Kanye West was the musical guest on the holiday episode of Saturday Night Live, and his performance of “Love Lockdown” and “Heartless” resulted in catcalling from the usual suspects: “Disturbingly like a quiet man during bad karaoke”; “It sounded off… maybe just too much bragging about his sheer talent?”; “No surprise that Kanye West is the latest singer to sound like crap on SNL.” (OK, at least that last bit recognizes that all the musical guests this year have had serious technical issues, but still.)
Kanye himself didn’t seem all that distraught with his performances, posting them both on his blog shortly after they were bootlegged online. And why should he? Sure, the mixing of his voice was a little high in the grand scheme of things, but both performances were compelling, with Kanye seemingly becoming possessed by the tracks as he sang them. The struggle between his imperfect voice and the trying-its-damndest-to-fix-it Autotune was uncomfortable, but that was in many ways the point; hey, heartbreak ain’t a pretty thing, even when you have the newest creature comforts (pills! fancy couches! beautiful women! luxury brands!) to “make it all better.”
Perhaps it was because I saw both these performances in a grander context the night before the SNL taping (about which more later), but what I saw on SNL when I watched it bleary-eyed on Sunday morning was a man trying to work through demons by creating something. Sure, 808s And Heartbreak is, despite the focus-grouping of its first singles, a statement taken almost-directly off the cuff, but isn’t anger one of the stages of grief? What Kanye’s doing here, as Eric Harvey puts it, “writing songs in the manner of conversation fragments and flustered, late-night voicemail messages”—you know, the type that I’m sure every one of you have left, and regretted. That he’s crafting pop art out of the drunk dial is something that should be examined, and not “LOL”ed at right out.
Also, I find it kinda funny that quite a few of the people calling Kanye out aren’t afraid to embrace other bands where technical prowess is trumped by “really feeling it, man”—the Vivian Girls, etc., etc. Is this something else that we can blame on the CSNoozY stylings of Fleet Foxes, or is there a troubling double standard going on here?
Kanye West – Heartless / Pinocchio Story – SNL – 12/13/2008 [Dailymotion]
Kanye West – Love Lockdown – SNL – 12/13/2008 [Dailymotion]
[via kanYe West: Blog]
Hmmm… I have to be honest. Quickly losing respect for Maura Johnston. Sigh. Oh, well… nobody’s perfect. Does auto tune work on blog entries?
Whether used to “fix” vocals or for blatant artistic effect, autotune is seriously annoying.
@uptonking: “quickly losing respect”? for real? that’s kind of an overreaction there, no offense.
Sounded like the Autotune wasn’t working at all.
Well, I enjoyed both performances, even if they weren’t sung to technical perfection (Heartless more than Love Lockdown, but on Love Lockdown some of the problems didn’t seem to be his fault, and he got better after the start of it). But Kanye’s not a white dude, so “really feeling it, man” is obviously not enough (of course, I’ve always thought there was a double-standard, both if you’re black, or if you’re female and don’t fit a certain type, so I’m not about to “lose respect” when a writer agrees with me).
Really, if you’re black or a woman who doesn’t fit a certain type, the standards seem to be higher on nearly all aspects.
“Love Lockdown” is too low in his (admittedly limited) range for him to pull off convincingly in a live setting, with or without A-Tune backing him up.
But “Heartless”? I kinda loved it. Dude’s got a killer scream.
Oops.. let me clarify: quickly losing respect for your opinion. You – personally? I know not. I really enjoy most of what you write (and agree with it, too). But when it comes to Mr. West, perhaps you should filter things through an auto tuner before posting. No offense…
I totally agree with your post Maura. I thought that Kanye’s imperfect vocals made it seem more soulful. Both were really raw performances, and the emotion was hard to miss. Obviously he’s not a great singer, but he did make it feel as though we were watching something very personal. It started out a bit cringey on both songs, but by the end of each I was sort of blown away by his honest performance.
@uptonking: well, i still think you’re wrong (do you really only respect opinions that agree with you 100% of the time) and i’m certainly not soft on kanye all the time, but thanks for the clarification.
