14 DAY TRIAL // Kanye West returned to the Grammys last night, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, where the 2015 edition of the gala took place, after 6 years of absence.
Kanye and the Grammys never really got along, mostly because he would often think the Academy hated him and that’s why he never won. Deep down inside, he was convinced he made the best music of all time, and he would often say so in his many public rants.
But all is forgiven when you have to promote a new album: Kanye returned to the awards show to perform for the first time live his brand new song, “Only One,” which will be included on his next album, the follow-up to the best-selling “Yeezus.”
The song is written from Kanye’s mother’s perspective, and is like a letter from Donda to her son, Kanye himself. Kanye’s daughter with Kim Kardashian, Nori / North West, is also referenced heavily.
I am a Kanye fan (of sorts), but if you ask me, that’s where the good things I could say about this new song stop: it’s too heavily Autotuned not to cause me headaches, and too much so to actually render any emotion - emotion of the kind I imagine he wanted to convey.
For the live showing, Kanye went completely minimalistic, hidden in the shadows as he stood over one single light shining from the floor. He went so “artsy” that he even walked off the stage before the song ended. Because, apparently, Kanye West doesn’t need your applause.
Check it out.