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''The Life of Pablo'' was supported by a series of [[promotional single]]s released in conjunction with West's [[GOOD Fridays]] giveaways, including "[[Real Friends (song)|Real Friends]]" and "No More Parties in LA," and was premiered at [[Madison Square Garden]] as part of West's [[Yeezy Season|Yeezy Season 3]] fashion collaboration with [[Adidas]]. The album was initially launched exclusively through the streaming service [[Tidal (service)|Tidal]] after a series of delays in its recording and finalization, including multiple changes to its track sequencing and title in the previous weeks. Following the album's streaming release on Tidal, West continued to tinker with the final [[Audio mixing (recorded music)|mixes]] of the album, declaring it a "a living breathing changing creative expression." An updated version of the album was made available on other streaming services and for purchase on his website on April 1, 2016. Def Jam has confirmed that the album will receive further updates in the coming months.<ref name="The New York Times">{{cite web|last1=Coscarelli|first1=Joe|title=400 Million Streams Later, Kanye West’s ‘Pablo’ Is to Get a Wider Release|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/02/arts/music/kanye-west-life-pablo-tidal-streams.html|website=The New York Times|publisher=The New York Times|accessdate=1 April 2016}}</ref>
''The Life of Pablo'' was supported by a series of [[promotional single]]s released in conjunction with West's [[GOOD Fridays]] giveaways, including "[[Real Friends (song)|Real Friends]]" and "No More Parties in LA," and was premiered at [[Madison Square Garden]] as part of West's [[Yeezy Season|Yeezy Season 3]] fashion collaboration with [[Adidas]]. The album was initially launched exclusively through the streaming service [[Tidal (service)|Tidal]] after a series of delays in its recording and finalization, including multiple changes to its track sequencing and title in the previous weeks. Following the album's streaming release on Tidal, West continued to tinker with the final [[Audio mixing (recorded music)|mixes]] of the album, declaring it a "a living breathing changing creative expression." An updated version of the album was made available on other streaming services and for purchase on his website on April 1, 2016. Def Jam has confirmed that the album will receive further updates in the coming months.<ref name="The New York Times">{{cite web|last1=Coscarelli|first1=Joe|title=400 Million Streams Later, Kanye West’s ‘Pablo’ Is to Get a Wider Release|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/02/arts/music/kanye-west-life-pablo-tidal-streams.html|website=The New York Times|publisher=The New York Times|accessdate=1 April 2016}}</ref>


