“Gone, Gone/Thank You” by Tyler, The Creator starts off with eight counts of heavy bass that really gets your attention, but doesn’t come back until the chorus. The instruments that I heard were a bass, drums, vocals, piano, cow bell, and electric and acoustic guitars.
There were also two key changes. Both of their soundscapes are very different from the beginning. One was at the 3:56 mark, and the other at 4:36. The soundscape change at 4:36 was a dreamier sound, and had more of the electric keyboard. The time signature for the song is 4/4 time and the tempo was close to presto (168-200bpm), which means extremely fast. The dynamics for the song was around mezzo forte.
I like “Gone, Gone/Thank You” because of the changes Tyler, The Creator makes with each section of the song. In the beginning, he’s depressed because someone left him and he thinks all of his love is gone. In the middle, he realizes why the relationship didn’t work in the first place and finds peace. In the end, he says that he is grateful “for the love and the joy” but he’s “never gonna fall in love again.”
This song touches on the last two stages of grief, which are depression and acceptance, both important parts of finding inner peace. It’s a great work of art that is well infused with bluesy, R&B, techno, rock, rap and alternative sounds. “Gone, Gone/Thank You” is a great example of how all genres of music overlap, and how different emotions can be expressed with various sounds that might not make sense at the time but when put together, can become true art.
This creation is nowhere near perfect in the human sense, but this is because this song literally moves like a human mind. The imperfections make the song more relatable to human ears, and I think that’s why Tyler, The Creator is so big right now.
The ending of “Gone, Gone/Thank You” makes me feel like I’m sinking under the sea untouched and unfazed by any problems, and everything is clear again. It’s like I’m in outer space looking down at all my problems and watching them fade away as life goes on.
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