Kanye West ft. Chris Martin - 'Homecoming'
Music does not work the way other things do. This we know. In chemistry, if you put together two volatile substances, they react against each other, or with each other, in exactly the same way every time (assuming other factors like heat, atmospheric pressure and whatnot are always the same). In cooking, dough plus tomato plus cheese always equals pizza (unless you burn it, obv). But in music you can put together what seems like a killer compound, made of the finest ingredients, only to watch it curdle and separate like hot olive oil in natural yoghurt.
(Dunno what happened to the video for this...any ideas, The Internet?)
And that is sometimes how it goes with the celebrity team-up. Even in hip hop - in which people don't seem to be able to write a note for the milkman without bringing in a friend to add a verse or two - talent plus talent doesn't always equal super-talent.
So, here's Kanye, and he's roped Chris Martin in to help him out on a song which has the atmosphere of an Elton John song from the '70s (somewhere between 'Song For Guy' and 'Benny & The Jets'). Frankly it could go either way.
Before we get into The Judgement Of The Song and stuff, there's a brilliant account of Kanye's temporary estrangement from Jay-Z in his song 'Big Brother', which is also on 'Graduation'. Apparently one of the things the two rappers - neither of whom are held back by a lack of self-appreciation, it's fair to say - fell out about was the use of Chris Martin as a guest on their songs. Kanye claims he thought of it first, for this song, but then Jay copied him, and now everyone thinks he's the copycat.
So, with the weight of a strained friendship AND the pressure of a possibly curdled celebrity souffle song to contend with...what's 'Homecoming' like?
Well thankfully it's very good. That Elton John thing is really working for all concerned, Kanye's telling proper stories again, rather than just ranting on about how brilliant he is in every conceivable way. And it does suit Chris Martin's chummy whisper to be part of a production style which favours warmth and intimacy over glacial, cavernous echo.
The only slight gripe is it's hard to know what to do to a song like this beyond listen appreciatively. It's not a dance track, it's not a ballad, it won't transform a long bus journey and it won't get you close and cuddly with your chief crush. But there again, given the non-scientific nature of the way music operates, there are probably people for whom this is the perfect soundtrack to any of these activities.
Is that a vague enough conclusion for you? Good.
Download: Out now
12" Released: February 18th
(Fraser McAlpine)
Comments
Nah, I'm finding it hard to warm to this track. Kanye's had an impressive run of singles, but for me this single's the curled souffle you talked about.
Of maybe I just prefer a bit of vacant boasting from the man.