''The Life of Pablo'' received mostly positive reviews from critics, with particular attention drawn to its kaleidoscopic musical range and fragmented composition. As [[Tidal (service)|Tidal]] refused to disclose [[streaming data]] to [[Nielsen SoundScan]], it did not chart in the United States. Nonetheless, its exclusive release on Tidal resulted in a large increase in subscribers to the service and broke piracy records with over 500,000 illegal downloads within the first three days of its release. According to Tidal, ''The Life of Pablo'' was streamed 250 million times in the first 10 days of its initial exclusive release, and on April 1, West released the full album for streaming on competing services.
''The Life of Pablo'' received mostly positive reviews from critics, with particular attention drawn to its kaleidoscopic musical range and fragmented composition. As [[Tidal (service)|Tidal]] refused to disclose [[streaming data]] to [[Nielsen SoundScan]], it did not chart in the United States initially. Nonetheless, its exclusive release on Tidal resulted in a large increase in subscribers to the service and broke piracy records with over 500,000 illegal downloads within the first three days of its release. According to Tidal, ''The Life of Pablo'' was streamed 250 million times in the first 10 days of its initial exclusive release, and on April 1, West released the full album for streaming on competing services. The album then debuted at #1 on the [[Billboard 200]] Chart, the first in history where an album not up for sale went #1 solely on streams.
==Background==
==Background==
In November 2013, Kanye West began working on his seventh album,{{sfn|Kim|2016}}{{sfn|Billboard Staff|2015}} titled ''So Help Me God'', which was initially setting for the release date in 2014.{{sfn|Grow|2014}} This early version of the album included these several tracks that were released as stand-alone [[Single (music)|singles]] or were given to other artists such as "God Level" (which was released as part of the promotion for the [[Adidas|Adidas' World Cup]]), "[[All Day (Kanye West song)|All Day]]", "[[Only One (Kanye West song)|Only One]]", "[[FourFiveSeconds]]", "Tell Your Friends" (by [[The Weeknd]]) and "[[3500 (song)|3500]]" (by [[Travis Scott (musician)|Travis Scott]]).{{sfn|Minsker|2014a}}{{sfn|Hernandez|2015}} Some of the earlier tracks to make the [[wikt:final cut|final cut]] for ''The Life of Pablo'' were "Famous" (formerly titled "Nina Chop") and "[[Wolves (Kanye West song)|Wolves]]", the latter of which West performed on ''[[Saturday Night Live]]''{{'}}s [[Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special|40th anniversary episode]] with Australian recording artist [[Sia Furler|Sia]] and fellow rapper [[Vic Mensa]].{{sfn|Young|2015}} However, this version of "Wolves" appearing on the album had initially removed the Sia and Vic Mensa parts, replacing them with a sole verse by American [[Contemporary R&B|R&B]] recording artist [[Frank Ocean]], and as of March 2016, it prompted West's change of the track, after tweeting that he was to 'fix it' from the TIDAL version released on TLOP's debut.{{sfn|Reiff|2016}}{{sfn|Kot|2016}}
In November 2013, Kanye West began working on his seventh album,{{sfn|Kim|2016}}{{sfn|Billboard Staff|2015}} titled ''So Help Me God'', which was initially setting for the release date in 2014.{{sfn|Grow|2014}} This early version of the album included these several tracks that were released as stand-alone [[Single (music)|singles]] or were given to other artists such as "God Level" (which was released as part of the promotion for the [[Adidas|Adidas' World Cup]]), "[[All Day (Kanye West song)|All Day]]", "[[Only One (Kanye West song)|Only One]]", "[[FourFiveSeconds]]", "Tell Your Friends" (by [[The Weeknd]]) and "[[3500 (song)|3500]]" (by [[Travis Scott (musician)|Travis Scott]]).{{sfn|Minsker|2014a}}{{sfn|Hernandez|2015}} Some of the earlier tracks to make the [[wikt:final cut|final cut]] for ''The Life of Pablo'' were "Famous" (formerly titled "Nina Chop") and "[[Wolves (Kanye West song)|Wolves]]", the latter of which West performed on ''[[Saturday Night Live]]''{{'}}s [[Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special|40th anniversary episode]] with Australian recording artist [[Sia Furler|Sia]] and fellow rapper [[Vic Mensa]].{{sfn|Young|2015}} However, this version of "Wolves" appearing on the album had initially removed the Sia and Vic Mensa parts, replacing them with a sole verse by American [[Contemporary R&B|R&B]] recording artist [[Frank Ocean]], and as of March 2016, it prompted West's change of the track, after tweeting that he was to 'fix it' from the TIDAL version released on TLOP's debut.{{sfn|Reiff|2016}}{{sfn|Kot|2016}}

Revision as of 12:11, 9 April 2016

Untitled

The Life of Pablo is the seventh studio album by American rapper Kanye West. It was released on February 14, 2016, by GOOD Music and Def Jam Recordings. The album's production was handled by a variety of contributors led by West, including Mike Dean, Rick Rubin, Metro Boomin, Hudson Mohawke, Charlie Heat and DJDS. Recording sessions took place in various locations; including cities in Italy, Mexico, Canada, and the United States. The album features a wide array of guest vocalists, including Ty Dolla $ign, Desiigner, Kid Cudi, Kelly Price, Caroline Shaw, The-Dream, Chance the Rapper, Frank Ocean, Rihanna, The Weeknd, Sia and Kendrick Lamar.

The Life of Pablo was supported by a series of promotional singles released in conjunction with West's GOOD Fridays giveaways, including "Real Friends" and "No More Parties in LA," and was premiered at Madison Square Garden as part of West's Yeezy Season 3 fashion collaboration with Adidas. The album was initially launched exclusively through the streaming service Tidal after a series of delays in its recording and finalization, including multiple changes to its track sequencing and title in the previous weeks. Following the album's streaming release on Tidal, West continued to tinker with the final mixes of the album, declaring it a "a living breathing changing creative expression." An updated version of the album was made available on other streaming services and for purchase on his website on April 1, 2016. Def Jam has confirmed that the album will receive further updates in the coming months.[3]

The Life of Pablo received mostly positive reviews from critics, with particular attention drawn to its kaleidoscopic musical range and fragmented composition. As Tidal refused to disclose streaming data to Nielsen SoundScan, it did not chart in the United States initially. Nonetheless, its exclusive release on Tidal resulted in a large increase in subscribers to the service and broke piracy records with over 500,000 illegal downloads within the first three days of its release. According to Tidal, The Life of Pablo was streamed 250 million times in the first 10 days of its initial exclusive release, and on April 1, West released the full album for streaming on competing services. The album then debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 Chart, the first in history where an album not up for sale went #1 solely on streams.

