Travis Scott drops ‘Utopia,’ his first album since 2021 Astroworld festival tragedy
FILE – Travis Scott arrives at the MTV Video Music Awards at Barclays Center on Sept. 12, 2021, in New York. Scott released his first album in five years on Friday, the 19 track “Utopia.” (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
NEW YORK—Rapper Travis Scott has released “Utopia,” his first album in five years and his first major release since 10 people died at his 2021 Astroworld music festival.
The star-studded 19-track “Utopia” features Beyoncé, SZA, Drake, Sampha, Young Thug, Playboi Carti, Daft Punk’s Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, Future, Bon Iver, James Blake, Kid Cudi, 21 Savage, and many more.
The LP, Scott’s fourth full-length, was originally announced back in 2020 and follows 2018’s “Astroworld.” In November 2021, 10 people died as a result of compression asphyxia during a massive crowd surge during Scott’s Astroworld festival. A grand jury declined to file charges against Scott earlier this year.
Also Friday, Houston police released files that showed that some workers were concerned about the crowd conditions at the show. The 1,300-page report also included a summary of an interview with Scott in which he said he did not hear calls from the crowd to stop the show.
The first track from the album, the popetón-adjacent “K-pop,” was released on July 21 and features the Weeknd and Bad Bunny. The release spans genres—an eclectic mix of autotune ambient ballads (“My Eyes”), ferocious bars (“Looove”), futuristic trap (“Lost Forever,” Telekinesis”) and beyond.
In addition to the album, Scott hosted a one-night-only release of his feature film “Circus Maximus” at select theaters on Thursday night.
“Utopia” was originally scheduled to be celebrated with a livestreamed concert at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, but was canceled due to “complex production issues,” Live Nation said in a statement.
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