Travis Scott drops ‘Utopia’, his first album since the Astroworld festival tragedy

NEW YORK (AP):

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.

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 theatres on Thursday night.

Utopia was originally scheduled to be celebrated with a livestreamed concert at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, but was cancelled due to “complex production issues”, Live Nation said in a statement.