The lyrics of the album jump into topics like Mr. West’s celebrity status, consumer culture, self-exaggeration, and the American Dream. With songs like Monster, with it rough and grumbly sound and heavy bass drums, or the ever famous POWER with its 40 Million views on Youtube.
No one man should have all that power
The clock’s ticking, I just count the hours
With its military like chant in the back or the incredible chopped samples interspliced between, its the perfect song for a burst of energy or even the perfect motivational song to let play in the back while you panic and type out a 500 word essay about music, which makes sense as to why commercials began using it to push forward their products. I can’t begin to count the number of times I have heard this track in a movie trailer.
But the only track I have listened to on replay for the whole afternoon is Runaway. The longest track on the album, sitting at an impressive 9 minutes, the song opens with haunting piano keys in the beginning, so iconic now that Kanye just has to play one Key in his concert for everyone to freak out. “LOOK AT YA” being repeated to a sickening degree but still in a recognizable rhythm.
And I always find, yeah, I always find something wrong
You been puttin’ up with my shit just way too long
I’m so gifted at finding what I don’t like the most
So I think it’s time for us to have a toast
Kanye admits that he’s a pessimist. He admits he’s not perfect and that he has flaws but nonetheless he says to toast. To celebrate the flaws in everyone and that everyone has to come to terms with the fact that we’re all a little messed up to some degree.
Even without all the meaning, the song still rings in my ear, the piano keys repeating in my mind constantly. Even the soulful ending of the song with a barely distinguishable voice, he sings the chorus, with his voice so distorted it now mimics an electric guitar more than a human voice. I listened to this over and over and over again during high school, alone in my room with the lights off. The youtube thumbnail illuminating my screen since I’m too broke to afford any premium music app subscriptions.
While the song acts as a public apology for his personality, underneath it all, the song kind of hints that he’s not gonna change. The world just has to figure out how to deal with Kanye being Kanye, or “Run away fast as you can.”
I really liked your take on the famous Kanye West song Runaway because this is also one of my favorite songs. I resonated with the way it continuously runs through your mind even after listening to it. I feel like this song really can connect with so many people because everyone has something that they want to run from like a struggle or obstacle and thats why its so relatable. I think that it makes me think about how sometimes I am also a pessimist and look for the bad instead of the good but I like that the song makes me realize that so i can fix it. Overall I think you choose a really good song for your response and I loved reading it.