Bryson Tiller, AN N I V E R S A R Y, and the Danger of Nostalgia

Originally published on The Demo Tape on October 2, 2020

In an era of jam-packed deluxe albums tailored to streaming algorithms and microwave attention spans, the ability to create a lasting moment around an album seems to come every once in a blue moon. Friday releases that make it through the weekend to the water cooler on Monday are becoming more sparse and the pressure is on artists and labels to find new creative ways to promote music in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. While forward thinking during these times has changed the music industry forever, looking back to the past proves to always be more than just a crutch — it feeds a natural inclination for nostalgia.

High-grossing movies typically receive sequel treatment, old television shows get rebooted, and if Hitmaka is going to do anything, he’s going to use a sample when making a beat. Hearing or seeing something from back back in the day tends to create warm, fond memories for us. Music especially has this ability to remind us of where we were when we heard a particular song or album, or remind us of the soundtrack to a certain moment in our lives. The true testament of a generation-defining album is the competence to do so, and few albums of the last 10 years do so better than Bryson Tiller’s T R A P S O U L.

When Tiller arrived to the masses in 2015 via his now-quadruple platinum single “Don’t,” he showcased an uncanny expertise for creating atmospheric, brisk-to-the-ear, melodies. As a skillful songwriter, earning him the nickname “Pen Griffey,” Tiller proved more than capable of painting the full spectrum of falling in love, struggling through heartbreak, and willingly attempting to do it all over again — for better, or for worse. With the best of them, Tiller has proven more than capable of tightroping the thin line between singing and rapping — sometimes, for show, even pirouetting between both on the same track. While much of the music released this year has suffered due a lack of shows and the overall fan experience, the majority of Tiller’s discography puts on its best performance through the headphones and speakers of fans as the oh-so-relatable soundtrack to their lives. You don’t necessarily need a packed venue of 5,000 to relate to yearning for a past love interest — speaking from experience, a room for one and some dimmed lights work just fine.

Thus, Tiller was able to create a moment around his debut album that would set a trend for years, some say to this day, of newcomers aiming to recreate his airy sound. Unfortunately, Tiller has also fallen victim to those same claims and pressures of his peers and successors. Many, including Tiller himself, say that his sophomore project True To Self was a failed attempt at recreating that same magic from T R A P S O U L.

In 2018, Tiller admitted to being depressed during the creation of True To Self; saying that his state of mind negatively impacted the album, and that “you can hear it in the music.” While standouts like “Run Me Dry” and “Self-Made” (both now certified Gold) serve as some of the highlights of the 19-track project, both Tiller and fans alike felt that it was not a worthy successor to T R A P S O U L. Now, five years to the date of his debut, Tiller has released his third studio album A N N I V E R S A R Y.

Tiller revealed the release of the album in a trailer via social media with texts flashing across the screen reading “Timing is everything…this is for everything.” The announcement came a week following the release of a special deluxe edition of T R A P S O U L featuring fan-favorite loosies “Just Another Interlude,” “Self Righteous,” and a “Rambo” remix assisted by The Weeknd.

More than five years in and on the heels of his 28th birthday this upcoming January, Tiller has already outlasted the average length of a music career spent in the spotlight. In an industry that shares much of a resemblance to a revolving door, Tiller seems to always be greeted with a warm welcome each passing time — and rightfully so. However, much of the appeal of Tiller is because of fans’ nostalgic clamoring for something, anything, like T R A P S O U L.

Tiller is at a new, pivotal, chapter in both his life and career in which he is supposed to be allowed to experiment with different sounds and progress sonically as an artist. Instead, he’s been constantly asked to return to his early form for the sake of nostalgia. Thus, for A N N I V E R S A R Y, Tiller gave fans and critics exactly what they asked for. To be used as a metaphor or not, as he’s seen looking forward on the cover of T R A P S O U L, the cover of A N N I V E R S A R Y features him looking back left in the direction of his debut album.

This begs the question — did fans want a new album or another T R A P S O U L? On A N N I V E R S A R Y’s intro track, “Years Go By,” a skit plays saying “Yo, man, you really just got to do this shit. Like, worrying about or tryna figure out what they need to think or like it or not. Oh man, you gon’ have about five years go by. Next thing you know, you ain’t gon’ wanna do this shit no more.”

That voice is right — Tiller should, and be allowed to, create freely without his primary reasoning being to appease those in search of a T R A P S O U L sequel. However, Tiller also did himself no favors in the rollout of A N N I V E R S A R Y to save it from not being compared to T R A P S O U L instead of allowing it to be enjoyed as its own body of work — he set those expectations upon himself as well. Due to decisions like releasing a deluxe version of T R A P S O U L during the rollout, to choosing album artwork and stylizing the title in a way that resembles it, A N N I V E R S A R Y will — and perhaps purposely — garner comparisons to T R A P S O U L.

Time will tell as to where Tiller’s career goes from here. Just an hour after the release of A N N I V E R S A R Y, Tiller tweeted “far from finished. see you later this Fall.” Whether that reemergence will come in the form of singles, another album, or an acting role in Power Book II: Ghost, what we can do for now is enjoy A N N I V E R S A R Y without allowing nostalgia to beg the question, “Is this better than T R A P S O U L?”