Nearly two years later, Travis Scott is still healing from the fatal tragedy that occurred at his annual Astroworld Festival.
“That moment for families, for the city, you know, it was devastating,” Scott, 32, shared in an interview for GQ’s 28th annual Men of the Year issue, published on Wednesday, November 15. “Making music, you think about things that go on in life and things that happen in your life, and you dial in on things.”
Scott confessed that it took time for him to find the inspiration for making music after the 2021 incident.
“And when it came to making, like, even finishing the album … I got back into it probably, like, I don’t know, months and months and months after,” Scott continued. “And the idea of just even getting back into music, working on music and just even getting into that, was therapeutic of being able to channel some of the energy into production and sounds and finishing it.”
In November 2021, Scott was performing at NRG Park in Houston, Texas, when the crowd surged toward the stage. The rush left 10 people dead and more than 100 injured. Scott initially broke his silence on the tragedy one day after his concert.
“I’m absolutely devastated by what took place last night. My prayers go out to the families and all those impacted by what happened at Astroworld Festival,” he tweeted at the time. “Houston PD has my total support as they continue to look into the tragic loss of life.”
Scott later elaborated via his Instagram Stories that he didn’t know the “severity of the situation” until the show was over.
“I just want to send out prayers to all the ones that was lost last night,” he said in a video. “We’re actually working right now [on] how to identify the families so we can help the system through this tough time … We’ve been working closely with everyone to try to get to the bottom of this.”
In a December 2021 YouTube video, Scott claimed he was unaware of the nature of the attendees’ injuries because he couldn’t see the entire crowd from the stage.
“And even at that moment, you’re like, ‘Wait, what?’ People pass out, things happen at concerts, but something like that [is different],” he said during a discussion with Charlamagne tha God. “It’s so crazy because I’m that artist too — anytime you can hear something like that, you want to stop the show. You want to make sure fans get the proper attention they need. Anytime I could see anything like that, I did. I stopped it a couple times to just make sure everybody was OK. And I really just go off the fans’ energy as a collective — call and response. I just didn’t hear that. You can only help what you can see and whatever you’re told, whenever they tell you to stop, you stop.”
While reflecting on the incident to GQ, Scott recalled feeling “overly devastated” in the aftermath, adding, “I always think about it. Those fans were like my family. You know, I love my fans to the utmost … You just feel for those people. And their families.”
Scott admitted that, like many fans, he still has “pain too” about the lives lost. “I want to find change in the things, to make things better, make myself better,” he added. “I have concerns, things that I think about, and the things I see on a day-to-day basis I think about them. And every day I want to find change in the things, to make things better, make myself better. It’s just like: I go through things like everyone else. And even recently through something like I never could imagine.”
He went on to discuss the inspiration behind his song “My Eyes,” which was released in July, breaking down the powerful message in the lyrics.
“The things I deal with on a day-to-day basis and the fact of how it could be misunderstood and the struggles of life and all aspects of life. The constant weight that’s put on. That you carry, you know. And just a vision through my eyes,” he noted. “The song is emotional to me. It’s one of my favorite songs on the album. And that verse means a lot to me.”
