Kanye West reaches for greatness but falls short on ‘Jesus Is King.’ Read our review
is filled with moments of undeniable brilliance. Though it will likely be placed alongside last year’sas a distinctly lightweight entry in his canon , the album reminds us that even West’s lesser work can be capable of extreme dynamism.
is no longer the brash bandleader standing in the center of the storm. Instead, he’s simply hanging on, delivering slightly more focused versions of screeds delivered last week in lengthy interviews. It’s no secret that West’s albums are often mined from whatever it is he’s thinking about at that moment, but before his latest pivot he at least tried to add punchlines to his verses. , West’s presence front and center weakens his work as a producer.
Nowhere is the view muddier than on “Closed On Sundays,” featuring a newfound, poorly articulated dedication to women’s purity in the social media age. Ostensibly a love song directed at Kim Kardashian West, he solemnly intones “Hold the selfies, put the ‘Gram away / Get your family, y’all hold hands and pray.” It doesn’t work . But in typical Westian fashion, the song dramatically shifts, and very nearly redeems itself.
The plaintive, direct singing mode is West’s best delivery vehicle across the album. The rapping is uniformly lackluster when not delivered by one of the brothers Thornton in their return as legendary rap duo Clipse. Yet when West sings, it becomes clear how urgent this album is for him . It’s unlikely that any listener would select “God Is” as the strongest entry on, but it admirably lays out what West is attempting to do. Voice straining, he literally tries to enumerate what God is to him.
If West really, truly believed that it could save someone’s — everyone’s — immortal soul, you wish he had tried a little harder.
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