Yesterday, amid flamethrower bursts and a gaggle of up-and-coming grime artists, Kanye West debuted the third song we've heard from his upcoming album thus far. The confrontational, hard-hitting "All Day" ran counter to its two almost drum-less predecessors, "Only One" and "Wolves," and got the sub-section of Kanye fans who were displeased with those first two offerings back into an excited frenzy.
With these three drastically different tracks being the only links to Mr. West's yet-to-be-titled seventh album we have at this point, many are wondering what direction this next project will go. "Only One" seemed to suggest a complete 180 from the abrasive sounds of Yeezus, "Wolves" was more in-line with 808s & Heartbreak's dark, robotic sound, and "All Day" is a straightforward banger on-par with "Clique" and/or "Monster." But just as was the case with Kendrick Lamar's recent tracks "i" and "The Blacker The Berry," when analyzed together, the songs reveal themselves to have similarities that could possibly offer clues as to what the artist's next album will sound like. We'll break each one down for you and then share our overall conclusions.
Note: although Kanye's barber, Ibn Jasper, said that "FourFiveSeconds" would appear on both Ye and Rihanna's albums, we're not including it in this piece. It's currently listed as the lead single from Rih's upcoming project, and on iTunes it's credited to "Rihanna and Kanye West and Paul McCartney," so we're sticking to tracks with Ye as the lead artist.
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Only One
Shared just after midnight in the early hours of 2015, "Only One" found Kanye singing with Paul McCartney on keys and Ty Dolla $ign providing backing vocals.
Sound
This is truly the sparsest Kanye song ever. Produced by McCartney and longtime collaborator Mike Dean, the song's instrumental really only consists of a Wurlitzer keyboard. Additional melodic elements come from backing vocals that are heavily processed to the extent that they sound like electric guitars (Kanye's used this technique a lot ever since My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy). The melodies are powerful, but rather simple, with a pop-minded progression that recalls many of McCartney's Beatles gems.
Lyrics
Kanye's words on "Only One" are pretty straightforward, so the most intriguing element of his songwriting on here is the frequent change of perspective from him to his mother. From "Hello 'Mari, how you doing?" until the second hook, Ye's singing from his mother's point of view, looking down on him and his new family, who she never got to meet. In contrast with Kanye's usual blend of egotism and demon-exorcising in his lyrics, his words on this song are optimistic and lack sarcasm, humor and aggression. In his annotation of the song on Genius, Rick Rubin wrote:
"On 'Only One,' a lot of those lyrics came out free-form, ad-libs. The song is essentially live, written in the moment. Some of the words were later improved, but most of it was stream of consciousness, just Kanye being in the moment."
References
Another thing noticeably absent from "Only One" is Kanye's usual set of pop culture references. This time, he references his daughter by name, alludes to the fact that his name translates to "Only One" in Swahili, and uses the imagery of angels in the line "We'll have wings and we'll fly." Various Kanye obsessives on the internet (shouts out to KTT and Genius annotators), have also speculated that "Keep on risin' 'til the sky knows your name" is a reference to "Touch The Sky," but it could just as well be simply another nod to heaven, which is a central topic on "Only One."
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Wolves
Premiered during Kanye's Yeezy Season 1 launch event, "Wolves" features Vic Mensa and Sia and was produced by Cashmere Cat and Sinjin Hawke.
Sound
Although busier than "Only One," "Wolves" is still very bare-bones, especially where the beat's concerned. Electronic musicians Cashmere and Sinjin seem more focused on creating atmosphere than making coherent melodies or beats, letting 808 bass ring out in front of a murky backdrop that incorporates wildlife sounds and uses Sia's voice to mimic the howling of a wolf. It's a little more experimental and minimal than most instrumentals on 808s, even though that marked Ye's most experimental, minimal album to date.
Lyrics
Like "Only One," "Wolves" has Kanye singing repetitive lyrics that seem pretty stream-of-consciousness. Outside of that, the song is much darker, focusing on a low period of Kanye's life that lasted from the time of his mother's death to when he began his relationship with Kim Kardashian. What's interesting is that he recognized that Sia, an Australian singer who transitioned from performing indie-pop to writing for big pop stars a few years back, endured a similar period in her life when she became addicted to painkillers. The parallel is that both Ye and Sia were living "too wild" before finding salvation in some form or another. In her verse, Sia uses the wolf-related imagery of yellow eyes and "warm flesh, unseasoned."
