Hits 21 - 2007 (4): Timbaland, Robyn, Kanye West

Episode Date: March 3, 2024

Hello again, everyone, and welcome back to Hits 21, the show that's taking a look back at every UK #1 hit single of the 21st century - from January 2000, right through to the present day. Twitter: @Hits21UK Email: [e-mail] Vault: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5O5MHJUIQIUuf0Jv0Peb3C?si=e4057fb450f648b0 Piehole: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2FmWkwasjtq5UkjKqZLcl4

Do-da-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do- Hi there everyone and welcome back to Hits21 where me, Rob, me, Andy, and me, Livy. Or look back at every single UK number one of the 21st century, from January 2000 right through to the present day. If you want to get in touch with us, you can find us over on Twitter, we are at HITS21UK, that is at HITS21UK. And you can email us too, feel free to send it on over to hits 21 podcast at gmail.com Thank you ever so much for joining us again. We are currently looking back at the year 2007 this week We'll be covering the period between the 29th of July and the 1st of September So a much shorter period is gonna go past this time So a much shorter period is going to go past this time. It is time to press on with this week's episode and as always it's time for some news headlines from around the time.

The songs we're covering in this episode were at number one in the UK. And we're going to have to go back into last week's episode slightly because we've covered such a huge amount of time that we couldn't fit all of the stories in. So let's go. amount of time that we couldn't fit all of the stories in. So let's go. Over the summer, Gordon Brown becomes the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. And in Liverpool, 11-year-old boy Rhys Jones is killed while walking home from football practice. After a long police investigation, a 16-year-old boy, Sean Mercer, who was a member of the

local Croxtith Crew Gang, was found guilty of Reese's murder and sentenced to a minimum of 22 years in prison. In the US state of Minnesota, 13 people are killed and dozens more are injured when a road bridge collapses into the Mississippi River. It was determined that the collapse was caused by its steel brackets gradually becoming unable to withstand the bridge's increased load over time. And three people are killed when a British Army helicopter crashes in a Catholic garrison army base in Yorkshire. An inquest later revealed that the pilot had been flying recklessly. The three dead were later identified as David Sayle, Philip Burfoot and Sean Tate.

These films that hit the top of the UK box office during this period were as follows. The Simpsons movie for two weeks, Rush Hour 3 for one week and The Born Ultimatum for three weeks. Earlier in July the concert for Diana was held at Wembley Stadium. The concert featured performances from Elton John, Donnie Osmond and Tom Jones, as well as from Orson, Jostone and Nelly Fatardo. And there were also speeches made by Princes William and Harry, David Beckham, Ricky Gervais and Nelson Mandela. Spot the odd one out there. The TV broadcast reached a peak audience of 14.8 million people on the BBC. And I'm not going to make any jokes about the concert if I had for Diana, except if you've never seen the Ricky Gervais moment before,

look it up, you'll cringe yourself inside out. It's not his finest hour, to say the very least. Meanwhile in America, Lindsay Lohan is arrested for driving under the influence twice in one month and checks into a rehab facility. Britney Spears and Kevin Federline finalise their divorce before she returns with her comeback single, Gimme More. And High School Musical 2 becomes the most successful film in the history of the Disney Channel with over 17 million people tuning in on premiere night in America obviously. Yes, it would have been a big deal over here anyway but I think it would have been such a big deal over here if 70 million

Brits are tuned in. Andy, the UK album charts, how are they? Pretty quiet this week to be honest but one big thing to celebrate. Before we get there let's just recap where we were last week because for the first few weeks of this period Paul Potts is still at number one with his debut album One Chance after winning Britain's Got Talent. He remains at number one for three weeks and went platinum with that album. But last week we talked about an artist who just kept on not getting a number one single that is. But on the album chart she's luckier. It's the number one album for Kate Nash, with her album, Made of Bricks. Well done, Kate. You got there. You got there. You managed

it. That went double platinum, but was only number one for one week, so she only just managed it. Before that's toppled by Elvis Presley of all people, who went number one for one week with The King, which is a compilation album. Of course it's a compilation album. Don't know why I'm telling you that. Hardly gonna be a new studio album is it? And that went number one for one week and only went gold. And that's all this week. We've got Paul Potts, Kate Nash and Elvis Presley.

That's a dinner party for you. Lizzie, how are the states? Well, thankfully only one number one single to mention this week, which is Beautiful Girls by Sean Kingston. It was not only his first number one, but also his debut single, and he became the first artist born in the 1990s to top the Billboard Hot 100. It did similarly well in the UK, but we'll have more on that in our next episode. So moving on to albums which I will quickly run

through as I usually do. So we have Now 25 by various artists, stayed at number one for two weeks, obviously wasn't released in the UK and didn't even have any British artists on it at all for shame. Then we have Finding Forever by Common, one week at number one, got to number 35 over here. Next up is UGK, Underground Kings by UGK. One week at number one, sadly failed to chart in the UK. Yeah, that's a shame. Yeah, it really is.

It's a good album. And finally this week we have High School Musical 2, the soundtrack to the Disney Child film of the same name, which spent four weeks at number one in America but was ineligible for the main UK charts, instead hitting number one on the Confillations chart. And that is it from me this week. OK then, thank you both very much and we are going to get into our singles for this week and the first of those is this. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, We're the perfect soul mates Talk to me girl Oh baby, it's so like nothing we got

Floor for me, here we go But you can still touch my lungs free We can run without the brakes just you and me Lookin' out till we get it right Baby if it's broken we've got to go back Alright, this is The Way I Are by Timberland featuring Kerry Hilsen and DOE. Released as the second single from his second studio album titled Shock Value, The Way I Are is Timberland's fourth single overall to be released in the UK and his second to reach number one.

