"Waves"
Song by Kanye West featuring Chris Brown
from the album The Life of Pablo
ReleasedFebruary 14, 2016
Recorded2014–16
Genre
Length3:01
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)

"Waves" is a song by American rapper and producer Kanye West from his seventh studio album, The Life of Pablo (2016), featuring uncredited vocals from singers Chris Brown and Kid Cudi. It was positively received by music critics, generally for its theme and lyricism. West performed the track on multiple occasions during the Saint Pablo Tour. A music video was recorded for the song in April 2016, which remains unreleased. Despite not being released as a single, "Waves" was commercially successful, earning triple platinum and Silver certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and British Phonographic Industry (BPI) respectively. It charted in both countries as well as Sweden, Ireland and Canada.

Background and development

"Waves" was first conceived during the same week songs such as "All Day" (2015) and Travis Scott's "Piss on Your Grave" (2015) were recorded.[4] It originally contained a sample of "Return to Innocence" (1994) by Enigma,[5][6] until Scottish producer Hudson Mohawke took the sample out and added choir synths to the track, which ended up becoming "the majority of the song in terms of the instrumental", according to the producer.[6] Mohawke confirmed that the beat for the song was set to be scrapped until a few weeks prior to release[7] and had hinted in a tweet that he was "partially responsible" for the album's last minute name change from Swish to Waves; likely as a result of his contributions to the song.[8] Discussing the production of the song, Mohawke stated that "less is more" and that there are "probably only like six or seven elements in the whole song".[6]

According to co-writer Derek Watkins, better known as Fonzworth Bentley, Chris Brown's feature on the track came about after West asked "Who's the second most hated nigga in America? Chris Brown! I need to do a record with Chris Brown".[9][10] Bentley then recalled that he walked into the studio one day with "the beat to Waves" being played with "Ye sitting on one side of the studio" and "Chris on the other side".[9] Bentley played a big role in the creation of the chorus with the idea behind the lyric "Waves don't die" coming from his brother's belief that "angels are going to come out of waves crashing against the surf".[10] The creation of the song marked a turning point for The Life of Pablo, as it helped inspire the spiritual themes presented on the album,[9][10] which was supposed to be titled Swish at the time, and following the making of the song was supposed to be titled after it, as Waves.[11] Kid Cudi revealed that he was sent the song in December 2015 and claimed that he helped edit the song to create a "minimal version", removing ad-libs and all the "extra", so that Chris Brown could be heard better. After assisting in editing the song, Cudi contributed humming to the track.[12]

After The Life of Pablo missed its scheduled release date of February 12, 2016, West tweeted "It's Chance's fault the album not out yet, he really wanted Waves on that bitch. We in the lab now".[13] Chance the Rapper shortly after tweeted that he had fought to keep "Waves" on the album, stating that he "spent all night finishing it".[14] His version of "Waves" was previewed with snippets on Snapchat within the same month as the release of the album that features the final version.[15] During an interview with Zane Lowe, the rapper shared his demo of "Waves", where he did a choir arrangement, which West ended up removing on the final song. The demo also transitions into a flip of the aforementioned removed "Return to Innocence" sample.[5][16] Additionally, Chance the Rapper's verse on the demo was taken off and re-recorded by West for the final song;[17] garnering him a writing credit.[18][19] In a 2016 interview, Trinidadian-American singer Theophilus London claimed that he was forced by West to write "Waves" and did so, but received no credit for it.[20] On February 18, 2016, West's original demo leaked online along with demos of other songs from the album including "FML", "Fade" and "Highlights".[21]

By the time that all of the changes had been made to the album in June 2016, West re-recorded song's first verse to prevent it being swallowed by the production.[22]

Release

West was planning to title his 2016 album Waves at one point and have the song play the role of title track, until the album's title was changed to The Life of Pablo on February 10, 2016, with the song being removed from the tracklist.[23][24] On one of the proposed tracklists, the album was split into three separate acts and the track was part of the first one.[23] Just one day before the album was officially released, it was revealed by Chance that he'd fought to keep the track as a part of it and that was why it was released later than the scheduled date of February 12, 2016.[25] West tweeted out that Chance was to blame for the delay, due to him really wanting "Waves" on The Life of Pablo and revealed that it was still being worked on by February 13.[26] Cudi revealed on April 23, 2016, that him, Mike Dean and Plain Pat were involved in this too.[11]