References
The central reference in "Wolves" is to that of Icarus, a character in Greek mythology who flew too close to the sun, melting his wings made of feathers and wax. It seems to be a metaphor for Kanye himself, who ended up hitting rock bottom after being at the top of the rap game, as a similar reference was used in his short film "Runaway." Aside from "Jesus," the only other proper noun used here is "Hennessy," which if you remember, played a pretty big role in an event that helped to set off Kanye's downward spiral.
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All Day
Although unfinished versions have been floating around the internet for months, "All Day" was officially premiered yesterday at the BRIT Awards. It was produced by two Coke Boys, French Montana and Velous, and features Allan Kingdom and Theophilus London.
Sound
The first thing apparent when listening to "All Day" is how similar the intro sounds to those on "Monster" and "Black Skinhead." The same guitar-style vocal effect is used, although it's unclear if Justin Vernon also sings on this one. A booming beat kicks in next, sounding trappy but utilitarian, and then we hear high-pitched backing vocals that sound so similar to those on "Wolves" that it's pretty safe to assume that they were done by Sia again. Although much more turnt and in-your-face than "Only One" and "Wolves," "All Day" has a similarly sparing use of melodic elements, with a burbling synth line acting as the beat's only accompaniment. The biggest difference here is that Kanye is actually rapping, letting Kingdom and London handle the singing on the song's bridge.
Lyrics
This is Kanye in prime shit-talk mode. Alternating between bragging about himself and dissing his competitors, he really doesn't seem to be hiding any messages about his life or family in this one. Instead, he lays all of his accomplishments out in front of us-- including his meeting with Louis Farrakhan and the asking price for new Yeezys on eBay-- in a "look at my shit"-type moment.
References
Unlike the two predecessors, "All Day" has references by the dozen. He name-drops Dikembe Mutumbo, Farrakhan, Rico Suave, Sade, Forrest Gump and Jackie Chan, and sends a major diss Dennis Haysbert's way (being called a "fake Denzel" has gotta hurt). Most of those seem to either be symbols of Ye's greatness-- the length of his middle finger, his need to stunt, his worth being equal to that of "both MJs"-- or disses he levies against his foes: "Stupid niggas gettin' paid, Forrest Gump right now."
The more other references are a little less obvious, with one being a sly nod to Ye's past albums: "Late for the class, in the hallway, nigga/Yeah, the dropout at it as always, nigga." The other hearkens back to "New Slaves," ("I'm a light-skinned slave, boy, we in the motherfuckin' house") but seems to be more punchline than social commentary.
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Conclusions
The guest list will be more varied than ever
As Kanye tends to surround himself with eclectic casts on each new album, this is really saying something. We don't think he'll ever have another "All Of The Lights"-style song that features 14 additional vocalists, but his new album will feature huge guests like Paul McCartney alongside some truly under-the-radar guys like Allan Kingdom. Ye's certainly made his fair share of odd match-ups-- Adam Levine and Jon Brion on "Heard 'Em Say," Justin Vernon and Rick Ross on "Monster," King Louie, Daft Punk and Arca on "Send It Up"-- but the cast of collaborators seem more random this time around. French Montana on the boards? Sia on the hook? Theophilus London doing... something on "All Day"? Who knows, maybe Kanye will fuck around and throw a spoken word interlude by Celine Dion on the album.
Kanye will display a full range of emotions
In contrast with his first three albums, Ye's last three have been pretty consistent in terms of the emotions he displays on them. 808s was sad, somewhat hateful Yeezy, MBDTF had him spiraling out of control with a few moments of self-reflection, and "Bound 2" aside, Yeezus was the angriest we've ever heard him. Over the course of "Only One," "Wolves" and "All Day," we seemingly get glimpses of Kanye's full spectrum, with the first reflecting the human side of fatherhood and family, the second seeing him wallow in depression and fear, and the third existing as a boastful reassurance of his long-standing domination of the rap game. While MBDTF arguably did show some sort of progression of maturity throughout, it doesn't look like there will be a discernible through-line on the new album.
Bangers and ballads will go head-to-head
In keeping with the eclecticism hinted at by the previous points, the album's sound seems like it'll be less holistic than Yeezus' well-curated blend of industrial rock, experimental electronic and dancehall. Other than an over-arching sense of minimalism, the three songs have little in common, musically speaking. The lyrics also embrace repetitive, simplistic structures, so this might be Ye sounding the most bare-bones he has since 808s. Song-wise, it looks like we'll get a nice mix of emotional ballads and chest-beating bangers, though hopefully with some sort of middle ground between them.
If you can expect anything from Kanye at this point in his career, it's that each ensuing album will attempt to be a little more "artistic" than its predecessor, and that above all, he'll keep us guessing until the last minute. Be on the lookout for a surprise drop later this year.