And it's not the last time we'll be coming to Timberland on this podcast, but it is the last time that we'll be coming to Kerry Hilsen and DOE. The way I am first entered the UK chart at number 84 reaching number one during its sixth week on the chart knocking Rihanna off the top spot at long last. It stayed at number one for two weeks. In its first week atop the charts it sold 34,000 copies beating competition from Song for Muthia by Groove Armada and Muthia Buena which climbed to number 8, Big Girl You Are Beautiful by Meeker which climbed to number 9 and Autumn Song by Manic Street Preachers which got to number 10.

And in week 2 it sold 33,000 copies beating competition from With Every Heart Beat by Robin which got to number 5, Dream Catch Me by Newton Faulkner which climbed to number 7 and Hey There Delilah by the Plain White Tees which climbed to number 10. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, the way I R dropped one place to number two. By the time it was done on the charts, it had been inside the top 104, 45 weeks. The song is currently officially certified two times platinum, so double platinum in the UK, as of 2020-4. Lizzie, feel free to open the show with this one. Yeah, this is decent. It's Timbaland doing what Timbaland did best in 2007, which is angular club beats full

of production signatures, just in case you somehow forget who produced it. And to be honest, how could you forget? Timbaland's got one of the more distinctive voices in hip-hop. It sounds just as good to hear as it did on Give It to Me, but it is also unintentionally quite funny to hear him singing about how he supposedly got no money, despite being arguably the biggest producer in the world at the time. But hey, maybe that's the whole point. It's Timbaland making a club banger for the common man, and in in 2024 when many of us can't afford flowers and rent a room in a house I think the theme of the song has aged surprisingly well. Plus Timbland really does know his way around the chorus

but that is a given at this point. I only wish the collaborators on this track had been a bit more impactful I don't think Kerry Hilsen is terrible, but I feel her voice is a little bit thin on this track, and so she gets a little bit lost in the mix at points. Then there is the un-googleable DOE who barely shows up at all and sounds like he has a cold. I think the song is decent overall, as I say, but with stronger collaborators, I think this could have been a home run. Instead, it's just kind of somewhere in the middle in the Timberland number one pantheon, let's say. For me, I think this is probably my favorite cut from shock value looking back, which I

don't think is that great of an album really. I don't know why I was so obsessed with it when I was 12 and 13. But yeah just with this, from the first moment I'm sort of introduced to sounds, I've not really heard before or since, those kind of high fidelity, like you say those angular pulsing synths, you know, the kind of throb in a way that were a very big deal to me in 2007, and that was just listening on like shitty little iPod earphones, but years later on proper headphones, and as budget home speaker systems have, you know, progressed and got better. I think it sounds, sounds amazing. The record really sounds amazing, instrumental. I'm a big fan of how Timberland mixes things

anyway, I think we've said this a lot on the show, but I think this might be my favourite of the works of his that we've kind of properly covered. Obviously there's loads that have gone by like Cry Me A River that I prefer and Say It Right and a couple of others, but when I was comparing it to stuff like Manny to and Sexy Back and More Than A Woman, I think you know I think it's up there. I think this is up there with them for me. I think over the years I've kind of gone back and forth like you Lizzie over how believable and relatable the lyrics are and whether I buy into the story of Timberland of all all people, you know, trying to pass himself off as this, you know,

poor guy while trying to chat up Kerry Hilsen. But I think it ultimately becomes less of a story about wealth and more about just like trying to offer yourself up to somebody when you don't feel that great about yourself, because it becomes less about money and it becomes more about, you know, my appearance and like you were saying were saying, there's club bangers for the common man sort of thing. And it's an unusual dynamic to have it set up against a futuristic up tempo R&B background instead of a maudlin and sensitive one. I think it's a curious decision that I still haven't figured out and I always like it when I can't figure songs out and years go by.

I think it sort of runs out of steam after the second chorus and every single version of the song that there is, of which there are three, they all suffer from the same issue which is after the second chorus, the first two thirds are fantastic, but I'm not hugely fussed about the outro version of any of the versions that you get. There's the album version which just kind of fades out while Kerry Hilsen's kind of thin, wiry voice just goes while the synth then goes Then there's that really strange version that I think that was played on the radios more than not, was featuring this rapper called Sebastian, who I think is just a friend or relative of Tim Belanz or something.

And he's talking about like, your body ain't Pamela Anderson, it's a struggle to get you in the caravan. But before you lose a pound, I'll buy a bigger car. And it's all just, it loses me very quickly. And then there's the video version which just goes around the chorus a second, a third time. And it just feels a bit like they didn't know where to go. But I'm not hugely fussed about the outro section because, you know, it's just the outro. Because things like the pre-chorus with, you know, with Kerry Hilsen, I think the pre-chorus with you know with Kerry