Background

In November 2013, Kanye West began working on his seventh album,[4][5] titled So Help Me God, which was initially setting for the release date in 2014.[6] This early version of the album included these several tracks that were released as stand-alone singles or were given to other artists such as "God Level" (which was released as part of the promotion for the Adidas' World Cup), "All Day", "Only One", "FourFiveSeconds", "Tell Your Friends" (by The Weeknd) and "3500" (by Travis Scott).[7][8] Some of the earlier tracks to make the final cut for The Life of Pablo were "Famous" (formerly titled "Nina Chop") and "Wolves", the latter of which West performed on Saturday Night Live's 40th anniversary episode with Australian recording artist Sia and fellow rapper Vic Mensa.[9] However, this version of "Wolves" appearing on the album had initially removed the Sia and Vic Mensa parts, replacing them with a sole verse by American R&B recording artist Frank Ocean, and as of March 2016, it prompted West's change of the track, after tweeting that he was to 'fix it' from the TIDAL version released on TLOP's debut.[10][11]

Chance the Rapper has five writing credits on the album, as well as a feature on "Ultralight Beam".[12]

In 2015, West decided to changed the album title to SWISH, but then he clarified that this could still be subject to change.[13] On January 26, 2016, West posted a supposed finalized tracklisting on his Twitter account,[14] along with a new tentative name to the album, called Waves, which led to a brief dispute between him and a fellow rapper Wiz Khalifa.[15] On February 4, 2016, West would call upon the Big Boy's Neighborhood radio station, to confirm that he still hadn't settled on the final title for the album.[16] On February 9, West revealed the official album title, which was just an acronym for T.L.O.P.. He then offered free tickets for his Yeezy fashion show at Madison Square Garden, along with some pairs of the latest Yeezy sneakers to anyone who could decode the acronym. On the following day, West unveiled the full title on Twitter: The Life of Pablo.[17] On February 11, West tweeted the album cover,[18] and then debuted only a portion from the album during his Yeezy fashion show later that day, which was intended to be the album's official release day.[19]

West revised the tracklisting on multiple occasions, ultimately modifying it on February 12, from ten tracks to seventeen.[20] West had initially planned to release The Life of Pablo on February 12, announcing it in a tweet that read "The album is being mastered and will be out today… added on a couple of tracks…".[20] However, the release was delayed in order to include one final track, titled "Waves", which had been removed from the original tracklist. On February 15, Chance the Rapper, who fought and convinced West to keep "Waves" on the album, annotated his lyrics from "Ultralight Beam" on Genius,[21] explaining that this track was initially to be the album's outro, rather than the opener included on the version made available on Tidal.[22]

Recording

The album was recorded between 2013 and 2016, with recording for the track "No More Parties in LA" starting in 2010, during the sessions for West's fifth studio album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.[23][24] Reports stated that the album was written and recorded in several locations; including Los Angeles, Mexico, the Isle of Wight and Florence, Italy. West's recording in Los Angeles was rumored to be at Shangri-La Studios, which is the home base of Yeezus executive producer Rick Rubin. American singer Ty Dolla Sign reported his recording experience with West and Paul McCartney, saying they were

"...in Mexico, at this big house. The back of the house had no walls and no doors; it was just open [and facing] the ocean. You would think he would want the mic enclosed and all that but we just had the doors open, and it came out perfect."[25]

The production in Mexico, occurred with McCartney and frequent collaborator Rihanna.[26] American rappers Pusha T and Consequence confirmed that they had ended their feud, in order to work with West on his seventh album, with Consequence saying in an interview: "Pusha and I deaded everything and we creatively vibed with Kanye for this new LP."[27] In February 2015, while West was continuing to work on the album, he confirmed that the album is at about 80% completion. He went on to say that:

I'm trying to get it finished. I'm trying to get it to the people… Release dates is played out. So the surprise is going to be a surprise. There go the surprise... [It's] cookout music that just feels good. My last album was protest music. I was like, 'I'm going to take my ball and go home.'[28]

Ty Dolla Sign is featured on "Real Friends" and "Fade".

