{"id":41593,"date":"2009-07-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-07-13T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/808s-heartbreak-2\/"},"modified":"2009-07-13T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-07-13T00:00:00","slug":"808s-heartbreak-2","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/808s-heartbreak-2\/","title":{"rendered":"808s & Heartbreak"},"content":{"rendered":"

To call Kanye West a blowhard is nothing short of an understatement. Thankfully, his music more than backs up his ego, as shown on his latest, 2008\u2019s 808s & Heartbreak. <\/i>This is a disc that I\u2019ve found myself returning to constantly over the past year; it\u2019s a soundtrack to shattered relationships and loss, as the title illuminates, but one that\u2019s completely devoid of saccharine sentiment or weepy regret. The beats here are all chilly, remote Auto-Tune wizardry, sometimes masking West\u2019s voice, sometimes serving as a stark contrast to his clear vocal hooks. Meanwhile, the frequent empty spaces in between the instrumentation add a layer of tenseness to the proceedings; this is clawing silence, not calming. In comparison to the swagger and bravado of Graduation,<\/i> West here is bitter, wrecked, and removed \u2013 and he\u2019s never sounded better.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Launching out with \u201cSay You Will,\u201d the album sets up its robotic, cramped tone, outfitted with simple bleeps of synths, muted drums, and vocals that echo like they\u2019re reverberating off the walls of an empty cave. Though at six minutes, the repetitive nature of the track becomes plodding, it showcases West\u2019s stark turnaround, abandoning Graduation<\/i>\u2019s boasts and thick, driving beats entirely. Even the blasts of energy are swathed in cynicism. The Auto-Tuned choruses of \u201cHeartless\u201d are strangely catchy when matched with chugging synths, but the lyrics run a predictable post-breakup gamut, combining a faux-confident kiss-off with utter emptiness. \u201cLove Lockdown\u201d is another radio staple and an album standout; jammed with throbbing drums and piano runs, there\u2019s a fullness to this track that makes it a welcome break from 808<\/i>\u2019s relatively bleak spaciousness.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u00a0What works so well on this record is that it takes worn, almost predictable emotionalism and reworks it, giving it a brashness and an attitude you wouldn\u2019t expect, especially considering West\u2019s lack of rapping and his heaping everything in Auto-Tune. On \u201cSee You In My Nightmare\u201d (featuring Lil Wayne), Wayne\u2019s increasingly hysterical growls pair with West delivering lines like \u201cTell everybody that you know that I don\u2019t love you no more\u201d as the synths swell behind them; it\u2019s an unsettling combination of elements, but strangely, it all not only comes together but is totally affecting.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Even on the more pumped-up tracks \u2013 \u201cParanoid\u201d and \u201cRoboCop,\u201d in particular, which slide along on brighter groves and more tongue-in-cheek vocalization \u2013 there\u2019s that perpetual undercurrent of isolation, of desperation, something that all the sparkling synthesizers and posturing in the world can\u2019t quite wash over.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In a way, 808s & Heartbreak <\/i>takes the consciously crafted persona of Kane West and adds a different dimension to the constant larger-than-license he\u2019s so intent on broadcasting. For all the pathos here, there is still a resoundingly human beauty that even robotic Auto-Tuning and forced coldness can\u2019t mask. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":29657,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[7798],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-41593","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-kanye-west","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41593"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41593"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}