Hilson I think the the the pre-chorus is great I think that's the best part of this and I am sort of fully on board with this on like a cellular level in like the first sort of 10 seconds I'm just so taken in by its atmosphere I'm so taken in by its atmosphere and like you know the album versions kind of you know it's not even under I think it just tucks in under three minutes and so it's never around for too long. The more problematic elements of it like I say the outro, I don't mean problematic in the capital P problematic social media phrase I do just mean generally problematic. It's only

like a third of it and it's just a repeat of, and it's kind of like diminishing returns on stuff that's already great anyway to me. So yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm big with this. I'm cool with this. How about you, Andy? I'm, I mean, it's quite a strange position really in that I agree with a lot of the points that both of you have made, but just sort of like less so, I just kind of don't feel those things as strongly to be honest. And I think it's partly because I think there's a really weird effect with this song that it feels sort of too short and too long at the same time. And that's kind of the main

problem that I've had with it, which is really weird in that it's only three minutes long, like in that edit that you mentioned Rob, and 27 seconds of it, I think I clocked, is the intro. So you listen to it and you're like, this is kind of over before it starts. Like this is so brief and it's so slight and it is really brief and really slight, but then there's such a small amount of content, such few different sections taking up such little time that it manages to run out of steam even then. Like it kind of runs out of steam after two minutes really. So it's really brief and kind of feels like it doesn't properly get going, but is also kind of on stage it's welcome.

So it's in this really nasty little place, which makes it feel quite hard for me to really get into it and really enjoy it. But I think I'm probably being a bit harsh to be honest. What I really have appreciated about this is that I came to this, I came to the whole podcast really sort of completely clueless about Timbaland because in 2007 that was like, I was at my peak of you know burying my head in guitar music and that's it and like everything else is kind of getting rejected and so Timbaland just sort of passed me by in the background and it's only only sort of retrospectively, which have kind of lend from both the views, to be honest, about the impact that he had and how influential he was in pop music of the

era. But listening to this, you can really hear it, really, really hear it. Like there's so much stuff around this time, or shortly after, in like 2008, 2009, that is just kind of trying to sound like this, to be honest. Like a lot of stuff off the fame by Lady Gaga, you know, a lot of stuff off Rated R by Rihanna, a lot of Alexandra Berks stuff kind of comes to mind. Like a lot of stuff is trying to sound like this right after it and I sort of can't deny the influence of that lovely, lovely production. And it is lovely, like it's really well rounded. It's really kind of, it's more, this is kind of going to sound a bit weird, but it's kind of more

impressive than it sounds, and that there's more going on than First Metis in that production. It's one of those ones where there's probably an alarmingly large number of tracks on the mix there that you never really would have suspected. One thing though that really jumped out is that that lead synth, that kind of fat squashy juicy synth that runs all the way through that. I really do think that's the exact same synth as BABABABAB a very different way. It sounds so similar to that synth from Cry Me River, but because it's repurposed in like such a different tempo and such a different vibe, it sounds like something totally new which is really inventive and again that kind of using that sort of driving synthry as a kind of sort of sway your hips to it thing rather than

the kind of mellow use of it in Cry Me River. That's a really volition there, kind of using the same tools to create something new, and I really praise that, that's really exciting to me. So I really enjoyed the production of it, I just thought as a song in its own right, I was just like, ugh, just give me a bit more kind of, just give me a bit more juice here. It doesn't really help that like, one of the two featured artists, I don't have to tell you which one, is like virtually anonymous, just virtually invisible. Kerry Hilsen, I really enjoyed Kerry Hilsen on this, I think her part is definitely the highlights, I agree that the pre-chorus is the highlight for sure, but I just kind of find it hard to feel too much about this to be honest,

partly because it passed me by at the time, partly because it's so brief and also kind of there's not much in the song but also I'm just kind of really focused on thinking of other things that this sounds like and kind of the impact that it had rather than the song itself. So it's a weird little cure-aid tag for me this one and I've still not quite settled my feelings on it. I suspect I'm being a little harsh and I'm kind of dismissing it when I shouldn't be so I'm gonna kind of muse over this one a bit more and maybe see what I think about it in the future sy'n gwybod ymlaen i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llyfr i'r llflawni. Felly, mae'n dd one in that because as we're moving forward through time, things are becoming clearer to me. This is one of the first songs we've ever covered that, I don't just remember it being

out of the time, I think I possibly remember the exact day where this got number one, not because of it getting number one, but I was on a holiday with school at the end of the year before we got into the summer holidays. And I remember coming back on the weekend after school break up, a few days after my sister's birthday, which is a few days before this. And Deathly Hallows had just come out and I kind of buried myself in that,

but it was on a Sunday, which would have been when this got number one. So I think I quite vividly remember the exact day where this got number one, which is really cool. So yeah, tried to mention that as well. So yeah, I enjoyed this and I probably kind of, it'll grow on me over time, but for now it's just sort of, I appreciate it. That's all, I just appreciate it. Yeah.

Before we move on, just three little notes. The music video for this was filmed in Salford, in near Manchester, so near us. I think it was basically filmed in the bit of Manchester City Centre, which is technically Salford, which is where Chapel Street is at the bottom of, sort of at the bottom of town really. If you go down from Piccadilly all the way down, Blackfriars all the way to Chapel Street and turn left, and then you go past the Lowry Hotel. And I think just before you hit the railway bridge and Salford Central Station,

there's some kind of garage units that over time have been converted into shops and there's a car park and things like that. And the train line runs behind them. And I think it was filmed in one of those, sort of like those garage lockups there. The alternate mix of this, there is actually, there is a fourth version of this which I neglected

to mention before, is the mix that features one republic on it which was never included on the album, it was only included as a bonus B-side on the CD single of Apologize that was released in Europe, not even in the UK. It was actually to kind of give more of this story which I'll expand upon in 2013. It was actually getting into OneRepublic which meant I followed the line down through Timberland who obviously gave them their break and then down through Shock Value and beyond and into Timberland's like deeper body of work. But yeah, the remix of this song that has, it has one republic instead of DOE's bits, and there's like a cello involved and stuff,

because that was like their signature early on. It was Brent Kutzel's cello. And that was where the obsession kind of began. It was like hearing, apologising on the radio, and then being like, oh, this band is cool. Let's get into them. Oh, it's also with Timbaland too. Let's get into him and let's follow it. You know, like, and like I say, get into his back catalogue.