When the information was revealed that West had shot a music video for the track, speculation began that it was set to be released as a single, but he never chose to do this.[27]

Remixes

A remix of "Waves" that was created by it being reversed was shared by a SoundCloud producer in February 2016, which was made available for download as a WAV file.[28] In July of the same year, an unofficial remix blending West and Chance both rapping their versions of the track was shared via Reddit.[29] During the Saint Pablo Tour on October 25, 2016, a medley was performed live by West in Inglewood that consisted of the "Waves" instrumental and Cudi's vocals on "Father Stretch My Hands, Pt. 1" as a tribute to Cudi in rehab.[30]

Critical reception

Chris Brown in 2017
Chris Brown received praise for his performance on the track.

"Waves" was subject to widespread acclaim from music critics. Alexis Petridis of The Guardian had great feelings towards the song, describing it as "simultaneously euphoric and elegiac".[31] Pitchfork's Jayson Greene felt positively towards the track, describing it as sounding "momentarily benevolent" and voicing the comparison that it has a "similar energy" to that of fellow album track "Famous".[32] It was written by Sheldon Pearce of SPIN that "Waves" is what "serves as the anchor for a discombobulated but altogether splendid group of sonic marvels crafted by a production superteam".[33] Jake Indiana of Highsnobiety branded it as "a blinding moment of triumph and joy" and what "sounds like ascending to heaven with a choir of angels at your back", as well as citing Brown's feature as one of the album's greatest performances.[34] The song was listed by Spencer Kornhaber of The Atlantic as being among the bright spots of The Life of Pablo and he described it as having a "glorious, pulsating sound".[35] Jamieson Cox of The Verge branded the track as what "might be the most beautiful song [West has] ever made".[36] In August 2016, West's wife Kim Kardashian listed the track among her top 28 favourite songs by her husband.[37]

Live performances

On multiple occasions during the Saint Pablo Tour, the track was performed live by West. On April 9, 2016, West performed the song live for the first time, alongside fellow The Life of Pablo tracks "Pt. 2" and "Famous" in the Philippines on the Saint Pablo Tour, shortly before he traveled to Scotland for filming of the music video for it.[38][27] A medley was performed live by West that consisted of the instrumental from "Waves" and Cudi's vocals from "Father Stretch My Hands, Pt. 1" on October 25, 2016, during a show on the Saint Pablo Tour in Inglewood, which served as a tribute to Cudi who was in rehab at the time and a video was shared by HipHopDX of the performance on Instagram.[30] West danced to his own song when performing it live in Inglewood as part of the Saint Pablo Tour on October 27.[39] On November 20, 2016, as part of the very same tour, he was joined on stage by Cudi in Sacramento to perform the track live, in what was a rather emotional performance – this was at exactly the same concert that West controversially ranted against Jay-Z, Hillary Clinton and more.[40][41]

Chance gave a live performance of his demo on April 24, 2017, alongside covers of fellow The Life of Pablo tracks "Ultralight Beam", which he has a verse on, and "Father Stretch My Hands, Pt. 1" in San Diego during the Be Encouraged Tour and the cover of "Father Stretch My Hands, Pt. 1" turned out to be more of a group singalong.[42] When performing live at the 2017 Governors Ball Music Festival, cover versions of "Waves", "Ultralight Beam" and "Father Stretch My Hands, Pt.1" were performed by Chance.[43]

Music video

On April 13, 2016, it was revealed that a music video had been shot for "Waves" by West in Scotland's Isle of Skye, which began speculation of it being released as a single.[27] He traveled there shortly after a live performance in the Philippines on April 9, where the song was part of the set list.[44][38] Shooting the Hype Williams directed video took several days and West brought 60 crew members with him during his stay on the island, along with several helicopters.[45] After West had finished his stay there at Skeabost Hotel, one of its owners told Daily Record that he: "was the perfect guest — charming, courteous and polite" and a spokesperson for the hotel revealed that photos were banned during the rapper's stay and that his wife didn't accompany him.[44]

