FEATURE:
Groovelines
Kanye West - Stronger
__________
RELEASED on 31st July, 2007…
this iconic song by Kanye West turns fifteen soon. Taken from his third studio album, Graduation, Stronger is a masterpiece. Produced by Kanye West and Mike Dean, and written by Kanye West, Thomas Bangalter, Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Edwin Birdsong, it is a song with an interesting history. I will come to the critical reception of Stronger soon. Genuinely one of the greatest tracks of the past couple of decades, it is a huge and emphatically confident anthem that you cannot help be inspired by. A standout from one of West’s defining albums, Stronger went to number one in several countries (including the U.S. and U.K.). Before coming to some critical feedback about Stronger, udiscovermusic provide some history about a titanic song:
“Stronger” is a motivating anthem, interpolating German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s famous dictum: “What does not kill me makes me stronger.” It took a small army to perfect the track: West gathered eight audio engineers, 11 mixing engineers, and producer Timbaland to reportedly mix over 75 versions in studios across New York, Los Angeles, and Tokyo.
What makes “Stronger” a standout record – aside from the video inspired by 1988’s anime film Akira – is the heart-racing production built around Daft Punk’s 2001 Grammy-winning “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” single.
“We had used a sample from Edwin Birdsong’s [1979] ‘Cola Bottle Baby,’ and [West] then sampled the a cappella we used,” the French dance duo’s Thomas Bangalter told Variety in 2007. “It’s quite symptomatic of this circle of sampling and being sampled and passing it along to the next producer … We’ve always been very open-minded and excited about unexpected connections.”
The single introduced Daft Punk to a new cadre of fans, later leading to a surprise appearance (their first televised performance at the time) with West to perform “Stronger” at the 2008 Grammy Awards.
Speaking of Grammys, West took home a gramophone for Best Rap Solo Performance that night. “Stronger” was also a chart favorite: it was West’s first No. 1 on the UK charts, as well as his third No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 following 2004’s “Slow Jamz” alongside Twista and Jamie Foxx and 2005’s “Gold Digger” with Foxx. “Stronger” also entered pop culture, soundtracking television series and films like Entourage, The Hangover Part II, and Girls.
As might be expected from the sampled vocals, it’s become a beloved anthem for sports teams around the world. It’s served as an introductory song for the Toronto Raptors and New York Giants and dominated gym playlists. Lastly, Kanye West’s “Stronger” joined the new wave of club-rap that came to prominence in the late 00s alongside Timbaland’s “The Way I Are” in 2007, Lil Wayne’s “Lollipop,” and Kid Cudi’s “Day ‘n’ Nite” in 2008, as well as the Black Eyed Peas’ EDM-driven The E.N.D. album.
Since its release, West has continued his reign as one of music’s most controversial and gifted figures. Following Graduation, he’s dropped ten chart-ruling solo and collaborative albums, became a father to four children, ran an independent presidential campaign, and expanded his brand to take over the fashion and sneaker industries with his Yeezy collections”.
There is no denying the quality and importance of Stronger! I am not the biggest Kanye West fan, though I can recognise how good Stronger is. Unsurprisingly, critics reacted warmly to the track. This Wikipedia collated some positive reaction to the huge Stronger:
“The track was well received by music critics. Ann Powers of the Los Angeles Times praised West's performance: "On 'Stronger,' he pushes himself like a runner on a treadmill, always on the verge of losing his breath." Although Louis Pattison of NME criticized what he viewed as "brazen theft" from Daft Punk, he called the song "a silicone-hearted vocoder serenade, beefed up with hoover-like synthesisers." Anna Pickard of The Guardian praised it for the Daft Punk sample, viewing the track as opening with "the immediate familiarity of a Daft Punk sample" and the sample as "working well over this thumping beat".
"Stronger" appeared in numerous year-end lists; Spin named "Stronger" the best song of 2007, The Village Voice ranked "Stronger" at number seven on their annual year-end critics' poll Pazz & Jop. Rockdelux named it the second best foreign song of 2007. Blitz listed it the ninth best song of 2007. MTV named "Stronger" the sixth best song of 2007. Thought Catalog listed the song as the eleventh best Pop song of 2007. Consequence of Sound named it the 17th best song of 2007. "Stronger" was placed 20th in Australia's annual Triple J Hottest 100. Rolling Stone named it the eleventh best song of 2007, elsewhere in the magazine's decade-end readers' poll the song was named the sixth best single of the 2000s. Furthermore, a 2013 Rolling Stone reader's poll ranked "Stronger" as West's eighth best song to that point”.
I am going to end with a feature NME put out in 2017 to mark ten years of Kanye West’s Stronger. It is a song that not only stood out as one of his very best tracks – it is also one that altered the sound and face of Rap and Hip-Hop:
“Not only did Kanye change the course of rap with ‘Stronger’, but the track also dictated the meandering road he has since taken. If the ‘Old Kanye’ was more true to the star’s personal roots and tastes, post-’Stronger’ has seen the rapper constantly shape-shifting. 2008’s ‘808s & Heartbreak’ made it acceptable for rappers to be open and vulnerable – without it, there would be no Drake. 2010’s ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’, widely considered as Kanye’s best, helped propel pop music into the realms of high art. Since, ‘Yeezus’ saw West purposely retreat from his own success, while ‘The Life Of Pablo’ has changed how we listen to albums in this modern age, with Kanye constantly drafting and tinkering with the release.
It could have all been so different though, as Kanye apparently hadn’t even heard of Daft Punk just 12 months prior to the release of ‘Stronger’. Producer A-Trak has explained how the sample came about: “It sort of happened because Swizz Beats sampled ‘Technologic’ for that Busta Rhymes record, ‘Touch It’. We were on tour in Europe in 2006, spending a lot of hours on the bus listening to the radio. Kanye heard ‘Touch It’ and thought that beat was cool. I said, ‘He just swooped up Daft Punk’. And Ye said, ‘Who?’. I just couldn’t believe that Kanye had never heard Daft Punk.”
A-Trak continued to say of Kanye: “When something falls in his lap, he knows if it’s dope, and knows when to make a beat out of it.” And good thing that he did, for Kanye’s output, and rap music overall, has been better (as well as faster and stronger) for it”.
I shall end up there. Surely one of the best songs of the first decade of this century, Stronger will stand the test of time and be regarded as one of the great Hip-Hop moments decades from now. A remarkable offering from a hugely innovative and influential artist, it has been great listening back to it! If you have not spun Stronger in a while, then go and make sure you…
DO so now.