The other thing as well, the third thing is that we won't come back to Kerry Hilsen properly on this show because she doesn't get another number one, but she does get another top ten. Can anybody remember what it is? It's a song with Kanye West am I right? Yeah that's just about right yes it's Knock You Down with Neo and Kanye West. I also have one more background fact that I've just picked up on. Sebastian is not merely Timbaland's friend He is his brother his brother. Yes. I thought it was a relative All right, we will move on to our second of three songs this week and it is this Maybe we can make it alright We could make it better sometime

Maybe we could make it happen, baby We could keep trying but things will never change So I don't look back Still I'm dying with, so I don't look back Still I'm dying with every step I take But I don't look back And just a little, little bit better Good enough to waste some time Okay, this is With Every Heartbeat by Robin With Clear Up. Released as the third single from the international version of her fourth studio album, titled

Robin, With Every Heartbeat is Robin's seventh single overall to be released in the UK and her first to reach number one, and as of 2024 it is her last. With every heartbeat, first enter the UK chart at number five, reaching number one during its second week on the chart, knocking Timberland off top spot. It stayed at number one for one week. In its first and only week atop the chart, it sold 35,000 copies, beating competition from Stronger by Kanye West which got to number three. When it was knocked off the top of the charts with every

heartbeat dropped one place to number two. By the time it was done on the charts it had been inside the top 104 28 weeks. The song is currently officially certified platinum in the UK. As of 2024, Andy, how are we feeling about Robin? Oh, I'm feeling very, very good about Robin. It's just a lovely thing that we're able to do on this show really, that I mean it's kind of when you think about all we've been visiting every number one, you think oh it's you know these are all absolute massive classics and you get occasionally ones like this that have been not overlooked exactly but sort of not as celebrated as others that are absolutely brilliant and it's just lovely to be able to come back to them and celebrate them and give them another moment in the sun. That's

how I feel about this basically, which is that this is just why is this not being played everywhere all the time? It's just like for every time that Amarillo has been played, why not play this instead? I mean, I don't need to pick on Amarillo, but come on. Like, this deserves more than one week at number one. It's just lovely. It's just, there's so much about this that I really, really love. I think that sort of, I don't even know how to describe it, but that sort of driving drone sort of sense of build that comes throughout the first minute or

two that just kind of takes you away with that really sort of quite unique sound that she captures in this as well. The lyrics are lovely, it's a really like it's an idea that you can really invest in, it's something that you really kind of connect with and I can so imagine like teenager of the time including myself but like so many teenagers kind of just putting their headphones on and tuning the world out and just listening to this and kind of thinking yeah I'm gonna release some emotions to this it's just it's just unlike anything else we've covered on the show so far I really really do think so. I think this is a real

Moment in the Sun for something that we've not really covered Which is Scandi pop I guess is that the word Scandi pop? I guess so yeah. Yeah It's quite funny actually that uh, she she did episode never mind the buzzcocks around this time Which is kind of how I became aware of this and Simon Amstel said to her You know, we never see you like we haven't seen you for like a long time where have you been now you come back to release this album where have you been and she just kind of shrugs and goes being the biggest pop star in Europe which is just an absolute just absolutely like see that so yes um thoroughly deserved that she was the biggest pop star in Europe because if she's releasing things like this, oh absolutely gorgeous. If there's one thing

I don't like about it, literally one thing, it's that bridge slash breakdown in the middle, I think it just saps momentum from the song, it goes on a bit too long without hearing from Robin's voice, but that's almost a bit of a compliment because I enjoy Robin's voice so much on this and I enjoy that sense of momentum and that sense of drive almost like you kind of going for a run with it I love that so much that I just kind of don't want to stop And I want to talk about Robin's voice in particular because I quite often You know people who know me will know that I really hate kind of saccharine sort of sickly sweet voices Like I really find it hard to listen to Billy Goldin's voice and there's a lot like to a birdie there that kind of like

really high pitched thin like soprano slash alto like I find that really quite hard to listen to but this is like proof positive that it is possible to have a voice like that and for it to be delicate without it being cloying and sickly sweet that I just I just wish we wouldn't put singers like this so much in a box that we wouldn't you know take them down a road where they're like Eliza Doolittle or Birdie or Ely Golden or something like that that you can get real tenderness out of voices like that you can get real insecurity and vulnerability and empathy out of voices like that. Yeah, if

