“Have you listened to that new Yachty?” is a sentence that hadn’t been mentioned outside of TikTok memes since 2016, but Lil Yachty has begun to reimagine his sound in 2023.
After remaining on the backend of the music scene for the past few years writing songs for other artists, he has written hits for himself here and there including “Poland” which created the perfect audio for TikTok trends.
In January 2023 Lil Boat released “Let’s Start Here” which falls within the genre of psychedelic rock according to Our Generation Music while he still holds onto his trademark autotuned vocals. The album has 14 tracks, and the cover art is AI-generated.
“Let’s Start Here” keeps true to its namesake, and allows Yachty to start fresh, and experiment with all that the new gene has to offer him. Despite his music being leaked last December, it’s still evident that he enjoyed officially releasing this complete album with his official stamp of approval.
He’s mixed everything that’s currently keeping people entertained. TikTok is flooded with people trying out new AI software, and others more openly expressing their love for rock and techno styles of music. Yachty just focused on who really matters when making music– his gut and of course what his audience wants.
A commenter on his music video for “sAy sOMETHINg” describes the sound of the album as a mix of Tame Impala and the Weeknd, and I couldn’t agree more.
Not only did he change his sound, but along the way, he showed the diverse abilities of Black artists and how breaking into new genres can prove to be successful. Something that Lil Nas X also did in 2019 when he was told that Old Town Road “wasn’t country enough,” and was shortly after backed by Billy Ray Cyrus.
On the track titled “:(failure(:” Yachty shares how he’s adopted a “glass half full,” mindset to aid in the stress of being in the spotlight. It’s easy to say he’s entered an era where he’s doing what he loves.
At the root of it, a rapper from the “mumble rap” era released a great alternative album, and I can’t hide how excited I am to see who else will take the leap this year!