Low Lights

"Low Lights"
Song by Kanye West
from the album The Life of Pablo
Released February 14, 2016
Length 2:11
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)

"Low Lights" is a song by American rap musician Kanye West from his seventh studio album The Life of Pablo (2016).

Background

American singer-songwriter Alicia Keys sampled the track in her song "That's What's Up", from her album Here (2018).[1] Alongside making usage of the sample, Keys released a video of her singing the original.[2]

Composition

"Low Lights" contains a sample of the acapella version of "So Alive" by Kings Of Tomorrow for the entirety of it, with a backing track produced by West, DJDS and Dean.[3] The rapper has no actual vocals on it whatsoever, with them being solely sampled from Sandy Rivera.[4] This doesn't mark the only time that he doesn't have vocals on The Life of Pablo, since fellow album tracks "Siiiiiiiiilver Surffffeeeeer Intermission" and "Frank's Track" don't include any from him either.

The track comes straight before "Highlights" on the album's tracklist, making it appropriately titled and the following song serves as an outro to "Low Lights" in a way.[5]

When all the updates had been made to West's seventh studio album in June 2016, the track was not subject to any.[6]

Release

The song was one of 5 that West added to the album's track list on the very day of release.[7] Via Twitter, West gave an explanation as to why it made the final track listing of the album.[8] He shared the audio of "Low Lights" on Saturday Night Live, whilst performing "Highlights" and "Ultralight Beam", very shortly before the featuring album was released.[9]

Critical reception

The Guardian described "Low Lights", along with fellow The Life of Pablo songs "Ultralight Beam" and "Highlights", as not feeling 'episodic so much as fractured'.[10] Monkeys Fighting Robots labeled it as being a 'powerful track'.[11]

Commercial performance

On the same week that the album featuring it was released, "Low Lights" debuted at number 22 on the US Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 and never charted again on it.[12] The track also reached number 1 on the US Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart.[13]

Charts

Chart (2016) Peak
position
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[14] 134
UK R&B (Official Charts Company)[15] 40
US Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (Billboard)[16] 22
US Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles (Billboard)[17] 1

References

  1. ↑ "Listen to Alicia Keys' New Kanye West-Sampling Song". Noisey. Retrieved June 23, 2018.
  2. ↑ "Here's Alicia Keys Singing in a Bathtub to Kanye West's "Low Lights"". Spin. Retrieved August 27, 2018.
  3. ↑ "Here's Every Sample on Kanye West's New Album, 'The Life of Pablo'". Complex. Retrieved June 22, 2018.
  4. ↑ "Kanye West's "Low Lights" Lyrics Feature the Most Biblical Meanings in 'The Life of Pablo'". Mic. Retrieved June 22, 2018.
  5. ↑ "Kanye West's new album The Life of Pablo: A track-by-track breakdown". Slate. Retrieved July 23, 2018.
  6. ↑ "Every Change Kanye West Made to 'The Life of Pablo'". XXL. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
  7. ↑ "Kanye West Added Five Tracks To The Life Of Pablo - Our First Listen Verdict". NME. Retrieved August 27, 2018.
  8. ↑ "Kanye West asks Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page for a billion dollars". Business Insider. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
  9. ↑ "Lorne Michaels Breaks His Silence on Kanye West Yelling About SNL's Set Change: "He's an Artist, You Know?"". E! News. Retrieved July 25, 2018.
  10. ↑ "Kanye West: The Life of Pablo review – 'You can see why his immodesty rubs people up the wrong way'". The Guardian. Retrieved June 21, 2018.
  11. ↑ "Kanye West: "The Life of Pablo" Track-By-Track Review". Monkeys Fighting Robots. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
  12. ↑ "Kanye West Low Lights Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved August 27, 2018.
  13. ↑ "Kanye West Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved August 27, 2018.
  14. ↑ "CHART: CLUK Update 9.04.2016 (wk14)". Zobbel.de. Retrieved September 22, 2018.
  15. ↑ "Official R&B Singles Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 21, 2018.
  16. ↑ "Kanye West Chart History (Bubbling Under Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved June 21, 2018.
  17. ↑ "Chart Search". Billboard. Retrieved July 23, 2018.
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