you can't tell, I really, really love this. If it wasn't for the fact that that bridge, I think, saps quite a lot of momentum out of the song and is a little bit ill-advised, if I could just cut that straight out of the song, which I'm sure there's an editor that's somewhere that just cuts it straight out, this would be an easy 10 for me, to be honest. And as it is, it's just a nine. But yes, I mean, just full disclosure, I'm absolutely ac mae'n gweithio'r 10 o'r ffordd, o fawr, ac mae'n gweithio'n 9 o'r ffordd. Ond, mae'n gweithio'r ffordd, mae'n gweithio'r ffordd, mae'n gweithio'r ffordd, mae'n gweithio'r ffordd, ac mae'n gweithio'r ffordd, mae'n gweithio'r ffordd, mae'n gweithio'r ffordd, mae'n gweithio'r ffordd, mae'n gweithio'r ffordd, mae'n gweithio'r ffordd, mae'n gweithio'r ffordd, mae'n gweithio'r ffordd, mae'n gweithio'r ffordd, mae'n gweithio'r ffordd, mae'n gweithio'r ffordd, mae'n gweithio'r ffordd, mae'n gweithio'r ffordd, mae'n gweithio'r ffordd, mae'n gweithio'r ffordd, mae'n gweithio'r ffordd, mae'n gweithio'r ffordd, mae'n gweithio'r ffordd, mae'n gweithio'r ffordd, mae'n gweithio'r ffordd, mae'n gweithio'r ffordd, mae'n gweithio'r ffordd, mae'n gweithio'r ffordd, mae'n gweithio'r ffordd, mae'n gweithio'r ffordd, mae'n gweithio'r ffordd, mae'n gweith that well by the history books and yeah it's just absolutely lovely. Quick shout out though to some other Robin hits that we'll never get to cover. As much as I love this I think Dancing on My Own is even better. That's just like beautiful that song. Shout out to Be Mine as well. I've always really liked that one. I wish

we had more Robin number ones but I very much shout that we ever will fortunately but it's just great to hear from her. Yeah, absolutely love this. Lovely. Hmm. Yeah, I also think that this is a bit of a, how do I put this? As much as the song I feel has not exactly been forgotten, that's not really the right word, but I know what you mean, Andy, it has kind of been slightly overlooked by the mainstream anyway. But I also kind of count my blessings with it a little bit because there are often so many artists like Robin who makes such special pop who never You know, I think it was nearly this way with Cardi Rai Jepsen had she not broken out with call me maybe

You know, it's like we'd never really get a chance to properly discuss it with just gone past Amy Winehouse actually for instance We've just gone past Amy Winehouse, actually, for instance. But, yeah, but also I think that things like dancing on my own and like you say, be mine, but also things like show me love and honey and missing you and all these like all these singles that she's released down the years that don't, you know, that don't get to know more. And I do think that as a nation, we have been deprived of Robin a little bit.

She's always been very successful in seeing her home nation. She's had lots and lots of top 10 hits in Sweden. Although curiously, this only reached number 23 in Sweden, despite things like dancing on my own, getting number one, hang with me, getting to number two. Do you really want me showing me some respect, me getting to number two. Do you really want me showing me some respect like getting to number two? There's a few others like she's obviously really big

in Sweden but this wasn't which is strange. Oh yeah, wow this is really tremendous. She has a lot of deserved number ones I think like I've said but I'm glad that we get to discuss at least one and I'm glad that it's this it's also not my favorite dancing on my own is also my favorite too Andy but this is her second best I think I will try and talk about both versions of this together because the radio edit is more different from the album version than I had maybe initially given credit for. I prefer the album version. I think if we were discussing it that would be a proper 10 out of 10.

This isn't quite. I agree. But it's yeah that the radio version, I understand that it feels the need to get to the point a bit quicker because radio audiences have grown less and less patient by the year and obviously radio producers need to keep people invested to like it and buy it and stuff. So I will forgive it that slightly, but it does mean that the radio edit, I think the radio edit is kind of like a 9 out of 10 and the album version is like a full 10. I think that the album version is, you know how you were saying Andy where it's a good thing to kind of put your headphones on and just kind of disappear into it for a bit. The album version, because it goes on for much longer, it's a full minute

longer than the single version. And because that heavy bass drum doesn't come in until quite a significant amount of time has passed in the song, it does feel quite hypnotic, sort of in a way that Pure Shores did or something like that. It's just, it's a real shame to lose that though because like one of the things I really like about this is that when I first listened to it was like I'm gonna mark this down for it needing more percussion, it needs more percussion and then it comes in and it's like I was just I was really waiting for it and then it comes and it's like oh you get such catharsis from having something that you need

in the song then appear. It would be so sad to lose that. Yeah. The structure and the sort of like the formatting of the album version is quite different as well because it takes over two minutes for us to get to the title of the song being spoken and stuff like that. But anyway, I still think that even with this single version, it's still one of the finest songs we'll ever cover on this podcast. The heartache and the pain and the directionlessness, you know. It's obvious from the word go. I think Robin plays her character so convincingly. There's so much pain in her voice and when she comes to the slower bit where she does the and it hurts with you can hear every breath back in as if she's

kind of like singing the song through tears and stuff like that. This really masters the thing that we talk about on this podcast quite a lot, where strongest lyrics are often the simplest. And I think that in some very short lines with this, we get the complete story, that this isn't the first time that Robin and her partner have attempted to mend things or how difficult it must feel to know in your heart

that someone is your soulmate, but know in your head that they're really not You know like we could keep trying but things will never change is A very simple and effective lyric and the confusion is really palpable as well from very little being on the paper In terms of actually, you know words that are spoken Robin's a really terrific performer who does this kind of heartache stuff really, really well. Like I say, her real, I think, when Robin passes away, I do think that dancing on my own is,

it's either this or dancing on my own, but I think the majority of people will probably come back to dancing on my own. I feel like that's endured as like the bigger hit internationally, if not UK wise because she performs jealousy and heartache and pain very very well especially when it comes to love and relationships. She's also I think not got enough credit for some of her weirder compositions. I think one of what I think her third favorite song of mine funnily enough was never released as a single was that um got enough credit for some of her weirder compositions. I think her third favourite

