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My iPod #499: Kanye West ft. Adam Levine – Heard ’em Say

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“Uh, yeah” are the first ‘words’ we hear uttered by Kanye West on his second album Late Registration, after being ‘woken’ up by the pissed off teacher in the preceding opening skit. And after repeating those words three more times against a booming bass drum, Kanye proceeds to go straight into the first verse in which (and for the rest of the song) he raps about the blunt realities and truths of life alongside a dainty piano sample taken from ballad “Someone That I Used to Love” by Natalie Cole.

I don’t whether to feel happy or sad when listening to this. The soft and smooth instrumentation, from the sweet synthesizers and swooning keyboards are a huge contrast from the confident, joyous curb-stomper opener of “We Don’t Care” – a song released only under two years before. And the falsetto provided by Adam Levine in the choruses doesn’t help but pull on your heartstrings that bit more.

Probably one of the quietest and heartwarming productions Kanye has committed to tape, it is such a pleasant way to get an album such as Late Registration started. Then “Touch the Sky” starts, and then it all seems like it’s back to normal.

Here’s another version of a video you can see.

My iPod #488: The Used – Hard to Say

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Can’t remember how it happened, but I stumbled upon The Used’s album In Love and Death and listened to it for the first time in 2009 or so. And I really liked it. I don’t listen to the band that much, I wouldn’t call myself a massive fan of them. I can guarantee that it is their probably their best album though. Written at a time when the good times were not on for singer Bert McCracken – his pregnant girlfriend had died as did his dog during the making of the album – In Love and Death is an album filled to the brim with emotion with lyrics detailing self-hatred and anger as well as joy and wonderment.

“Hard to Say” is one of the reflective and sombre tracks from the album, providing a laid-back and calmer atmosphere directly after three and a half minutes of shouting and straight-up loudness. On the song, McCracken sings about the sadness brought onto him when he remembers the moments he had with someone who has passed away and has trouble coming to terms with the fact they are no longer living. He does so with a great vocal take amidst a sound-scape soothing strings, organs, relaxing percussion and a ‘wooshing’ wind sound effect which plays throughout.

Have a listen. Quite sad.