Kanye\u2019s new album stands in stark contrast of his interesting public persona. I disagree, from my point of view, Kanye really missed the mark here.\u2026<\/b>
\nKanye\u2019s new album stands in stark contrast of his interesting public persona.
I disagree, from my point of view, Kanye really missed the mark here. While millionaires are using mental illness as a selling point for their albums, or as an explaination for their public behavior, people across the world are hiding their mental issues, losing their jobs over it, and generally hesitate to call it a \u201csuperpower,\u201d but I\u2019m getting ahead of myself.
A lyrical genius should be able to articulate such important subject matter in ways no one has, or they needn\u2019t touch on it. Alas, this run of the mill statement about being bipolar staring back at me from the Spotify app shows me a superficial understanding of the disorder is present even in an apparent victim. But perhaps this would all make sense once the album got going. Or maybe it\u2019s a single misstep and the album contents are where I\u2019ll find the gold. One mustn\u2019t judge an album by its cover.
A few minutes into the first track \u201cI Thought About Killing You\u201d and it\u2019s apparent to me that at best, the album cover won\u2019t be the only misstep of the 23-minute record. Instead I was being subjected to a mildly interesting beat and try-hard lyrics.
\u201cThe most beautiful thoughts are always beside the darkest.\u201d
Yes Kanye, and it\u2019s always darkest just before dawn, in moments of weakness you\u2019ll find strength, out of dirt grows a beautiful tree, and so-on. It seems odd to me, for Kanye to open his album with lyrics remisniscent of a motivational email forwarded from my grandmother, but I don\u2019t blame a lack of talent. Complacency, I suspect is the culprit. It\u2019s important for an artist to be intuitive, but relying exclusively on one\u2019s own instincts, creatively, can lead to assuming the first try is as good as it something has to be, and that\u2019s almost never the case.
Brilliant art isn\u2019t defined by the artist\u2019s process, it\u2019s defined by the final product. If the final product is incredible, people may ask about the process, but if it isn\u2019t they won\u2019t care. It occurs to me that the issue with a lot of contemporary musicians is their focus on the means, rather than the ends. It doesn\u2019t detract from brilliance if you spend a lot of time working on a great album. For that matter, a boring album isn\u2019t going to be more impressive if you tell everyone it only took you one try and you recorded it over a weekend.
\u201cToday I seriously thought about killing you. I contemplated, premeditated murder.\u201d
Perhaps this is going somewhere.
\u201cAnd I think about killing myself and I love myself way more than I love you, so\u2026\u201d
\u201cYikes\u201d has the makings of being a decent standard hip-hop track, but a painfully generic, yet dragging hook hinders its otherwise steady direction. After the track closes with Kanye yelling that bipolar disorder is his superpower, it\u2019s difficult to take this album as any kind of serious depiction of mental illness. Instead, he\u2019s reducing his diagnosis to a gimmick. Again, having known someone I\u2019m very close to who suffered from BPD, it makes this difficult to not see as mostly exploitative. Still, I remain less angry and more let down by an opportunity missed.
\u201cNo Mistakes\u201d has a catchy singable chorus with Kanye reminding us it\u2019s been a shaky year for him and that he was \u201ctoo grown in high school.\u201d In 2004 releases and even a bit beyond, Kanye\u2019s less-than-stellar year and recollections of misspent youth seem emotionally resonant. Here, they feel like either filler or a poorly executed callback, I\u2019m unsure which.
\u201cWe\u2019re still the kids we used to be, yeah, yeah. I put my hand on a stove, to see if I still bleed\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Similarity rank: 2.2<\/div>\n

Sentiment rank: -0.1<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

TW posts: 2<\/div>\n

TW reposts: 0<\/div>\n

TW likes: 0<\/div>\n

TW sentiment: 10<\/div>\n<\/div>\n