In April 2014, in an interview with Self-Titled, GOOD Music's producer Evian Christ explained that while West wasn’t always musically clear, he seemed "...interested in pushing aesthetic boundaries as far into the Avant as possible. Kanye is the one dude who's like, 'This is not experimental enough. This is too poppy. Make something else.' The other guys are like, 'We don’t get it.'" Christ, admitted that Kanye's "a dream to work with", adding that "...no one else gives you that level of creative freedom. When he wants you to work to a blueprint, the blueprint is: 'Don't make a rap beat. Anything but a rap beat.'"[29] In May 2014, in an interview with Billboard, James Fauntleroy of Cocaine 80s spoke of his recording sessions with West and said, "I went in there and did some stuff on that shit. I sang shit on there and left. We'll see how it turns out, when I went in it was early, [during] the early stages. I know there will be a lot more other people, a lot of interjections." Also in May 2014, Atlanta-based producer Mike Will Made It, has been quoted as saying "Kanye has been trying new ideas and has been reaching out to me for new ideas, Whether or not it's the "Black Skinhead Remix", we don't know, but it's definitely dope what we have so far, [We’re] just working, period. It depends on where the music is lands, but hopefully we do something on his next album."[30]

In March 2015, in an interview with MTV, Big Sean spoke about the multiple recording locations involved this album, whilst promoting his own third studio album, Dark Sky Paradise: "...We done did a couple, to like Mexico, like how we did Hawaii before and stuff like that. We work as unit for sure, that’s all I’m gonna say I’m not gonna drop nothing else."[31] In an October 2015 interview with The Fader, Post Malone, who (along with Ty Dolla Sign) is featured on the track "Fade", discussed his experiences with West:

I met Kanye at Kylie Jenner's party and Kanye was like, 'Let's make something.' So I went over to Ye's and we just started working and then we just started talking. And we just kept on going. I went in the studio with Kanye and we just recorded the scratch vocals and then I wrote over it… He was just a normal guy, like me, and super cool. He was wearing all camo, just all camo. He was very quiet and he was very, very humble.[32]

File:Desiigner.jpg
Brooklyn-based rapper Desiigner, pictured here meeting West at LAX in 2015, contributed vocals to two songs on Pablo.

On January 27, 2016, West revealed the update of the final track-listing on his official Twitter account. This updated track-listing also revealed a number of the unannounced potential collaborators, which included Earl Sweatshirt, Plain Pat, The-Dream, Tyler, The Creator, The World Famous Tony Williams, Diddy, Danny! (whose own gospel-influenced album The Book Of Daniel was mentioned by a rep for West[33] as a companion album to Pablo), A$AP Rocky, Kid Cudi and French Montana, as well as a return of his frequent production collaborators, such as Mike Dean, Hudson Mohawke, Vicious, and Noah Goldstein. [34][35][36] Following his album's premier at Madison Square Garden, it was revealed that Brooklyn-based rapper Desiigner contributed vocals to "Pt. 2" and "Freestyle 4".[37]

Following the album's release in February 2016, West made note of his intentions to continue working on the mix of "Wolves"; the version of released as part of the album was notable for featuring new guest vocals from Frank Ocean and Caroline Shaw and excising the vocals previously featured by both Vic Mensa and Sia Furler. In the following month, West clarified that he was still altering the album and finalizing the mixes on various tracks, including "Famous" and "Wolves". He described Pablo as "a living breathing changing creative expression."[38] On March 13, an altered version of "Famous" appeared on Tidal. On March 30, updates to an additional 12 tracks were made on Tidal, including alternate mixes and vocals additions.[39]

Music

The Life of Pablo was noted for its "raw, occasionally even intentionally messy, composition" in distinction to West's previous albums.[40] Rolling Stone wrote that "this is a messy album that feels like it was made that way on purpose, after the laser-sharp intensity of Yeezus," stating that "It's designed to sound like a work in progress." Carl Wilson of Slate suggested that "the point is that in the context of all this sonic landscaping, in West’s kamikaze, mood-swinging way, Pablo now seems undeniably (not half-assedly, as I’d been about to conclude) like an album of struggle," adding that the album created "strange links between Kanye’s many iterations—soul-sample enthusiast, heartbroken Auto-Tune crooner, hedonistic avant-pop composer, industrial-rap shit-talker" while making use of bass and percussion lines "that are only the tail-end decay of some lost starting place, some vanished rhythmic Eden."[41] The NME described Pablo as "an album on which, at a moment’s notice, Kanye veers from futuristic beats on the likes of 'Feedback' to bog-standard modern trap – as when Atlanta rapper Young Thug turns up on ‘Father Stretch My Hands, Pt. 2' – to vintage soul on ‘Ultra Light Beam’.[42] The song "Famous" features a segue from "braggadocious, bell-ringing hip-hop" into samples of Sister Nancy's dancehall song "Bam Bam" chopped up over the chord progression featured in Nina Simone's "Do What You Gotta Do."[43]

