“New Magic Wand” is the 6th track on Tyler, The Creator’s latest fifth studio album ‘IGOR‘ released on May 17, 2019.
‘IGOR’ narrates the different experiences of Tyler going through romantic interests. From the second track to the last, the album takes a full circle of falling in and out of love, and each song acts as a plot in this life-long, and rather bitter, journey. “New Magic Wand” is an insight into the brutality of the human mind when it comes to love. This song is also a collaboration with A$AP Rocky, although not officially credited.
Throughout the album, Tyler also manifests himself as the character of ‘Igor’ appearing in many Gothic horror flicks as a hunchbacked and deformed person.
Listen to “New Magic Wand” by Tyler, The Creator
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This song, much like the rest of the tracks on the album, has been written, performed, recorded and produced by Tyler, The Creator.
Lyrics Review and Song Meaning of “New Magic Wand”
Intro
The intro statement of the song is a sample from The Carmichael Show. However, it’s roots go back to old proverbs which means that to create a new opportunity/beginning, you might have to close down an existing one.
Verse 1
In the first verse of “New Magic Wand,” Tyler explains the background to his situation. Tyler has a partner and he is struggling to keep this relationship awake. We understand the singer’s mentality in these lyrics as he explains how jealous he gets of seeing a photograph of his partner with a girl-possibly an ex-girlfriend. He wants her ‘out of the picture’ which has a double entendre here; one, for removing her from the photograph, second; killing her.
The remark for ‘green eyes’ could be symbolic for emotions such as ‘jealousy’ and ‘envy’ to make him only his.
Refrain
The refrain performed by A$AP Rocky, is a perfect continuation from the first verse. Seemingly harmless lyrics have a murderous intent underneath.
“Magic Wand” is a tool used in the popular photo editing software Adobe Photoshop, and this tool is used to highlight something within a photograph before making changes to that specific highlighted area. In the first verse, Tyler says that he needs to remove the girl from the picture. Hence, a magic wand tool would be a good option.
However, since the first verse also alludes that Tyler would want to ‘remove her out of the picture’ which is slang for killing someone, magic wand may also be symbolic for a gun. A new gun may be his requirement now.
Verse 2
In the second verse of “New Magic Wand,” Tyler further establishes that he needs his partner all to himself, and not even a girl in an old photograph can share him.
The ‘spectrum’ in reference could be the ‘autism spectrum‘ which Tyler has talked about before, or the sexuality spectrum, which Tyler could be identifying himself as a homosexual.
The third verse and the bridge also talk about how she is going to be “dead” and even “evaporated,” which speaks to how much envy Tyler has bottling up inside him.
Verse 4
The fourth and last verse goes into more details on the complex emotions attached with jealousy, envy and love. But Tyler also tries to tell us that his green eyes are not a reflection of these emotions, but rather his natural colours.
Tyler also mentions Janis Joplin, a distinguished singer known for her high-powered folk-rock, psychedelia and blues music in the 1960s. She is known for pouring out her emotions on her songs.
The last lines of the fourth verse are quite alarming as Tyler describes a break-in and “getting the job done.” One thing to note is that Tyler does not want to wear a face mask to conceal his identity. Maybe he thinks that this life is his right–his 100% is his right.
What do you make of this song by Tyler, The Creator? Drop a comment below.