Commercial performance

Despite West never releasing it as a single like speculation had it that he would, "Waves" still managed to chart in a total of five countries worldwide and had similar commercial performance to that of fellow album track "Ultralight Beam".[27] The track debuted at number 71 on the US Billboard Hot 100 upon the release of The Life of Pablo.[46] On the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, "Waves" peaked at number 24 that same week.[47] The following week, it fell down eight places to number 30.[48] In its third and final week on the chart, the song declined a further seven places to number 37.[49][47] "Waves" performed similarly upon the album's release in the UK to how it did in the US, debuting and peaking at number 77 on the UK Singles Chart.[50] The following week, the song fell down 14 places to number 91 and then never charted again after two weeks on the UK Singles Chart.[51][50] The song also debuted at its peak on the Canadian Hot 100, reaching number 86 on the chart and spending a total of two weeks on the chart.[52] This made it both the highest charting non-single release from The Life of Pablo in Canada and one of only three non-single releases from it to chart in the country, standing alongside "Ultralight Beam" and "FML".[53] On the week of the album's release, the song reached number 80 on the Singles Top 100 in Sweden.[54] "Waves" barely managed to scratch the Irish Singles Chart, debuting at number 95 one week after The Life of Pablo's release and this placed the track alongside "Ultralight Beam" as the only non-single releases from the album that managed to reach the charts in Ireland.[55]

It was certified Platinum in the US on April 19, 2018, over two years after having been made available to legally stream or download.[56] This made "Waves" join "Ultralight Beam" as one of only two non-single releases from The Life of Pablo to achieve this certification in the US.[57] As well as this, the track was certified Silver in the UK on September 7, 2018.[58] It stands along with "Ultralight Beam" as the only non-single releases from The Life of Pablo to be certified in the UK.[59]

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from West's official website.[60]

Charts

Chart (2016) Peak
position
Canada (Canadian Hot 100)[61] 86
Ireland (IRMA)[62] 95
New Zealand Heatseekers (RMNZ)[63] 9
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[64] 80
UK Singles (OCC)[65] 77
UK Hip Hop/R&B (OCC)[66] 20
US Billboard Hot 100[67] 71
US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard)[68] 24

Certifications

Certifications for Waves
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[69] Gold 45,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI)[70] Silver 200,000‡
United States (RIAA)[71] 3× Platinum 3,000,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 Credited as co-producer
  2. ↑ Credited as additional producer