Prior to the album's release, West tweeted out that the album was a hip hop album, as well as a gospel album.[44] Additionally, in an interview on Big Boy Radio, West stated "When I was sitting in the studio with Kirk, Kirk Franklin, and we're just going through it, I said this is a gospel album, with a whole lot of cursing on it, but it's still a gospel album," adding "The gospel according to Ye. It's not exactly what happened in the Bible, but it's this story idea of Mary Magdalene becoming Mary."[45] "Ultralight Beam", particularly, is noted to feature several gospel elements, from "the sound of a 4-year-old preaching gospel, some organ," as well as a church choir singing the refrain of "This is a God dream."[46] Chance the Rapper and his instrumental collaborator, Donnie Trumpet bring elements of soul revivalism into the track during Chance's guest verse.[10] Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune wrote in his review of The Life of Pablo, "West's version of gospel touches on some of those sonic cues — heavy organ, soaring choirs — but seems more preoccupied with gospel text and the notion of redemption."[11]

Lyrics

Entertainment Weekly noted the album's frequent meditations on matters of faith, family, and West's own role as a cultural figure while observing that "Pablo frequently (some might say abruptly) toggles between Sad Kanye and the bombastic and celebratory Kanye."[47] The Daily Telegraph described West as "constantly veering between swaggering bravado and insecurity bordering on paranoia, smashing the sacred against the profane and disrupting his own flowing grooves with interjections that sound like they are spilling over from another studio altogether."[48] GQ wrote that the two-part "Father Stretch My Hands" "begins as a gospel song about fucking models, transitions halfway into a soul-baring confessional dance track, then drops in two entire verses of an entirely different song about drug-dealing and cars by an 18-year-old Brooklyn rapper, before resolving into a meditative piece for vocoder by a contemporary classical composer and ending with a snippet of the sampled gospel song that the whole thing started from, just to remind you how far we've traveled from there in the span of four minutes."[43]

The song "Famous" included the controversial lyric "I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex/Why? I made that bitch famous."[49] The lyric refers to country/pop singer Taylor Swift, whose acceptance speech West interrupted at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, and was heavily publicized and criticized by media outlets and listeners.[50] Kot called the song "an example of just how brilliant and infuriating West can be at the same time."[11] Jayson Greene of Pitchfork wrote that the lyric "feels like a piece of bathroom graffiti made to purposefully reignite the most racially-charged rivalry in 21st-century pop."[51] "Feedback" features West's riposte to his critics: "Name one genius that ain’t crazy."[47] The interlude "I Love Kanye" features tongue-in-cheek[11] and self-aware lyrics referencing West's image in the public.[10] Tracks such as "FML," "Real Friends," and "Freestyle 4" feature "gloomy, doomy" discussions of trust issues, antidepressants, and familial problems.[47] The song "Wolves" features the lyrics, "Cover Nori in lamb's wool/ We surrounded by/ The fuckin wolves," among other Biblical allusions, offering a comparison between him and his wife to Mary and Joseph.[46]

Release and promotion

On January 8, 2016, West's wife Kim Kardashian announced via Twitter the release of "Real Friends", which initiated the return of West's GOOD Fridays.[52] West had previously done a weekly free music giveaway leading up to the release of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. "Real Friends" was released the day and it was announced via SoundCloud, simultaneously along with the album's release date and a snippet of the forthcoming GOOD Friday release, titled "No More Parties in LA", which features guest vocals from Kendrick Lamar.[53][54] "No More Parties in L.A." had its proper release on the following week, also via West's Soundcloud account. The song was produced by Madlib and West, which contains a sample of "Suzie Thundertussy" performed by Walter Morrison.[55] On February 12, 2016, after premiering The Life of Pablo during his third season of Adidas Yeezy's fashion show event, West released a new track, titled "30 Hours", as part of his GOOD Fridays series.[56]

On February 14, West performed "Highlights" and "Ultralight Beam" on Saturday Night Live.[57] The Life of Pablo was later released exclusively through the streaming service Tidal on the same day.[58] It was available for purchase for a few hours but reverted to streaming-only after that.[59] West announced that the album would be available outside of Tidal a week later,[60] however, on the following day, West claimed that he would never release the album outside of Tidal, encouraging his fans to sign up for the service.[61] On the same day, Pigeons & Planes detailed that the version of the album, which was made available for streaming on Tidal was not its final version.[62] After an active weekend, during which he was finishing his album, he stated that he was $53,000,000 in personal debt and called for Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to invest $1 billion in West's ideas. He also called on other tech billionaires to help him.[63]

