And what a cast list it boasts. Drake drawls his way through the bassy, stuttering ‘Sicko Mode’, Frank Ocean croons his way through the freewheeling, airy ‘Carousel’ and – perhaps most excitingly – Migos’ Quavo and Takeoff hiss through heavy autotune on the marching, ridiculously titled ‘Who? What!’. Throw in features from The Weeknd, Kid Cudi, James Blake and even a rumoured harmonica melody from Stevie Wonder (it’s a real thing of ethereal beauty) on the laconic ‘Strop Trying To Be God’ and you have a record of extraordinary prowess.
The sprawling album’s highlight may occur during the elegiac, near-religious, calming coda to that final track. It’s a moment that encapsulates the scope and ambition of ‘Astroworld’. Scott moves from such introspection to the bawdy chant of “Fuck the Club Up” on the clattering ‘No Bystanders’, on which he raps, “Family Function, I ain’t no friends.” This is the sound of a musician who has worked to forge an entire world, an empire, around himself – we can peer in, but from afar, guessing at his motives and life behind the velvet rope.
- NME