No time for depth here but thought it was important to say this is a thoughtful post. As opposed to those who have an opinion after, what, 30 seconds of brain work? Or is the brain involved when it’s knee-jerk!
I’m a pretty big Kanye defender, and I loved the presentation and all — those screens were amazing, and he looked good, too — but: Oy. His voice on “Love Lockdown” — that wasn’t an Autotune malfunction (not till the middle of the performance, anyway), and it the wasn’t bad SNL soundboard. That was him.
Your larger points about acceptance of nonwhite vocal imperfections are totally valid and a solid counterargument. I’m just saying that, when push comes to shove, if the guy’s decided to sing, he’s got to be vaguely on-key; even Dylan, for all his imperfections, makes it to the ballpark pretty consistently. (And when Van Morrison does one of his occasional total-drunken-lout car crash performances, he is called on it.)
This has no bearing on my feeling about the album, which I half-love and half-admire; or on Kanye’s right to sing instead of rap. But I don’t think we’re damaging our Kanye Fan Club membership by calling bullshit when he has a bad night. That was not his finest hour.
Respecting opinions that support your own — truly the hallmark of quality independent thinking.
[i]That he’s crafting pop art out of the drunk dial is something that should be examined, and not “LOL”ed at right out. [/i]
I think at this point we’ve fully examined the tantrums of a star who won’t forgive his girlfriend for not forgiving him, and can focus solely on the “LOL”ing – at least until he tacks on the but “b-b-but my mom!” track to the re-issue. This isn’t the special olympics, and we don’t have to commend his stunted emotions and shit voice just because he’s unabashed about sharing them.
I’m not a huge fan, but when people perform well, they perform well… this just blew. Big time.
also maybe the double standard has more to do with professional status than race. Pop stars from Kanye to Britney get called out more than acts that aren’t paid millions, and I don’t see what’s troubling about it. If Chris Martin was this bad a singer as well as a dancer, he’d get called out on it too.
@Chris Molanphy: wow, it’s funny that you mentioned dylan. i’m not a big fan of dylan’s and that’s mostly because i think he can’t sing his way out of a wet paper bag. but people love him.
yet i’m pretty sure that a black version of dylan wouldn’t be so revered.
if i’m mistaken, please let me know.
@silkyjumbo: You’re surely right about a black Dylan, but that’s an impossible A-to-B comparison to make. A black Dylan would go unrevered for a whole host of cultural reasons that go far beyond his vocal skill, or whitey’s attitudes.
Moving back to the actual Dylan, part of his secret is that he’s written songs that mostly don’t require perfect on-key vocalizing. Another good example would be Stevie Wonder, who as several critics have noted has taught an entire generation of soul vocalists to overuse melisma — but Stevie sounds great when he does it, because he wrote songs that welcome it and that make ample use of his vocal range.
Point being, what’s made Kanye great heretofore is his ability to write great hip-hop songs that emphasize his gifts (production, an ear for hooks, a sense of well-wrought drama, a certain type of wordplay) and make the best of his shortcomings (his limited flow). As a recording, I’d say 808s and Heartbreak continues this tradition, because does all right by his limited singing talent, and the Autotune is (mostly) used cleverly and wisely. But live performance is another story. I guess I basically think 808s needs to remain a recording project, not a performance showcase.
I was mesmerized by the performance. My jaw was on the floor the whole time. He sounded awful. Awful. So bad I thought for sure he was going to storm off in a huff and not come back for a second song. But I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. And he was so fucking INTO IT. He put 100% out there. So even if he sounded exactly like those bucktoothed waterheads during the first weeks of American Idol (which is undeniable — he totally sounded EXACTLY like that), it was still a hell of a thing. He’s amazing.
He’s got all the soul, none of the science. All feeling without any virtuosity. That’s punk rock.