Following the album's release, West made clear his intentions to continue altering the music, declaring it a "living breathing changing creative expression." In March 2016, over a month after the album's release, West updated the album's Tidal track list with a reworked version of "Wolves", which includes previously removed vocals from Vic Mensa and Sia, and separated the ending portion sung by Frank Ocean into a separate track called "Frank's Track".[64] Following its Tidal exclusive release, it was announced that "Famous" would be the lead single to the proposed "final album." The track was made available to stream through Apple Music, Google Play and Spotify among other streaming services on March 28, 2016.[2] "I Love Kanye" was the next song from the album to be released on streaming services other than Tidal.[65] After updates to much of the album were released on Tidal in late March, media outlets reported that the album would be available to stream through other services as well.[39] On April 1, 2016, West released the full album for streaming on Spotify, Apple Music, and Google Play. He also made the album available for purchase on his official website, www.kanyewest.com.[66] Def Jam has confirmed that the album will continue to receive updates in the coming months.[3]

Commercial performance

After its Tidal release, West urged the public to download the application to hear the album, which resulted in it temporarily reaching the number one spot on the US App Store.[67] Only a few days following its release, the album had already been illegally downloaded over 500,000 times.[68] It was reported that West had lost $10 million in album sales due to the infringement, as Tidal did not report the streams to the Nielsen Music.[69] West later tweeted that he "was thinking about not making CDs ever again".[70] These details were later revealed to be deformed reports from news outlets, as Tidal had not yet revealed the number of streams or in the increase of subscribers following the album's release. It was later revealed that subscribers more than doubled to 3 million users after the album was released, with the album gaining an estimated 250 million streams within the first 10 days, proving the initial reports false.[71] On April 9, 2016, it was reported by Billboard that the album would debut atop of the Billboard 200, making it the first album to reach the summit purely from streaming.[72]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[73]
The A.V. ClubA[10]
Chicago Tribune[11]
Entertainment WeeklyB+[47]
The Guardian[74]
Pitchfork Media9.0/10[46]
Q[75]
Rolling Stone[76]
Slant Magazine[77]
Spin8/10[78]

The Life of Pablo received generally positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 75, based on 35 reviews.[79] Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield dubbed it both a mess and masterpiece: "This is a messy album that feels like it was made that way on purpose [...] West just drops broken pieces of his psyche all over the album and challenges you to fit them together."[76] The A.V. Club’s Corbin Reiff opined that "it feels far different from any of the tightly constructed, singular works of West’s past," asserting instead that "as a beautiful, messy, mixed-up collection of 18 songs, it's a brilliant document."[10] Writing for The New York Times, Jon Caramanica stated, "West [...] has perfected the art of aesthetic and intellectual bricolage, shape-shifting in real time and counting on listeners to keep up," concluding that "this is Tumblr-as-album, the piecing together of divergent fragments to make a cohesive whole."[80] In a positive review, Jayson Greene of Pitchfork Media wrote that "a madcap sense of humor animates all [West's] best work, and The Life of Pablo has a freewheeling energy that is infectious and unique to his discography," finding that "somehow, it comes off as both his most labored-over and unfinished album, full of asterisks and corrections and footnotes."[46]

Ray Rahman of Entertainment Weekly deemed it "an ambitious album that finds the rapper struggling to compact his many identities into one weird, uncomfortable, glorious whole [...] Like the man himself, the album is emotional, explosive, unpredictable, and undeniably thrilling."[47] In a mixed review for The Guardian, Alexis Petridis described the album as "at turns, rambling, chaotic, deeply underwhelming, impressively audacious, and completely infuriating," suggesting that "[i]t appears to have had ideas thrown at it until it feels messy and incoherent" despite concluding that "when The Life of Pablo is good, it's very good indeed."[74] The Daily Telegraph's Neil McCormick wrote, "The Life of Pablo is certainly rich in musical scope, chock a block with inspired ideas," but also felt the work to be "so self-involved it crosses over into self-delusion, marked by such a tangible absence of perspective and objectivity it is as if [West] has actually lost sight of the elemental basics of his art."[48] Writing for the Chicago Tribune, Greg Kot felt that "The Life of Pablo sounds like a work in progress rather than a finished album."[11] In another mixed review, PopMatters's Evan Sawdey wore that "The Life of Pablo's obscurities and eccentricities make it ripe for endless dissection by West’s fans and followers, but make no mistake: this albums is flawed, it’s problematic, and most of all, it’s no masterpiece."[81]

