I came into this expecting a lot of rager montages, a lot of crowd surfing, and a lot of Sicko Mode. I got that, but I also got a surprisingly nuanced and emotional look at Travis Scott at a turning point in his life. As a Travis fan, I laughed at times, my eyes welled up at times, but I spent most of the documentary with a smile across my face, almost as proud of Scott as his family and friends were.
Before I go into my review/analysis, your enjoyment of this depends on how you feel about Scott. If you love him and his music you'll love this documentary. If you've never heard of him you won't feel this documentary's emotions or understand its message.
I knew Astroworld was a significant album to Travis, something that he had been wanting to make for a while, but this documentary reveals what it really means to him. Astroworld is a celebration of lost innocence, a memorial to the past but a resolution to move forward.
As he said in the documentary, when the Astroworld amusement park closed down, it was like a part of him went with it. To him, Astroworld represented his childhood, his beloved home city as it was when he was a kid. With the moodiness of much of Travis's music (Birds in the trap in particular), and the dark times during his childhood (as alluded to by when he said his school counselor "saved his life") one could imagine that Astroworld might've been one of the few places where he felt purely happy. When it was destroyed, Travis lost a way to relive those memories, so his times at the park, maybe the best times of his life, faded away, with no way for him to return to them.
Everyone feels this way: everyone's best memories are eventually lost in time. As life continues, those memories fade away, until you forget those stressless summer nights or you can't remember your Dad's voice.
Scott knew he couldn't bring back those happy memories; even reconstructing the theme park couldn't make him a carefree kid again. Instead, Astroworld - the album - was Travis's way to process the pain caused by the loss of his innocence so he could move on. He sought to accept that his old happy memories were gone so he could make new happy memories. He used the album to prove to himself that the feelings he felt as a kid were still possible as an adult, and he succeeded, bringing it to himself and his thousands of moshing fans through his energetic, thrilling music and performances. The album isn't the only thing that proved he could feel happiness; he is overwhelmed with joy and love brought by Kylie and their daughter, Stormi. The loud concert scenes with many cuts contrast with the serene, one-shot scenes of Travis with Stormi, kissing her, playing with her, content in their love. His music and his family occupy equally significant roles in his life and they both give his life meaning, providing him the happiness he's been starved of since his childhood.
Travis isn't a kid anymore. He's a parent. He's a superstar. He's an inspiration. Astroworld transformed him into someone who doesn't just receive love from his parents, but someone who gives it to his child. It transformed him into someone who isn't just mentored by people like Kanye and Mike Dean, but someone who's a mentor to artists like Sheck Wes and Don Toliver. Astroworld helped him move on from his troubled past and set him on to a bright future, and this documentary conveys the triumph and joy that came with that transition.
Before I go into my review/analysis, your enjoyment of this depends on how you feel about Scott. If you love him and his music you'll love this documentary. If you've never heard of him you won't feel this documentary's emotions or understand its message.
I knew Astroworld was a significant album to Travis, something that he had been wanting to make for a while, but this documentary reveals what it really means to him. Astroworld is a celebration of lost innocence, a memorial to the past but a resolution to move forward.
As he said in the documentary, when the Astroworld amusement park closed down, it was like a part of him went with it. To him, Astroworld represented his childhood, his beloved home city as it was when he was a kid. With the moodiness of much of Travis's music (Birds in the trap in particular), and the dark times during his childhood (as alluded to by when he said his school counselor "saved his life") one could imagine that Astroworld might've been one of the few places where he felt purely happy. When it was destroyed, Travis lost a way to relive those memories, so his times at the park, maybe the best times of his life, faded away, with no way for him to return to them.
Everyone feels this way: everyone's best memories are eventually lost in time. As life continues, those memories fade away, until you forget those stressless summer nights or you can't remember your Dad's voice.
Scott knew he couldn't bring back those happy memories; even reconstructing the theme park couldn't make him a carefree kid again. Instead, Astroworld - the album - was Travis's way to process the pain caused by the loss of his innocence so he could move on. He sought to accept that his old happy memories were gone so he could make new happy memories. He used the album to prove to himself that the feelings he felt as a kid were still possible as an adult, and he succeeded, bringing it to himself and his thousands of moshing fans through his energetic, thrilling music and performances. The album isn't the only thing that proved he could feel happiness; he is overwhelmed with joy and love brought by Kylie and their daughter, Stormi. The loud concert scenes with many cuts contrast with the serene, one-shot scenes of Travis with Stormi, kissing her, playing with her, content in their love. His music and his family occupy equally significant roles in his life and they both give his life meaning, providing him the happiness he's been starved of since his childhood.
Travis isn't a kid anymore. He's a parent. He's a superstar. He's an inspiration. Astroworld transformed him into someone who doesn't just receive love from his parents, but someone who gives it to his child. It transformed him into someone who isn't just mentored by people like Kanye and Mike Dean, but someone who's a mentor to artists like Sheck Wes and Don Toliver. Astroworld helped him move on from his troubled past and set him on to a bright future, and this documentary conveys the triumph and joy that came with that transition.
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