I agree with Maura in principle but I still think 808 is a massive indulgence that’s more justified by it’s ambition than elevated by it. Also, Vivian Girls suck on a technical level as a way to SIGNIFY meaning/authenticity (and because they don’t give enough of a fuck to get good). When Kanye makes a mess, it’s partly because he’s being a manchild with no brain/mouth filter but I think it comes out of a genuine (if occaissionally bumbling) desire to share something personal.
@silkyjumbo: Um, Lil Wayne owned this year by just about every popular metric and you can slag him with an awful lot of complaints that would apply to Dylan as well.
@moomintroll: I’ll chime in in support of this camp…for all the performers out there whose schtick boils down more to (BAD!) performance artistry than great music…I find his performance art meaningful and like it very much, even if I won’t necessarily get behind defending him as a live singer.
It doesn’t bother me. And Maura (y’all know where my fangirl heart lays), I absolutely agree about the double standard and that many of the critics who call out some vocalists as “OMGSOBADLOLS” (especially based on small samplings of not-their-best TV performances) likely have more than a few unconventional voices populating their own (indie heavy?) collections. It strikes me as pretty much blind anti-commercial haterism at its unthoughtful worst.
@Chris Molanphy: Totally on point about Dylan’s songwriting. Very rareley does talk of him even encompass melody (maybe if you’re comparing “Freewheelin” and “Blood On The Tracks” there’s some ground for discussion in there). Paradigmatically, he functions more for me like a great MC in that the point is that he’s a great writer and a lot of the musical kick comes from internal rhyme and other performance dynamics as opposed to his ability to execute a straight melody.
@ObtuseIntolerant: And when I say “critics” I of course mean internet trolls.
The second performance of the night was much better I thought. I’ve been a fan of Kanye’s singles for years and 808s doesn’t work as a full album for me either (but really there aren’t many full lenghts that do anymore) and while we’ve all grown tired of his self-aggrandizing 808s is an album I really WANT to like because of the ‘really feeling it, man’-ness of it all.
I think the songs that are good are actually pretty moving. I give him a ton of credit for the album. It’s pretty close to art for arts sake and its all the better because of it.
As someone who saw GITD, I know that Kanye, even when not 100% on, is a magnetic stage presence.
And 808s is growing on me; I see it at least partly as a letter to his ex and his mom, and that’s sort of helping me understand it better. It’s not entirely an ego trip, but it is a trip.
@RaptorAvatar: “I still think 808 is a massive indulgence that’s more justified by it’s ambition than elevated by it.”
Tangential thought, but related to the idea of holding “professionals” to a higher standard – I see a lot of parallels between Kanye and Kevin Barnes in this regard. Looking for reward because they are ambitious and challenging, though its arguable whether either’s latest albums are actually any good.
@RaptorAvatar: and i will gladly slag lil wayne. every day and twice on sunday.
maybe the only way i will begin to appreciate lil wayne’s work is, coincidentally, the only way i can sit through dylan’s work: if somebody else covers it.
In all this talk about compelling performances- might Kanye also have benefitted from the massive video screens behind him?
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen something like that on SNL before and it at least deserves a mention.
I give Kanye credit for the artistic risk, but if Fleet Foxes is “CSNoozY,” his new one is “808s and Napbreak.”
There’s autotune on his voice in both these performances, but it’s far more subtle than it has been on the other late night show performances I’ve seen. Almost seems like a sound guy mistake or something.
I’m firmly in the, “His singing’s awful, but his energy kinda pulls it out for him.” crowd.
And also in the, “Either way, those big screens are pretty badass.” camp.
Uh, other than that? I got nothing. The album hits for me about as often as it misses, and don’t think it’s an ego trip (it’s pretty clearly the result of his personal life over the last year. His ego is independent of his music, of course). Yay for trying new things. Hopefully he’ll continue trying things that don’t sound that much like his first three records, or even necessarily, this one.
Even with Autotune (which cannot go away fast enough), it was awful. He simply lets his ego get in the way of his true talent – producing.
Just produce, man. But that’s not nearly enough for his ego.
Stop torturing us, or find someone with hearing & pitch sing your songs.
Terrible. I had to say this, even as a fan.