References

  1. ↑ Osborne, Jordan (April 15, 2016). "Waves is the Order in Kanye's Disordered Masterpiece". Vendor. Archived from the original on November 16, 2018. Retrieved September 25, 2018.
  2. ↑ "Kanye West's 'Waves' is even more beautiful when you play it backwards". 23 February 2016.
  3. ↑ "ASCAP Repertory — "Waves"".
  4. ↑ Chesman, Donna-Claire (August 28, 2019). "Charlie Heat Breaks Down the Best Stories Behind His 5 Biggest Songs: Beat Break". Djbooth. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
  5. 1 2 Noisey Staff (May 25, 2016). "Listen to Original Versions of Kanye's "Waves" and "Famous" and Prepare to Ascend". Vice. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
  6. 1 2 3 ADAM Audio (November 25, 2020). "Breaking Down Kanye West's "Waves" with Hudson Mohawke". Retrieved March 27, 2022 – via YouTube.
  7. ↑ Lockett, Dee (May 31, 2016). "A Guide to Understanding Kanye West's The Life of Pablo". Vulture. Retrieved June 17, 2018.
  8. ↑ Gibsone, Harriet (January 29, 2016). "What we know about Kanye West's Waves, the greatest album of all time". The Guardian. Archived from the original on February 1, 2016. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  9. 1 2 3 "Fonzworth Bentley Talks Helping Kanye West Create "Waves" Featuring Chris Brown". AllHipHop. December 14, 2016. Retrieved August 20, 2018.
  10. 1 2 3 Nostro, Lauren (December 12, 2016). "Fonzworth Bentley Remembers The Moment Kanye West's 'The Life Of Pablo' Became A Gospel Album". Genius. Retrieved March 28, 2022.
  11. 1 2 Reiff, Corbin (April 23, 2016). "Kid Cudi Talks About Working With Kanye West Again and Reveals Why 'Man on the Moon III' Isn't Happening". Complex. Retrieved June 17, 2018.
  12. ↑ Wete, Brad (April 22, 2016). "Kid Cudi Reveals His Struggle With Drugs and Depression: 'I Was Living a Nightmare'". Billboard. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
  13. ↑ Kreps, Daniel (February 13, 2016). "'Blame Chance': Kanye West Explains 'Life of Pablo' Album Delay". Rolling Stone. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
  14. ↑ Renshaw, David (April 25, 2017). "Watch Chance The Rapper Perform His Version Of Kanye West's "Waves"". The Fader. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
  15. ↑ Weinstein, Max (February 17, 2016). "Chance The Rapper Shares Alternate Version of "Waves" on Snapchat". XXL. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
  16. ↑ Nadkarni, Rohan (May 24, 2016). "Chance the Rapper Shared Some Surprising Demos of Kanye West's 'Waves' and 'Famous'". GQ. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
  17. ↑ Khari (May 24, 2016). "Chance the Rapper unarchives his "Waves" and "Famous" Demos for Kanye's TLOP". The Source. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
  18. ↑ "The Life of Pablo – Credits". www.kanyewest.com. Kanye West. February 17, 2016. Archived from the original on February 20, 2016. Retrieved January 13, 2018.
  19. ↑ Moore, Sam (April 26, 2017). "Watch Chance The Rapper perform his version of Kanye West's 'Waves'". NME. Retrieved January 13, 2019.
  20. ↑ "#82: Theophilus London by A Was". Free Listening on SoundCloud. Retrieved September 22, 2018.
  21. ↑ Harrison, Scoop (February 18, 2016). "An album's worth of unreleased Kanye West music has just leaked online". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
  22. ↑ C.M., Emmanuel (June 17, 2016). "Every Change Kanye West Made to 'The Life of Pablo'". XXL. Retrieved November 21, 2018.
  23. 1 2 Diep, Eric (February 1, 2016). "Kanye West Debuts Several 'Waves' Tracklists". Billboard. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
  24. ↑ "Kanye West reveals fourth title for his new album: The Life of Pablo | Music". The Guardian. February 11, 2016. Retrieved June 17, 2018.
  25. ↑ Augustin, Camille (February 13, 2016). "Chance The Rapper Says He Fought To Keep "Waves" On Kanye West's Album". Vibe. Retrieved July 3, 2018.
  26. ↑ Kreps, Daniel (February 13, 2016). "'Blame Chance': Kanye West Explains 'Life of Pablo' Album Delay". Rolling Stone. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
  27. 1 2 3 4 Lilah, Rose (April 13, 2016). "Kanye West Reportedly Shot Music Video For "Waves" In Scotland". HotNewHipHop. Retrieved July 19, 2018.
  28. ↑ Weeks, Jabbari (February 23, 2016). "Somebody Reversed Kanye West's "Waves" and It Sounds Like a Radio Broadcast from Heaven". Noisey. Retrieved November 20, 2018.
  29. ↑ Montes, Patrick (July 11, 2016). "New Rework Mashes Up Chance the Rapper's "Waves" With Kanye West's Original "Waves"". Hypebeast. Retrieved January 15, 2019.
  30. 1 2 Dionne, Zach (October 26, 2016). "Kanye West's Live Tribute to Kid Cudi Is a Tear-Jerker: Watch". Fuse. Retrieved November 20, 2018.
  31. ↑ Petridis, Alexis (February 14, 2016). "Kanye West: The Life of Pablo review – 'You can see why his immodesty rubs people up the wrong way'". The Guardian. Retrieved June 19, 2018.
