Prior to its release, much fuss had been made about
808s and Heartbreak. It shouldn’t really come as a surprise, Kanye West’s celebrity status has grown immensely since his
College Dropout debut. Even releasing an album next to Britney Spears and Guns N’ Roses, it seems he is able to keep the stage light directed at him. Regardless of all the fuss about auto-tune and West’s personal life; the fact that the spotlight follows him as though he were a beatle is testament to a marvelously created marketing mix. In itself the heavy switch to auto-tune and vocoders isn’t in any way revolutionary, he is following the style not leading it. Yet it is not fair to accuse him of milking the sound of the day. His music and production has evolved and developed on its roots rather than just soullessly keeping up with the freshest sounds and trends.
A significant talking point surrounding the release of
808s and Heartbreakis Kanye West’s use of the audio processor auto-tune. Kanye is neither the originator nor the most significant user of the technology, being brought to prominence a couple of times, even by Cher in her very-dated album
Believe in 1998. Yet the current trend lead by T-Pain is of much more consequence, and
808s and Heartbreak like a number of its contemporaries well and truly draws on the production styling and technique of T-Pain. It is with no shame that he utilizes it on songs like
Heartless. His dry voice is given colourful contortions in the top-notes of his register, the digitalization very apparent. In contrast the lower vocal line sounds very dried out and downbeat, creating attractive contrast. The combination of tribal-leaning 808 beat and auto-tune is perhaps best used on
Heartless, and though it seems like he may have just ripped T-Pain’s formula, his execution and arrangement is masterful.
While his debut and freshman albums suffered from their use of skits, the switch to a tighter package wasn’t executed perfectly in
Graduation. The album falling flat in a couple a places. Strangely
808s begins with a 6 minute piece,
Say You Will that develops at a very slow pace. It will not appeal to the bulk of his fan base, and as such it may be considered from a sales-orientated standpoint to be a mistake. The quick-shifting vocals in the first half work nicely with the metronome like beeping and bass heavy 808 beat. Yet sadly the song continues on past its initial hook and over-indulges itself in an extended outro. The ending too smacks somewhat of hedonism,
Pinocchio Story being a lengthy freestyle rap taken from a concert in Singapore. Yet as much as one may approach it ready to cringe, the slow-paced and downbeat song has some subtle beauty to it.
The middle segment of the album however is quite tightly packed. Although a couple of songs like
Robocop may receive the ire of some, when he focuses on a simple vision as in
Street Lights he delivers some striking songs. In
Street-Lights West delicately weaves in sample vocals, that add a nice touch to his own vocal line that follows a fairly linear path. The song builds up rhythm and the dull-thudding beat pushes on with West’s vocals past the softer scenery of choral voices and short piano melodies. While it was acknowledged early on that he had talent as a producer, songs like
Street Lights highlight his growth as a producer. The final album version of
Love Lockdown also shows a deft touch, the distortion on vocals the beat at certain moments add detail to the addictive chorus line. More than just personal-development, the soft-touches of his production set him apart from the crowded market that the album occupies.
In
808s the focus on an electronic and synthesized sound is fairly evident, but it is no drastic change from his origins. The majority of the album steers away from rapping towards singing. But where he does step back towards rapping such as in
Paranoid, the same style combination of synth based electronic melodies and catchy 808 beat is present. His technique may have changed, but his appeal has never been in the vocals. Whether leaning towards rap as in
Paranoid or heavily utilising auto-tune as in
Coldest Winter, the vocals are never really a strength and the difference in technique is never really of any impact. Rather the production and use of vocals within each song is where West shines.
Kanye West’s fourth album
808s and Heartbreak follows the crowd rather than leads it. Where he steps, the footprints of T-Pain are readily visible. His use of auto-tune throughout the album is heavy, and in songs like
Heartless and
Love Lockdown its use is appealing. The album suffers from a couple of weak songs and a strange song-arrangement, but by no means should this deter fans from purchasing the album. The allure of the album lies in the production. Though auto-tune will serve as a talking point and short-term distraction; he is still very much a skilled producer, not a skilled vocalist. Some will find disappointment with the fact that Kanye does not seek new ground, but in a crowded marketplace
808s and Heartbreak takes what others have done and does a better job executing on it.
