“I Ain’t Got Time,” the closest thing Flower Boy has to a party track, finds a balance between the scum fuck and the flower boy sonically in step with the rest of the album, it still showcases Tyler’s typically ultra caustic rhymes (“You're a house nigga, so you don't know/How that shit go, with my big lips and my big nose/And my big dick and my short hair”) while musically keeping the pace set by the record’s more introspective moments.

In contrast, “Who Dat Boy,” which features a blistering verse from A$AP Rocky, falls more in line with the Tyler we’re used to, with his borderline-psychotic, guttural flow and aggressive delivery. Wide-eyed and slack-jawed, Tyler conjures up images of his perfect lover, while guest singer Kali Uchis sweetly sings a lolling hook: “Can I get a kiss?/And can you make it last forever?” Is this the same kid who burst out on the scene eating cockroaches, simulating suicide and was unceremoniously banned from the UK for his homophobic lyrics? And yet, “See You Again” is wholly sincere, Tyler’s bars buoyed by a leisurely keyboard riff and shuffling drum beats. An early indicator that Tyler has begun to turn over a new leaf is “See You Again,” which can only be described as a straightforward, no-frills love song. Here, Tyler strives to demonstrate his duality-there’s the usual brash, loud persona he’s presented all along, while a softer, more transparent entity begins to blossom from track to track. In fact, the album’s original title may still be its most apt. Almost a decade after founding the hip-hop shock jock collective Odd Future, Tyler is still only 26, and Flower Boy seems to be his first real attempt to escape his prolonged adolescence.

While the full extent of Tyler’s sexual identity is still more or less unconfirmed, Flower Boy swiftly becomes about more than the is-he-isn’t-he rumor mill - it’s a rumination on what it means to be truthful from someone who has more often than not shrouded his talent and emotions in controversial trolling. Elsewhere on the record, he refers to different types of boys: himself, his friends, faceless haters, the objects of his desires.

Tyler the creator flower boy concert