song of mine, funnily enough, was never released as a single, was that Don't Tell Me What to Do, off the start of Body Talk, where the whole song is, my X is killing me, my Y is killing me, and my Z is killing me, and it goes through the whole song playing that over and over and over, and then it gets to the last minute and she goes, don't fucking tell me what to do. And I was really taken in by how deliberately provocative that kind of stuff is. Speaking about Robin kind of, you know, taking a breath in, the instrumental always sounds like it's holding back tears as well. Dancing the pain away Away so to speak, which again is another formula that she repeats perfectly on Dancing on My Own. It's kind of speaking of Dancing on My Own,

it's a bit of a shame that we won't get to cover the Callum Scott version actually, because it's usually the kind of thing I'd hate, but I find his interpretation of it to be strangely very nice, and another song that I haven't ever really properly figured out, you know, it takes the softer parts of the original, kind of blows them up on a projector and does some interesting stuff with the gender swapped lyrics because some of them are gender swapped and some of them aren't and it kind of frames it as like his girlfriend has left him for another girl and you very rarely hear pop songs about that kind of scenario and it leaves me a bit me a bit curious about why they did that with the lyrics, but also a bit of a shame that we won't get to interrogate it any deeper.

But with every heartbeat, I think it's terrific. I think the album version, and to be honest, the single version as well, because it has so much of the bones of it, they are, the album version especially though is one of the greatest break-up songs of all time and I'm glad that we've been able to give it some you know some proper space. Lizzie, it sounds like you agree with us both. Yeah I mean have you been reading my notes? It's pitch perfect. Yeah I totally agree. One of the best tracks we will cover on this podcast and I agree with you Rob, one of the best breakup songs. It's kind of, I sort of mentally place this alongside knowing me, knowing you in particular.

That sort of sense of like there is nothing we can do. It's that sense of hitting a point in a relationship where you know it's kind of all over, but you have to keep moving because well otherwise you're trapped. Yeah I agree with you. I think Robin's vocal performance on this is haunting to say the least. It is the sound of someone desperately trying to hold it together, feeling the ache behind her eyes as her feelings battled her composure. And she just about holds it together at the end. But it's, it looks really sort of shaky, particularly that, like you

say that bit where it's like, and it hurts with like, you feel it's starting to well up. And yeah, it's, it's heartbreaking. Like lyrically, it's very minimalist and cyclical but I think that makes it more striking especially combined with the unusual chorusless structure and the building tension of the backing track. It starts off with just a simple drum loop and some gorgeous almost funereal synth textures. Then it adds a more ominous pulsing synth tone underneath, and then a higher, more flowy synth tone on top of that. And then you get those synth strings swirling and repeating Robin's vocal melody, albeit with a bit of a discordant twist. At that point, it could easily all become too much, but instead they pull back and release

all of that tension for my favourite moment of the track, where Robin is briefly alone with that fluttering synth line and the cello-like structures from the intro. Even the outro is great, where all of those elements come back in and Robin's multi-tracked vocals make her sound as strong as the swirl of emotions that had almost threatened to engulf her. The way it kind of all sort of builds that tension and then just kind of stops and pulls back reminds me of a completely unrelated track from 2007 but you know Weird Fishes by Radiohead? Oh yeah.

Yeah. That bit where it all just stops and it's like I get eaten by the words then weird fishes. Maybe my favourite moment in all of Radiohead but kind of reminded me of that albeit loosely but anyway I digress. I think it's a prime example of like you say what a less is more approach can do in pop music in three short minutes it manages to evoke a feeling like the weight of the entire world and yes the album version is better but this is still incredible I think. Yeah no I don't disagree at all I'm glad that we've been able to come to Robin in any capacity

really. I just wanted to say I'm proud of the UK for being the only country to get this to number one where it belongs. Yes, not often that the UK is so right on something when everybody else is so not quite right. But yeah, well done to us. Just like Chico, we were right about Chico. Okay, so we're up to our third and final song this week. The next segment is going to be slightly different to our usual segments, but we'll explain everything as we go. So the third and final song this week is this. It makes us all better, faster, stronger Now, now, now, that don't kill me

Can only make me stronger I need you to hurry up now Cause I can't wait much longer I know I got to be right now Cause I can't get much stronger Man, I've been waiting all night now That's how long I been on ya I need you right now Let's get lost tonight

You could be my black tape moth tonight Play secretary on the ball tonight And you don't give a fuck what they all say right Awesome to Kristen and Kristen to y'all Damn, they don't make them like this anymore I ask, cause I'm not sure do anybody make real shit anymore Bow and the presence of greatness is right now that has forsaken us You should be honored by my lateness that I would even show up to this fake shit

To go ahead, go nuts, go hate shit, especially in my past, they all are my fake shit Act like you can't tell who made this new gospel, homie take six Take this, haters I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, I'm a pester, Okay, this is Stronger by Kanye West. Released as the lead single from his third studio album titled Graduation. Stronger is Kanye West's 12th single overall to be released in the UK and his first to reach number one and it's not the last time that we'll be coming to Mr West on this podcast. Stronger first entered the UK chart at number three reaching number one during its second week on the chart knocking Robin off the top spot. It stayed at number one for two weeks. In its first week atop the charts, it sold 37,000 copies, beating competition from I Found You by Maxwell, which climbed to number six, Clothes Off by Gym Class Heroes,

which climbed to number eight, and Love Is Gone by David Guetta which climbed to number nine. In week two it sold 33,000 copies beating competition from beautiful girls by Sean Kingston which got to number two. Suburban Knights by Hard Fie which climbed to number seven. Sorry I always have to do the stupid hook from that song whenever I read the title and AO technology by 50 cent which climbed to number 10. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, Stronger dropped one place to number 2. By the time it was done on the charts it had been inside the top 104 39 weeks.

