of Travis’ career that has shifted. His feature verses often feel phoned-in, as if he’s doing the bare minimum to get the check from the song. ScHoolboy Q’s “Chopstix,” Justin Bieber’s “Second Emotion,” and Nav’s “Turks” are some recent examples of Travis settling on features. His parts on these songs may not be bad (except Chopstix), but they add little to nothing to the song. He went from consistently stealing the spotlight on features to becoming an afterthought, or even a detriment.
I’m not going to be the one to say Travis Scott has sold out. He has earned his way to the top. He has given us classic albums, songs, and features that make his fame and success more than warranted. However, since Astroworld there seems to have been a disconnect. Travis is, by no means, making bad music but he is consistently disappointing us time and time again. “The Scotts” broke streaming records, and this is where I think the biggest concern lies. If every song Travis releases goes No. 1 then there is no indication that they aren’t the quality we expect from him. There is still no word on a Travis x Cudi album or any solo project, either of which we will surely tune into. I just hope we can get another Rodeo or Astroworld out of him and he gets his solo act together.
