Brand-new album only nine months after dropping his eighth studio album

by Miya Woodard

Only nine short months after releasing his eighth studio album, “ Chromakopia”, unconventional yet innovative and monumental hip-hop artist Tyler, the Creator has once again shocked listeners with another full album, entitled “ DON’T TAP THE GLASS”.

As the wildly successful “Chromakopia” tour spanning across six months, four continents, and forty cities winds to an end with its final show being on September 21, 2025, fans were certainly not expecting the release of more new music from Tyler, especially considering the overwhelming success of “Chromakopia”.

In the days prior to the semi-surprise release of Tyler’s “ DON’T TAP THE GLASS”, he teased the arrival of something on Monday, July 21 by updating his website, Golf Wang, on Friday with merch designed specifically for the new album advertising the record for the first time and solidifying its imminent release. 

While performing at his Brooklyn show, Tyler shouted out the album title as well as creating a new installation at his show illustrating the album cover with the title on the front. This left the fans with only a few short days to speculate and process the idea of more new music from Tyler so soon.

On Monday, July 21, “ DON’T TAP THE GLASS”, a ten song, twenty-eight minute long record dropped, providing listeners with an upbeat, high-energy, and captivatingly unique collection of songs that was quintessentially Tyler.

The album, beginning with “ Big Poe”, opens with an introduction describing the “rules” for an enjoyable listening experience of the album: “ Number one, body movement, No sitting still.” “ Number two, only speak in glory, Leave your baggage at home.” ‘’  Number three, Don’t tap the glass”.

 On the day of the album’s release, Tyler further elaborated on the context and intent behind the album on his Instagram, explaining that the rules within the introduction on “ Big Poe” references not only how he believes the album should be consumed, but a listening party he himself threw prior to the album’s debut.

Via Instagram, Tyler gave insight into the purpose behind the album and his fear that a “ certain connection” his friends, or people in general, have with music is being diminished and overtaken by the “ fear of being a meme”. He went on to emphasize his worry that human spirit is being killed for fear of being taunted for simply having a good time, tying back to his desire to unite people over listening to music, dancing, and expressing themselves through motion, which he calls “ a natural form of expression”.

Tyler described the beauty of the listening party he had for an exclusive group of three hundred people prior to the release of the album, in which he felt people were truly able to let go and enjoy the feeling of music surrounding them just as he mentioned the album was meant for. 

He said, “ 300 people. No phones allowed. No cameras. Just speakers and a sweatbox. Everyone was dancing. Moving. Expressing. Sweating. It was truly beautiful. I played the album front to back twice. It felt like that pent up energy finally got released and we craved the idea of letting more of it out. There was a freedom that filled the room. A ball of energy that might not translate to every speaker that plays the album but man did that room nail it.”

He went on to remind his fans that “ DON’T TAP THE GLASS” is entirely based on and filled with this electrifying and intoxicating energy that filled the room the night of his listening party. He stresses that this specific euphoric feeling of motion intertwined with his music, which he bases on natural human expression, is a feeling of freedom that he believes cannot be matched and something that is truly beautiful.

He says, “ This album was not made for sitting still. Dancing, driving, running. Any type of movement is recommended to maybe understand the spirit of it. Only at full volume.” Clearly, “ DON’T TAP THE GLASS” is a release both vastly different and in connection to Tyler’s previous works in the sense that it falls in line with Tyler’s iconically high-energy beats that captivate listeners with their almost playful relatability and amusing lyrical quips. This also provides a specific feeling of freedom and expression never seen before from Tyler.

All in all, the shocking release of “ DON’T TAP THE GLASS” turns the page to an entirely new chapter in Tyler’s career and only excites fans more for what is to come in the future.