At the stroke of midnight going into 2015 Kanye West dropped his collaborative effort with legendary Paul McCartney on a sentimental ballad entitled “Only One” for his beloved daughter North West.
“Only One” is written as though West’s late mother were speaking to him as he sings the lyrics to his daughter, a la 808s and Heartbreaks. According to Rolling Stone, West said in a statement, “My mom was singing to me, and through me to my daughter,” also noting that the name “Kanye” means “Only one” in the Igbo language. “Only One” is “the first publicly available recording from what has become a prolific musical collaboration between these two legendary artists.” Kanye and McCartney started recording together August of last year in a Los Angeles bungalow starting with “a simple brainstorming session between the two, with McCartney improvising on the keyboards and Kanye vocally sketching and shaping ideas in a stream-of-consciousness riff.”
According to the statement, “Kanye sat there with his family, holding his daughter North on his lap, and listened to his vocals, singing, ‘Hello, my only one…And in that moment, not only could he not recall having sung those words, but he realized that perhaps the words had never really come from him. The process of artistic creation is one that does not involve thinking, but often channeling. And he understood in that moment that his late mother, Dr. Donda West, who was also his mentor, confidante, and best friend, had spoken through him that day.”
“Only One” is available for download on iTunes and can also be streamed at his website kanyewest.com.