Track listing

Credits adapted from West's official website[82] and Tidal.[83]

The Life of Pablo
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Ultralight Beam"
5:11
2."Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1"
2:12
3."Pt. 2"
  • West
  • Menace
  • Rubin
  • Plain Pat[a]
  • Shaw[b]
2:07
4."Famous"
3:10
5."Feedback"
  • West
  • Brown
  • Goldstein
  • Young
  • Darius Jenkins
  • K. Rachel Mills
  • Marcus Byrd
  • Bennett
  • Ardalan Sarfaraz
  • Manouchehr Cheshmazar
  • West
  • Charlie Heat[a]
  • Goldstein[a]
2:23
6."Low Lights"
  • West
  • DJDS
  • M. Dean[b]
2:08
7."Highlights"
3:14
8."Freestyle 4"
2:00
9."I Love Kanye"
  • West
  • West
0:44
10."Waves"
  • West
  • Charlie Heat
  • Hudson Mohawke[a]
  • Metro Boomin[a]
  • M. Dean[a]
  • Anthony Kilhoffer[b]
2:56
11."FML"
3:49
12."Real Friends"
4:04
13."Wolves"
4:53
14."Frank's Track"
  • West
  • Cashmere Cat
  • Sinjin Hawke
0:38
15."Siiiiiiiiilver Surffffeeeeer Intermission"
  • West
0:55
16."30 Hours"
  • West
  • Riggins
  • M. Dean
  • Goldstein[b]
5:14
17."No More Parties in LA"
6:04
18."Facts (Charlie Heat Version)"
  • West
  • Metro Boomin
  • Southside
  • Charlie Heat
3:15
19."Fade"
3:14
Total length:58:02

Notes

Sample credits

Credits adapted from West's official website.[82]

Charts

Chart (2016) Peak
position
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[84] 13
Irish Albums (IRMA)[85] 8
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[86] 1
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[87] 2
US Billboard 200[88] 1

Release history

List of release dates, formats, label, and reference
Date Format Label Ref.
February 14, 2016 Streaming (Tidal exclusive)
[58]
April 1, 2016 Streaming, digital download [89][90]

