Photo by Erez Avissar
In a few weeks, we will be able to hear a new Kanye West song called "FML," which is awesome. Not so awesome: The fact that Kanye's hand-scrawled tracklist does not include the plainspoken ode to his wife entitled "Awesome." I know, I know, the general wisdom on "Awesome" is that it is a big piece of garbage. Which is not an unfair argument. Much of the song is made up of West saying that "you’re awesome" over and over. And sure, it is far less stylistically innovative than much of his recent work. There’s no subtext here, only a heap of blunted urtext. To that, I say, more please!
West began playing "Awesome" live in 2013. Part of it was premiered on "Keeping Up With the Kardashians," and a version of the song finally leaked last year. It is fairly low-key, an Auto-Tuned paean to Kim Kardashian in which Kanye unspecifically lists the reasons she is so awesome. "'Cause I’d rather do nothing with you than something with somebody new," he sings. "You’re so out the park!" It’s very sweet. There’s little accompaniment to West’s vocal apart from some dramatic, amateurish piano and occasional light brass in the background. It’s charming, egotistical, odd, and actually kind of stupid—but it’s that unadorned clarity of vision that makes "Awesome" such a successful love anthem. He loves you because you’re awesome; you’re hot cause you’re fly. These things cannot be disputed.
I saw West perform "Awesome" at a small club in New York for a weird Adult Swim corporate event a few years ago: It was just him on the stage, leaning on his mic stand, belting from the heart like he was Sam Cooke reborn. West has never been the most poetic lyricist, and it’s when he reaches for a pun or some kind of complex wordplay that his songs get totally groan-worthy (see: "you a MILF and I’m a motherfucker"). But he does have unparalleled zest, and "Awesome" isn’t trying to do anything other than prove the depth of West’s love: "You look too good to be at work/ You feel too good to ever hurt/ I’m gonna cook/ You be dessert." This is the type of everyday romance that feels beautifully true. In its simple declarations of love, "Awesome" follows the late Kanye admirer Lou Reed’s "Perfect Day," which was so perfect because, "I spent it with you." Platitudes go a long way when sung with such gusto.
It should not be ignored, either, that the power of West’s love beams not just outward, but inward, as he ends the song by declaring that he is "awesome, too." It’s a brazen affirmation that’s either childlike or megalomaniacal, a ridiculous coda to such an unselfish plea. With any luck, "FML" will indeed stand for "fuck my life" and nothing more complex—no double entendres or weak puns. Hopefully it’s a litany of complaints of sucky stuff that’s been irking him, like sleepless nights with a newborn, or a spew of fun bile at archnemesis fashion critic Cathy Horyn. In fact, hopefully the rest of West’s albums surf a similar wave of pure id, the basest of feelings made to feel lavish. That would be awesome.