Tyler, the Creator Reflects on ‘Cherry Bomb’ Backlash

Tyler, The Creator opened up about the backlash to his 2015 album Cherry Bomb, saying it was the greatest thing to ever happen to him.

In a sit down with Instagram for their new video series “Ask It Anyway,” Tyler opened up about the heavily criticized project. He said it was mostly a consequence of trying too hard.

“My goal was to prove to myself that I am the most diverse producer at the time,” Tyler said. “People were just s—tting on it… it made me say, oh s—t – these songs aren’t good. Because of [the backlash], I was like, I need to reteach myself how to write songs. What is a chorus, hook, structure? That happening to me was one of the greatest things that could happen, because it made me dive into my skill and craft more.”

Tyler’s Cherry Bomb follow-up, Flower Boy, was quickly regarded as one of Tyler’s best albums. He said Flower Boy “was the first album I put on the cover to let people know: all songs written, produced and arranged by me.”

“You have to tell people who you are,” Tyler continued. “And I remember, the conversation started changing a bit… Now people are subconsciously listening to the production in a different way now, because I let them know that.”

Tyler is currently on his Chromakopia World Tour, and specifically said before the tour started he wouldn’t be performing songs from Cherry Bomb. “Chant all you want,” he wrote on X in response to a fan who said they’d start a “Cherry Bomb” chant during the show. “(I hope you dont, its mad annoying during the show) I’m not gonna play it, chanting doesn’t make me magically wanna play it.”

Watch the episode of “Ask It Anyway” below.