Travis Scott is a bit of an enigma. Through Cactus Jack, his record label and creative brand, the hip-hop mogul has dabbled in everything from Fortnite to McDonald’s to Dior, pushing boundaries and setting the pace for a generation’s artistic innovation. Now, Travis is well and truly in his bag, entering his auteur era by launching a new partnership with cult film studio A24. You know, the production company responsible for Euphoria, Midsommar, and other distinctly beautiful and notably disturbing cinematic experiences.
But what does the newly inked production deal actually mean? What can we expect to come from this partnership? And where the hell is Utopia, the long-awaited follow-up to 2018’s Astroworld? Enquiring minds would like to know, so we’ve taken the liberty of putting together a few answers for you.
What is up with that co-branded script?
On top cryptic form, Travis announced this monumental business deal on Instagram, with an image of a script stained with coffee rings (and maybe blood?) along with a couple of logos — one the classic, calligram Cactus Jack sketch, the other an A24-branded version of the desert tree — and a vague, yet thrilling caption.
“Life is a movie. So is this album,” he wrote, seemingly referring to his upcoming full-length release Utopia — a representative for the artist has confirmed to Variety that the mostly blacked-out word at the top of the script ending in “IA” is indeed “UTOPIA”, though the reasoning behind this creative decision has yet to be revealed.
“@cactusjack and @a24 set out to bring amazing content for the future. Thru film and media,” Travis continued. “Starting with this🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯.” Emoji barrage aside, the statement confirms that A24 will be involved in the forthcoming release of Utopia, meaning we are in for a wild ride. As reported by Variety, “The first ‘special project’ to launch with A24 is in the works and will align with Scott’s upcoming album, according to insiders.”
When is the Utopia release date?
Though Travis promised us at the start of the year that his new album would be “coming soon” (adding that we could “bet that”), six months later, no new music has materialised. At least, not in a way that’s streamable. Yet.
At Miami’s Rolling Loud music festival last month, the artist premiered a new song live, enlisting a number of drones to project a QR code into the sky over the stadium. The code led to a pre-save link to the undated single, which at least implies that things are starting to heat up release-wise. Oh Travis, how you toy with our hearts.
Follow i-D on Instagram and TikTok for more culture news.