Highlights (song)

"Highlights"
Song by Kanye West
from the album The Life of Pablo
Released February 14, 2016
Recorded 2015-16
Genre
Length 3:19
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)

"Highlights" is a song by American hip-hop artist Kanye West that features vocals from Young Thug and The-Dream throughout, which is from his seventh studio album, The Life of Pablo (2016).[1]

Demos

Very shortly after West's album had been released, a version of "Highlights" with Madonna on the chorus was leaked online.[2] The original version, which featured vocals from Young Thug & The-Dream (like the final version) and was recorded in 2015, also became a victim of an online leak.[3] A version featuring solely Thug became a victim of this too.[4]

Composition and lyrics

The track comes straight after "Low Lights" on The Life of Pablo's tracklist, making it appropriately titled and the previous song serves as an intro to "Highlights" in a way.[5]

By the time that all the changes had been made to the album in June 2016, the song was remixed with Thug's vocals sounding more polished.[6]

West references his brother-in-law Rob Kardashian in the track, rapping: "Blac Chyna f**king Rob, help him with the weight/I wish my trainer would, tell me what I overate".[7] Despite these lines being rapped, West showed support for Rob two months afterwards, showing that it was a playful jab and not a diss like the lyrics about Ray J.[8][9]

Release

The Life of Pablo was scheduled to be titled "Waves" at one point and "Highlights" was set to be a part of Act 2 on one of the track lists for the album.[10] When West later shared the album's tracklist via Twitter, it was scheduled to be titled "High Lights", but the title was changed to the single word "Highlights" when the album was officially released.[11]

Song analysis

The track's lyrical content is focused around the newfound fame and fortune that Kanye witnessed in life after being married with Kim Kardashian West.[12] Multiple subjects relevant to this are touched on within it, with the rapper leaving barely anything about their lives off the table.[12]

Critical reception

The Guardian's Alexis Petridis described the song, along with fellow The Life of Pablo tracks "Low Lights" and "Ultralight Beam", as not feeling 'episodic so much as fractured'.[13] Young Thug's appearance on "Highlights" was described by Rolling Stone as being a high profile guest that plays 'the role of Yeezy's sick conscience' by Rob Sheffield.[14]

Saturday Night Live performance

Kanye performed "Highlights" alongside "Ultralight Beam" on Saturday Night Live and also shared the audio of "Low Lights", the very day before the album featuring all of them was officially released.[15] Immediately after this performance, West made the announcement of The Life of Pablo being released, telling those viewing: "Kanye West dot com right now, Tidal streaming right now.".[16]

Controversy

In the song, when West raps: "I bet me and Ray J would be been friends/If we ain't love the same b***h/Yeah, he might've hit it first/Only problem is I'm rich", this is clearly a diss directed towards his wife's ex-boyfriend Ray J.[9] There is an explicit reference to Ray J's infamous 2013 diss track "I Hit It First", which is not the first time West has clapped back at him for the release of this track, since he once dissed Ray J in return on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon when changing the lyrics to his 2013 single "Bound 2".[17] However, Ray J never responded to being name-dropped in "Highlights", but did give a negative response to the music video for West's song "Famous" from the very same album, which features a nude model of him in it.[18]

Music video

On 10 July 2016, it was revealed that the rapper had shot a music video for the song in Iceland.[19] By the time West marked his first release of material since The Life of Pablo with single "Lift Yourself" in 2018, the music video hadn't been released, meaning that it's most likely never going to become available.[20]

Commercial performance

Upon the release of the featuring album, the track debuted at number 4 on the US Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 and remained on that chart for a total of four weeks.[21] Within the same week, "Highlights" made its debut at number 41 on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and never charted again on it afterwards.[22] It failed to reach the top 100 of the UK Singles Chart, but came close when charting at number 108 in the UK.[23]

Charts

Chart (2016) Peak
position
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[23] 108
UK R&B (Official Charts Company)[24] 31
US Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (Billboard)[25] 4
US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard)[26] 41

References

  1. ↑ "Highlights (feat. Young Thug & The-Dream) - Kanye West Song". BBC Music. Retrieved June 18, 2018.
  2. ↑ "Hear a Version of Kanye West's 'Highlights' Featuring Madonna on the Chorus". Spin. Retrieved June 18, 2018.
  3. ↑ "Kanye West - Highlights (The-Dream Demo) Lyrics". Genius Lyrics. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
  4. ↑ "Kanye West - Highlights (Young Thug Demo) Lyrics". Genius Lyrics. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
  5. ↑ "Kanye West's new album The Life of Pablo: A track-by-track breakdown". Slate. Retrieved July 22, 2018.
  6. ↑ "Every Change Kanye West Made to 'The Life of Pablo'". XXL. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  7. ↑ "13 Kanye West Disses On 'The Life Of Pablo' That Prove No One Is Safe". Bustle. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  8. ↑ "Kanye West Shows Support For Rob Kardashian After Blac Chyna Engagement". HotNewHipHop. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  9. 1 2 "Here's Everyone Kanye West Disses on 'The Life of Pablo'". The Wrap. Retrieved June 18, 2018.
  10. ↑ "Kanye West Debuts Several 'Waves' Tracklists". Billboard. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  11. ↑ "Kanye West new album named The Life of Pablo: tracklist revealed on Twitter". The Independent. Retrieved July 23, 2018.
  12. 1 2 "Kanye West "Highlights" Lyrics: Meaning of New Song Off 'The Life of Pablo'". Yahoo! News. Retrieved August 4, 2018.
  13. ↑ "Kanye West: The Life of Pablo review – 'You can see why his immodesty rubs people up the wrong way'". The Guardian. Retrieved June 19, 2018.
  14. ↑ "The Life of Pablo - Rolling Stone". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 19, 2018.
  15. ↑ "'SNL' Kanye West Debuts 'Life of Pablo' Songs". Billboard. Retrieved June 18, 2018.
  16. ↑ "Kanye West Drops 'The Life of Pablo' Album After 'SNL' Performance". Billboard. Retrieved June 18, 2018.
  17. ↑ "Kanye West Fires Back At Ray J Over 'I Hit It First' During Performance On Jimmy Fallon (VIDEO)". HuffPost. Retrieved June 18, 2018.
  18. ↑ "Ray J Pissed At Kanye West's "Famous" Video While Chris Brown Laughs". HipHopDx. Retrieved June 18, 2018.
  19. ↑ "Kanye West Reportedly Filmed "Highlights" Video In Iceland". HotNewHipHop. Retrieved June 18, 2018.
  20. ↑ "Kanye West's New Song "Lift Yourself" Is Here & Fans Have So Many Emotions". Bustle. Retrieved August 20, 2018.
  21. ↑ "Kanye West Highlights Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved August 25, 2018.
  22. ↑ "Chart Search". Billboard. Retrieved June 23, 2018.
  23. 1 2 "CHART: CLUK Update 9.04.2016 (wk14)". Zobbel.de. Retrieved September 22, 2018.
  24. ↑ "Official R&B Singles Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 18, 2018.
  25. ↑ "Kanye West Chart History (Bubbling Under Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved June 18, 2018.
  26. ↑ "Kanye West Chart History (Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved June 18, 2018.
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