The song is currently officially certified 3 times platinum, so triple platinum in the UK as of 2024. Now, unless you've been living under a rock for sort of like the past sort of two years, maybe 18 months, you will know that Kanye West has made more of a fool of himself than ever before, really, and for the reasons that he has made a fall with himself, i.e. the anti-Semitism and the admirations that he has expressed for Hitler and all of the other terrible and strange things that he has said, it's not been easy to plan this little segment. And so Andy, just double check in, giving you a sort of like a last chance to definitely confirm you have chosen

to absent yourself from this particular discussion. Yes, I am stepping aside. Yes, I think that's completely fair enough. Lizzie, how about you? Yeah, no, take the floor, Rob. It's all yours. Uh, okay, yes. Um, my relationship with Kanye West is long and deep and complicated. So, uh, I will get to that in a second. Uh, but I may as well talk about the song first. Um, because I think it's fairly easy to talk about stronger, actually,

because it's not one of his best stories, worst, really. really. It displays some things that he's great at as an artist you don't like the employment of the Daft Punk sample in the back and the you know the mantra-like chorus that really works its way under your skin. I think his charisma behind the microphone is really selling everything as well but Kanye's charisma is never anything that has to be called into question. But I think it also displays a lot of things that aren't so wonderful and some of his weaker elements, like the kind of horizontal stance at the microphone that he takes up from kind of graduation onwards, you know, the, A, A, like he's only slightly bothered instead of his more kind of nimble and articulate self

on the college dropout and late registration. I also think sometimes that he kind of uses his charisma to mask the fact that his flow isn't quite as sharp as it could be and that his lyrics aren't as incisive as they once were. I think this little period of Kanye's career is funny because as much as I love graduation and like 808s and heartbreak, for me, my beautiful dark twisty fantasy actually saved his credibility and status and improved the reputations of graduation and 808s kind of retrospectively. I feel like if he had carried on down what people perceived at the time to be like a downward slope,

graduation would be looked back on as the time to be like a downward slope, graduation would be looked back on as the point where it's like, oh, everything goes wrong there. That's where it starts to go wrong. See, you see, because all of that warmth of his first two albums is like completely gone. And I think they would find all these reasons to not like it. And people come into those albums and this phase of Kanye's career now don't have, they have the benefit of what everything that happened between kind of my beautiful Darcy fantasy and Jesus, you know, it's like everyone can look back and obviously 808s and heartbreak

becoming a really influential record for artists like Drake and 21 Savage and anybody, any rap artist who is like a pop artist as well. I think you know 808 is either the most or second most influential album they ever listened to. And so everybody comes to 808s now and is like oh yeah, you know really setting the template for the future. But around this period Kanye was getting a lot of you know criticism from like hip hop heads.

Like yes okay, it outsold Curtis and changed the face of popular rap music and ended the kind of like commercial dominance of gangster rap if you will. But it was still seen as a sellout period for Kanye and my beautiful dark twist of fantasy was the thing that kind of you know the one two three of twist of fantasy watched the throne in Jesus with the things that really brought people back around on him. And I think that's when the, shall we say, cult of Kanye begins. And the cult of Kanye is something I will come back to. I think that also his best period, his best work from this period is the stuff that's kind of not as successful, how

stronger is the number one from graduation, but flashing lights isn't. And how paranoid from 808s was kind of passed over for his other work with Mr. Hudson, if anybody remembers Mr. Hudson and the song Supernova. But I'd agress slightly. This isn't one of Kanye's best, but he has enough good pop instincts for this to be a mostly successful outing for him. Regardless of what I'm gonna say next, and I am gonna say quite a lot next, I wouldn't have been putting this in the vault anyway. Regardless of what's

happened in the first couple years, Stronger has never been a total favor of mine. However, as easy as it is for me to settle on my feelings about the song... Sorry I'm just taking a drink there. It is much, much harder, obviously, to talk about the man himself these days. I had this whole thing typed out that I was going to read about, like, my life story with Kanye and, like, how his music means more to me than maybe except like one or two artists or bands you know like in the whole world but the more and more I tight of it the more and more I realized that there's no actually real need for that like I think he's kind of lost that right to be honest I mean I don't want to sound like I was gonna defend him or anything like

that because not only does he not need me to do that but I also just don't want to but you know anyway the rest is kind of it's a bit kind of scattered and unstructured like I ended up watching a lot of interviews that Kanye's done kind of like over the last decade just kind of put myself in the headspace and obviously had a new album out recently that that v's thing, which is apparently volume one of three or whatever But to start off What I really think about Kanye and still think albeit less these days is that he is or maybe was a genius You know, I just just this week in preparation. I say, I've been putting myself in their place, where I'm in the mood to talk about Kanye because I often find it quite difficult to discuss him these days because there's numerous caveats that you have to go through before you even begin to talk about his music or the things that he produces.