  32. ↑ Greene, Jayson (February 15, 2016). "Kanye West: The Life of Pablo Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
  33. ↑ "Kanye West's 'The Life of Pablo': SPIN's Impulsive Reviews". SPIN. February 14, 2016. Retrieved November 21, 2018.
  34. ↑ Indiana, Jake (February 15, 2018). "Kanye West's 'The Life of Pablo': Every Song Ranked Worst to Best". Highsnobiety. Retrieved November 21, 2018.
  35. ↑ Kornhaber, Spencer (February 18, 2016). "Review: Is Kanye West's 'Life of Pablo' Album a Freak-Out About Monogamy?". The Atlantic. Retrieved November 22, 2018.
  36. ↑ Cox, Jamieson (February 16, 2016). "The Life of Pablo review: Kanye West's radical act of creative transparency". The Verge. Retrieved November 22, 2018.
  37. ↑ Britton, Luke Morgan (August 30, 2016). "Stream Kim Kardashian's playlist of her favourite Kanye West tracks". NME. Retrieved September 22, 2018.
  38. 1 2 Levine, Nick (April 9, 2016). "Watch Kanye West perform 'The Life Of Pablo' songs live for first time". NME. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
  39. ↑ "Top moments from Kanye West's Saint Pablo Tour". Twitter. November 16, 2016. Retrieved November 23, 2018.
  40. ↑ Minsker, Evan (November 20, 2016). "Watch Kanye West and Kid Cudi Hug, Perform "Waves"". Pitchfork. Retrieved June 17, 2018.
  41. ↑ Richardson, Nikita (November 20, 2016). "Here's A Full Transcript Of Kanye West's Sacramento Concert Speech". The FADER. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
  42. ↑ Stegemoeller, Kristen (April 25, 2017). "Watch Chance The Rapper Perform An Original Version Of Kanye West's "Waves"". PAPER. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
  43. ↑ Jacobs, Harrison (June 5, 2017). "Chance the Rapper nods to Kanye West with Waves, Ultralight Beam, Father Stretch My Hands covers". Business Insider. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
  44. 1 2 "Kanye West Shoots 'Waves' Video in Scotland". Rap-Up. April 13, 2016. Retrieved September 22, 2018.
  45. ↑ Miller, Phil; Braiden, Gerry (April 13, 2016). "Kanye West in Scotland shooting scenes for new music video". HeraldScotland. Retrieved September 22, 2018.
  46. ↑ Mendizabal, Amaya (April 12, 2016). "12 of Kanye West's 'The Life of Pablo' Tracks Are on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart". Billboard. Retrieved November 10, 2018.
  47. 1 2 "Kanye West – Waves – Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved September 22, 2018.
  48. ↑ "Top Hip-Hop Songs / R&B Songs Chart – April 30, 2016". Billboard. Retrieved November 22, 2018.
  49. ↑ "Top Hip-Hop Songs / R&B Songs Chart – May 7, 2016". Billboard. Retrieved November 22, 2018.
  50. 1 2 "Waves | Full Official Chart History |". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 18, 2018.
  51. ↑ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved November 20, 2018.
  52. ↑ "Kanye West – Waves – Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved November 22, 2018.
  53. ↑ "Kanye West Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved November 25, 2018.
  54. ↑ "Kanye West feat. Chris Brown – Waves". Swedishcharts.com. Singles Top 100. Retrieved February 12, 2019.
  55. ↑ "GFK Chart-Track – 14 April 2016". GFK Chart-Track. Archived from the original on April 27, 2016. Retrieved September 23, 2018.
  56. ↑ "Gold & Platinum – Kanye West – Waves". RIAA. Retrieved June 18, 2018.
  57. ↑ "Gold & Platinum – Kanye West". RIAA. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
  58. ↑ "Award – Kanye West – Waves". bpi. Retrieved November 20, 2018.
  59. ↑ "BRIT Certified" (To access, enter the search parameter "Kanye West" and select "Search by Keyword"). bpi. Retrieved November 21, 2018.
  60. ↑ "The Life of Pablo". The Life of Pablo – Kanye West. Archived from the original on December 19, 2016. Retrieved March 28, 2022.
  61. ↑ "Kanye West Chart History (Canadian Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved June 17, 2018.
  62. ↑ "Chart Track: Week 15, 2016". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
  63. ↑ "NZ Heatseeker Singles Chart". Recorded Music NZ. April 18, 2016. Retrieved March 14, 2019.
  64. ↑ "Kanye West feat. Chris Brown – Waves". Singles Top 100. Retrieved January 14, 2024.
  65. ↑ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
  66. ↑ "Official Hip Hop and R&B Singles Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 17, 2018.
  67. ↑ "Kanye West Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved June 17, 2018.
  68. ↑ "Kanye West Chart History (Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved June 17, 2018.
  69. ↑ "Danish single certifications – Kanye West – Waves". IFPI Danmark. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  70. ↑ "British single certifications – Kanye West – Waves". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
  71. ↑ "American single certifications – Kanye West – Waves". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved June 3, 2023.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.