Citations

  1. ^ Cheung, HP. "Kanye West Shares 'The Life of Pablo' Alternate Cover". Hypetrak. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  2. ^ a b "Kanye West & Rihanna's "Famous" Will Be The First Single Off 'The Life Of Pablo' - Idolator". Music News, Reviews, and Gossip on Idolator.com.
  3. ^ a b Coscarelli, Joe. "400 Million Streams Later, Kanye West's 'Pablo' Is to Get a Wider Release". The New York Times. The New York Times. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
  4. ^ Kim 2016.
  5. ^ Billboard Staff 2015.
  6. ^ Grow 2014.
  7. ^ Minsker 2014a.
  8. ^ Hernandez 2015.
  9. ^ Young 2015.
  10. ^ a b c d e Reiff 2016.
  11. ^ a b c d e f Kot 2016.
  12. ^ Terry 2016.
  13. ^ West 2015.
  14. ^ West 2016a.
  15. ^ West 2016b.
  16. ^ nightsinoctober 2016.
  17. ^ Statt 2016.
  18. ^ Camp 2016.
  19. ^ Phillips 2016.
  20. ^ a b West 2016d.
  21. ^ Chance the Rapper 2016.
  22. ^ Rossignol 2016.
  23. ^ Eric 2016.
  24. ^ Ortiz 2016.
  25. ^ McKenna 2015.
  26. ^ Beauchemin 2015.
  27. ^ Kennedy 2015.
  28. ^ McCown 2015.
  29. ^ Young 2014.
  30. ^ Ramirez 2014.
  31. ^ Markman 2015.
  32. ^ Gase 2015.
  33. ^ Saul, Heather (February 10, 2016). "Our only comment is T.L.O.P. will be in stores February 11 and The Book Of Daniel will be in stores 29 February". The Independent. Retrieved February 10, 2016. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  34. ^ Gibsone 2016.
  35. ^ Platon 2016.
  36. ^ DeVille 2016.
  37. ^ Danny Schwartz (February 11, 2016). "Brooklyn Rapper Desiigner Signs To G.O.O.D. Music". HotNewHipHop.
  38. ^ Dandridge-Lemco, Ben. "Kanye West Is Updating "Wolves"". The Fader. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
  39. ^ a b "Kanye West updates 12 tracks on The Life of Pablo, album available everywhere on Friday". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved March 31, 2016.
  40. ^ Vain 2016.
  41. ^ Wilson 2016.
  42. ^ Haynes 2016.
  43. ^ a b Raymer 2016.
  44. ^ West 2016c.
  45. ^ Thomasos 2016.
  46. ^ a b c d Greene 2016. sfn error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFGreene2016 (help)
  47. ^ a b c d e Rahman 2016.
  48. ^ a b McCormick 2016.
  49. ^ Harris 2016.
  50. ^ Kot 2016; Greene 2016 harvnb error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFGreene2016 (help); Raymer 2016; Harris 2016.
  51. ^ Green 2016.
  52. ^ Monroe 2016a.
  53. ^ Feeney 2016.
  54. ^ Minsker & Strauss 2016.
  55. ^ Robertson 2016.
  56. ^ Lilah 2016.
  57. ^ Truong 2016.
  58. ^ a b Monroe 2016b.
  59. ^ Blum, Sam; Dionne, Zach (February 14, 2016). "You Can Stream Kanye West's 'The Life of Pablo' Album Now, Finally". Fuse. Retrieved March 27, 2016.
  60. ^ West 2016f.
  61. ^ Stutz 2016.
  62. ^ Price 2016.
  63. ^ "Kanye West claims to be" 2016.
  64. ^ Brandle, Lars (March 16, 2016). "Kanye West Shares Reworked Version of 'Wolves' on Tidal". Billboard. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  65. ^ "i love kanye".
  66. ^ "Kanye West's 'The Life of Pablo' Now Available to Buy Or Stream, 'Saint Pablo' Leaks". Billboard. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
  67. ^ Newcomb 2016.
  68. ^ Blumenfeld 2016.
  69. ^ "Kanye West loses $10MILLION in sales after Life of Pablo's disastrous roll-out". Mail Online. February 18, 2016.
  70. ^ Kennedy, Gerrick D. (March 7, 2016). "Kanye West says he's done with CDs -- but what about 'The Life of Pablo'?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
  71. ^ "Tidal Claims Three Million Global Subscribers, Finally Releases Kanye's 'Pablo' Stream Numbers". Retrieved March 31, 2016.
  72. ^ "Kanye West's 'Life of Pablo' Headed For A No. 1 Debut on Billboard 200, Despite Wild Rollout". Billboard. Retrieved April 9, 2016.
  73. ^ Jeffries 2016.
  74. ^ a b Petridis 2016.
  75. ^ Anon. 2016, p. 110.
  76. ^ a b Sheffield 2016.
  77. ^ Rainis 2016.
  78. ^ Tate 2016.
  79. ^ Metacritic 2016.
  80. ^ Caramanica, Jon (February 14, 2016). "Review: Kanye West's 'The Life of Pablo,' Songs of Praise and Self". The New York Times. New York. Retrieved February 14, 2016.
  81. ^ Sawdey, Evan. "Kanye West: The Life of Pablo". PopMatters. Retrieved February 28, 2016.
  82. ^ a b "The Life of Pablo – Credits". www.kanyewest.com. Kanye West. February 17, 2016. Archived from the original on February 20, 2016. Retrieved February 17, 2016. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  83. ^ "TIDAL". Listen.tidal.com. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  84. ^ "Danishcharts.dk – Kanye West – The Life of Pablo". Hung Medien. Retrieved February 28, 2016.
  85. ^ "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 14, 2016". Chart-Track. IRMA. Retrieved April 8, 2016.
  86. ^ "VG-lista - Topp 40 Album uke 14, 2016". VG-lista. Retrieved April 9, 2016.
  87. ^ "Sverigetopplistan - Sveriges Officiella Topplista". Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved April 9, 2016. Click on "Veckans albumlista".
  88. ^ "Kanye West Headed For No. 1 Debut - Billboard". Billboard. Retrieved April 9, 2016.. Billboard
  89. ^ "Kanye West updates 12 tracks on The Life of Pablo, album available everywhere on Friday". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved March 31, 2016.
  90. ^ "Digital Download". Tidal. Retrieved March 31, 2016.

Sources

  1. ^ Rainis, James (February 19, 2016). "Kanye West: The Life of Pablo". Slant Magazine. Retrieved February 19, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
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