Review of Bryson Tiller's 'True to Self'

I’m randomly listening to Bryson Tiller’s debut album TRAPSOUL, thinking, "Damn, just one more month.” Then with a simple tweet notification, my wishes were granted. We’ve been waiting for this for what seems like forever, and I have a few things to say about True to Self.

The fans-riddled-with-anxiety-highly-anticipated sophomore album is here. It’s been almost two years since his debut and the content released between albums were at best…eh. Not really a sophisticated response, but that was, indeed, the response. People were curious to see how his second album would turn out. While most of us had faith in Bryson, the industry can be a bit tough on sophomore projects. With Bryson, TRAPSOUL was such a big debut that, how could he possibly top that? Can he meet the demand? Can he deliver?

"Put me in check"

Production from the likes of Teddy Walton, Nes, Swiff D, FrancisGotHeat, WondaGurl, Boi-1da, Ayo The Producer, T-minus and more. The album is filled with samples from the likes of SWV, Tweet, Travis Scott, Changing Faces, Ice Cube, Loopmasters (or you may have thought Kendrick Lamar), Mary J. Blige and more.

As far the content itself, Bryson's style is all over it. There are his familiar croons over smooth, hypnotic beats about love with the tracks “Rain On Me (Intro),” “No Longer Friends,” “Don’t Get Too High,” “You Got It,” and “Always (Outro). We go from the loyalty of his baby mother in “Set it Off,” to his one night stand in “We Both Know.” Then back to his crooning over lost love, or just moving on, in the tracks “In Check,” “Teach Me a Lesson,” “Stay Blessed,” “Somethin Tells Me, and “Run Me Dry.” I love that Bryson's more braggadocios in this album with tracks like “Self Made,” “Blowing Smoke,” and “High Stakes.” Then there are the introspective tracks “Money Problems/Benz Truck,” and “Nevermind This Interlude,” where he weighs his issues with fame. Oh, let’s not forget his direct confrontation with his haters and his beef with his former manager on the track “Before You Judge.” With this album, we find a more confrontational and outspoken Bryson Tiller.

At 19 tracks, you can say it’s too long, but it’s really just under an hour. This was a strategic move. With streaming taking over, a lot of artists are doing this. More tracks equals more streams which equals better numbers - and it seemed to work. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, and a few tracks made it on the Hot 100.

"2016 Tiller on this shit"

Standing next to TRAPSOUL…well it can’t. There are no stand-out singles on the album in the way “Don’t” and “Exchange” did last year. Turn the radio on right now, those tracks are still playing to this day. Although radio isn’t what it used to be, as an artist it doesn’t hurt to get that radio play. I have heard “Self Made” on a couple of stations and I can see “In Check” going into rotation. This is not to say the radio stations won’t pick up singles from the album, but they won’t hold the same impact as TRAPSOUL’s singles made.

With my first listen, I really didn’t want to compare True to Self to its predecessor - but I did. It was hard not to since it picks up where TRAPSOUL left off. Holding the same cadence, True to Self easily could’ve been the second disk in a deluxe special rerelease of TRAPSOUL. Some tracks are a bit dated, probably recorded shortly after TRAPSOUL. A year and a half doesn’t seem like a long time, but in the music industry, it is.

There is a bit of growth in the writing. There’s much more content and variety than in the first album. However, there's not much overall growth in Bryson as an artist and a lot of fans expected more.

“What you want from me?"

Bryson faced some criticism for the album. Not everybody was feeling it, including some of his fans. Some said they were “disappointed.” I’m conflicted here. I agree, this is not exactly what I expected, but then I don't know what to expect from Bryson - it’s just his sophomore album. Is it too early for change and artistic growth? Or, because this generation of music is so fast paced, should he have already evolved at this point? If that’s the case, True to Self could've been a mixtape (project, playlist, whatever you want to call it) in between the debut and the second album. It could’ve been released last year to hold fans over.

I think there was just a lot of hype and people expected just way too much from Bryson. Critics and fans alike have been holding him up to PARTYNEXTDOOR, Jeremih, and Tory Lanez. Um, no. I don’t think so. Nothing against Bryson, but his catalogue is nowhere near on par with theirs. What I think people keep forgetting is that this kid is still new to the game.

When he released TRAPSOUL, I don’t think he expected it to take off the way it did. And boy did it. The hype started off slow then took off. I didn’t actually hear it until late last summer, nearly a year after the album’s release. By that time, Pen Griffey took off. Will his sophomore effort have the same longevity? It’s too early to tell at this point but I don’t think people will dismiss Bryson just yet.

“Note to self: Stay true to self”

With all of that said, I like True to Self. I know this is a mixed review, but I'm just stating facts. I think it’s a good album. You see the effort Bryson put into it. This is the music he loves to make. While some were “disappointed” with it, I for sure was feeling it. Some tracks will make it on my "Rainy day" playlist. However, does it top his debut? Not at all, but I think for a sophomore album he did pretty well. Back in 2015, he said his music is “just trap and hip hop-influenced R&B, the perfect marriage between hip hop and R&B.” Starting off as a rapper, I was hoping to see more of that, but Bryson is staying True to Self. The R&B vibe does it for him. He’s found his niche, his pocket, and he’s running with it. That’s him being true to himself and it’s what makes him happy. His real fans will support him. Down the line, I do want to see more from Bryson. We all do as fans of music in general. I think as he grows into his own, we will see more creativity and growth from Pen Griffey. But for now, accept him while he stays True to Self.

Cop it over at iTunes.