A few weeks ago, Ye surprised me by sticking to a release date he announced out of the blue. I didn't know what to expect, but the deluxe included two new tracks and improved mixing on every song. On first listen, this was my favorite track on BULLY and potentially my favorite song of the year. It's been a couple of months, and that statement is still true.
I was worried the new mix might butcher the original emotion of the song, but it hasn't. The background vocals are more prominent, Ye's vocals are clearer, and the new vocal recordings remove some of the unwanted artifacts that were present in the original vocals, most likely due to the use of AI.
I view this song as a poem. There is only one verse, repeated three times, and the way the instrumental evolves throughout the song makes the repetition hard to notice. The minimal instrumentation and lack of drums accentuate every word he says.
To me, this is the best song Ye has released in years. There's a level of authenticity and vulnerability here that has been missing from much of his recent work. The themes of this song make it a perfect fit as Ghost Town Pt. 3. I even think the lines 'Sometimes, I take all the shine / Talk like I drank all the wine' from Ghost Town would fit seamlessly into this song.
He's far, far, far, far, FAR from innocent, but this song feels like it could have been written by the Big Friendly Giant. In The BFG, the giant's height unintentionally affects everyone around him. Similarly, Ye reflects on how being Bipolar impacts the people he loves.
I like the way he ends the verse by saying, ”Magic hourglass, at least I gave you that.” After talking about how much damage he causes in everyone's life, he turns it around, saying, 'Despite the stress I put you through, I hope I left you with enough good memories.'
