Travis Scott has sparked further excitement for his long-awaited Utopia album, which some fans believe may be around the corner.
Over the weekend, the Cactus Jack rapper headlined day two of the 2022 Primavera Sound festival in Chile, where he had the privilege of performing in front of one of his favorite artists.
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Toward the end of his set, La Flame took a moment to salute Björk, who also performed at the festival, and praised the Grammy-nominated Icelandic singer as one of his “biggest inspirations.”
“I want to say one thing before I go,” he told the crowd. “One of my favorite artists in the whole world is here tonight, Björk is here tonight. She’s one of my biggest inspirations for why I do what I do. I’m so glad to be able to perform in front of her today. Björk, I fucking love you so muthafucking much.”
Despite him butchering the pronunciation of her name (which is pronounced “Byork”), Travis Scott’s love for Björk fueled speculation surrounding his eagerly anticipated fourth album. Eagle-eyed fans noticed the Volta vocalist previously released an album titled Utopia on November 24, 2017, sparking theories that Travis’ upcoming LP will drop on the same date this year.
“Björk has released an album named ‘Utopia’ which dropped 2017 November 24th,” one fan account tweeted with a thinking face emoji and eyeballs emoji, while another user wrote: “Travis got us making the saddest strorylines [sic] to speculate his drop date. #FREEUTOPIA.”
Travis Scott has yet to offer any concrete details about Utopia, but he has doled out numerous teasers in recent years. During his Road to Utopia residency in Las Vegas in September, the Houston native debuted a handful of new songs, including collaborations with Future, Lil Uzi Vert, Kid Cudi and Pharrell.
Before that, he gave fans a clue about the album’s sound by describing it as a mind-bending listening experience. “I’m in this new album mode where it’s like psychedelic rock,” he told fashion outlet WWD last June. “Even just like the field of cactuses and mushrooms, you might get tripped out.”
Following his string of sold-out shows at London’s O2 Arena in August — his first headlining performance since the 10 deaths at his Astroworld Festival in November 2021 — Travis announced he’ll “be back when it’s album time.” He also wrote on Instagram: “Now to finish [CD emoji].”
Travis Scott’s last album, Astroworld, dropped in August 2018 and immediately became his biggest release so far. Featuring appearances from Drake, 21 Savage, Frank Ocean and more, the star-studded project debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 537,000 first-week units, while its diamond-certified hit, “Sicko Mode,” became his first single to top the Billboard Hot 100.
Coincidentally, the Astroworld track “No Bystanders” contained a sample of Björk’s 1997 song “Jóga.”
As the wait for Utopia continues, Travis Scott fans can look forward to upcoming appearances on Pharrell’s new single “Down in Atlanta,” out Friday (November 18), and Metro Boomin’s Heroes & Villains album, which drops December 2.
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La Flame has also been tapped to executive produce an forthcoming biopic on the late Houston Hip Hop pioneer DJ Screw, who inspired his fittingly woozy Astroworld cut “R.I.P. Screw.”
