Tyler and Juliet

How has the relationship between love and lust changed since the time of Romeo and Juliet? The theme of “love vs. lust” is strongly represented in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet during the interactions with the namesake characters. “love vs. lust” has also been a recurring idea in the music of Tyler, The Creator. Romeo and Juliet and Tyler, The Creator’s music explore the idea of love and lust, and through that, show how little human nature has changed in 423 years.

Through his exploration of “love vs lust” Tyler shows interesting similarities to Shakespeare’s exploration of the same theme in Romeo and Juliet. In both Tyler’s song See You Again and Romeo and Juliet, they find themselves experiencing love at first sight. In See You Again, he sees a girl’s “rose tinted cheeks”, “dirt colored eyes” and finds himself daydreaming about her. Romeo is overcome by Juliet’s beauty the first time he sees her, and says“she doth teach the torches to burn bright”. These instances are both marked departures from their usual behavior. Tyler is a loud, brash person, and these traits are reflected in his music; so this moment of him pausing to admire a girl’s eyes stands out amongst his discography. Romeo is a passionate character usually, so to compare a girl to a torch without his usual hyperbole shows that he is well and truly enchanted with Juliet. Romeo has a tendency to dramatize his feelings, but here he speaks without dramatics. If he was pretending to be in love, he wouldn’t have simply talked to his friend; he would have made a loud display. Choosing love left both Tyler and Romeo satisfied. Romeo was left awestruck by Juliet, and Tyler was happy enough about simply seeing this girl to write a song about her.

A thematic element explored by both Shakespeare and Tyler is the destructive power of unbridled lust. Friar Lawrence’s line to Romeo “The sweetest honey is loathsome in its own deliciousness. And in the taste destroys the appetite.” perfectly describes Tyler’s issues with lust in his song Her. Tyler says “Don’t think this is going to work//Things got complicated and a couple feelings got hurt//I haven’t talked to you in a couple of days//I got too comfortable//And started to think that we was really a couple” in Her. These are unusual moments for both Tyler and Shakespeare. Tyler has used his new album, Flower Boy to come out from behind a brusque, vulgar shell he hid in for years. A good example of this is the quote above, where Tyler laments losing a relationship with a girl -who evidently meant a lot to him- because he pursued her lustily instead of romantically. It isn’t like him to show his feeling this strongly. It is one of the very few times in his music when loss has played a important role, and in this song, it goes hand-in-hand with lust. Lusting after Rosaline made Romeo subconsciously unhappy. He chases her for a long while, and very openly. We later learn that Rosaline’s reciprocation of his love left him deeply hurt. Without Juliet as a remedy, those emotional scars would have been a long time in fading. Like love left them satisfied, lust left both Tyler and Romeo incredibly hurt.

Either time, when they are left unable to love -whether by their own devices, or by cruel fate- Tyler and Juliet consider suicide. Juliet considers it when she awakens to find Romeo dead next to her, and kisses his lips in hope that “some poison yet doth hang on them” and she would die; when that only leads to the painful discovery that his lips were still warm, she kills herself with his dagger. Juliet is a strong, rational young lady at the start of Romeo and Juliet. Her sudden and un-hesitant suicide shows what love has done to her. She did not think very much of killing herself, the way that she would have at the start of the story. She didn’t consider the pain that she would cause her family, or that this would mean the end of her line in house Capulet. Tyler says “I use it [gun] on myself on the day you dipped” after the girl that he’s in love with leaves him. One of Tyler’s most notable qualities is his utter disregard of sensitivities, so this incredibly open moment shows the real and definite effect this event has had on him. It is unlike him to take a loss so hard. If he kept to the emotional trends that his previous work set, he would have moved past the girl by the time he realized he lost her. The fact that Tyler remembered this girl and his rejection for so long speaks about what love did to him. That he was so scarred by it that he wrote a song about it further supports that point. These very similar reactions to these losses shows that, even after hundreds of years, how humans deal with love, lust, and loss hasn’t changed very much.

These similarities between the music of Tyler, The Creator and Romeo and Juliet show that, even after 423 years, how the conflict between love and lust affect us hasn’t changed.

Tyler,The Creator. Flower Boy, California, CA.

Tyler, The Creator. Wolf, California, CA.

Tyler, The Creator. Cherry Bomb, California, CA.

Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. Oxford University Press, 2008.

“Tyler, The Creator Keeps It Vintage, Performs ‘911’ On The Late Show.” RESPECT., 25 July 2017, respect-mag.com/2017/07/tyler-creator-keeps-vintage-performs-911-late-show/.

AllHipHop. “Tyler, The Creator Offers ‘Flower Boy’ Album As A Limited Edition Cassette Tape Bundle.” Exclusive Hip Hop News, Interviews, Rumors, Rap & Music Videos | Allhiphop, 26 July 2017, allhiphop.com/2017/07/26/tyler-the-creator-offers-flower-boy-album-as-a-limited-edition-cassette-tape-bundle/.

“Tyler, the Creator and Golf Wang Return With New 2016 Fall/Winter Lookbook.” MISSBISH | Women’s Fashion, Fitness & Lifestyle Magazine, 21 Sept. 2016, missbish.com/tyler-the-creator-and-golf-wang-return-with-new-2016-fallwinter-lookbook/.

“Tyler The Creator Announces Camp Flog Gnaw Festival 2016.” District, districtmagazine.ie/tyler-the-creator-announces-a-camp-flog-gnaw-festival-2016/.

hubwav.com/tyler-creator-new-show-viceland/.

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