And so when I've been listening back to his work and stuff, all it really does reinforce to me is that I think he is, or at least was, you know, that the complete package for a pop star, I think he looks at music and marketing and aesthetics and all of that. He produces art in a way that only a very specific and exclusive group of people in history have ever been able, have ever really been capable of. You know, he has made so much music that has made me feel everything that I think it's possible for a human being to feel. He has covered my entire emotional spectrum twice over and could probably do it again

if the current situation wasn't the way that it was. Now I kind of go to his work kind of numb, but like listening to Runaway especially from My Beautiful Dark Swiss Fantasy which I think is just one of the most staggering pieces of art I've ever ever experienced. I think the last four minutes of that are the peak of his discography and perhaps in the conversation I think for being among the best four minutes of music that the western world has ever really produced. But as much as I think that he's a genius and one of the greatest pop music minds of his generation, he is an example of how dangerous genius can be because what he also is more and more these days in fact I think it's just completely what he is now is an incredibly disturbed ego maniac.

Earlier this month I had to watch an interview with him for work right for Metro sometimes and I had to watch this interview with him he's walking through an airport after the Super Bowl or the Grammys or something like that it's just TMZ following him through the arrivals bit of an airport. You watch interviews with him from about 2005, even as late as 2012 to be honest, and his eyes are always smiling and full of expression. And now there's just nothing there. Whatever humanity or soul was behind his eyes,

there's just a void there now. And it fills with hate and paranoia and anger and antisemitism. Ever since that song he did in 2016, which was called Facts, when he said, 2020, I'm around the whole election, I've just been sort of scared actually, you know, like every day ever since that song, I've always thought like, I'm gonna wake up one day, and I'm

gonna see a news flash on my phone that he's killed himself, that he's dead somehow. And a lot of, like a lot of people were really anticipating this new album that he's done, this vultures thing with TY Dollar sign. And yeah, I listened to it, thought it was pretty bland to be honest, but even if it had been fantastic, I don't know why people are still wanting more music from him at this stage, even after everything that's happened in the last 18 months to 2 years. Or even in the last decade, depending on whose reports you now believe, you know, what I really want from Kanye right now and for maybe the next kind of five years, maybe a decade is just silence, just nothing. Just for him to go away and just stop talking. For him to find his actual true loved ones again, not just these hangers on and to get help and

to get better and to get back on his medication and to get reeducated because a while ago now he stopped hurting only himself. He started putting Jewish people in danger and he has started putting kids in jeopardy like his kids in jeopardy. I think in a long time ago now, maybe longer ago than I ever thought or gave credit for, I think he stopped taking responsibility for himself, and at that point, as much as I think everybody deserves, every person in the world deserves a chance to come back from, back to reality from something like this.

But if you have severe mental issues, and you know that you have severe mental issues and you don't do anything to help those mental issues and you let those mental issues start hurting other people, I think that after a certain point people have a right to walk away. and Zane Lowe in 2013, which is the one with the famous Lady Gaga quote about her being the creator of director of Polaroid, where it's like, what the fuck does she know about cameras? And it's the interview, and it's the one where he's comparing himself to Vanellope von Schuitz from Wreck-It-Ralph. And then there's this interview from 2022 where he's talking to Piers Morgan, and the difference in him actually upset me. You know, he sounds like he's on the edge of a breakdown in 2013 in full hindsight. The interview was an hour long and I think Zane Lowe says about six complete sentences in the whole interview but the rest is just Kanye ranting about fashion brands

and comparing himself to Wreck-It Ralph characters. Whereas the one with Piers Morgan is even longer, it's like nearly 2 hours, but he barely looks at the camera, sounds very very tired and unwell, but he still defends this hateful position that he's found himself in and denies that he even has mental issues. Cause he's now saying, I was misdiagnosed by a Jewish doctor and all of this stuff. And he says he's been lied to and driven to the point of exhaustion and that was his only issue. But whether it's a result of his mental illness or not, or if it's his mental illness just making his pre-existing thoughts embellished and worse,

or if he just thinks this stuff independently of what I think is now becoming quite obvious psychosis. It actually doesn't matter. Because I talk about Kanye walking away, Kanye is never going to do that voluntarily. He needs to be taken down from the stage before he does any more damage to anybody else. And you get people under these videos agreeing with him and going like, this man isn't crazy, it's society that's crazy, Kanye is the same one, the media are trying to silence his opinions. And I'm just like, first of all, what is he saying that mainstream US media don't agree with already? Quietly. They may not say it out loud, but they definitely believe it. But second of all, it's not even his opinions

that make, it's not his opinions that make everyone think that he's crazy. It's the fact that he's on record about having paranoid delusions where he thinks that Benjamin Detinyahu put child actors in his house to sexualize his children. That's why everybody thinks that he's crazy. And I think that you too, Lizzie and Andy, you can choose to stop engaging with him completely and feel completely justified in that. You know, I have defended him in the past during less extreme phases than this. It becomes impossible to... You can't exactly necessarily defend him supporting like Donald Trump. I have never defended him on those grounds. But things like when he was saying like, you know, it's not necessarily like I defended him,

but I always thought that the backlash that he got for the slavery was a choice comment, you know, the full comment was just something like, that's not something for me to really have an opinion on, because it's not really something I know about. It's clearly a conversation that Black people can, in America, can have with themselves, you know, so like it was easier to kind of just like, that's their conversation and I have nothing to do with it and I should have nothing to do with it. But now it's gone beyond any kind of point now where like to go on Alex Jones's radio show and somehow make him look like the reasonable person in the room.

Like fuck me. Like, you know, that whole sequence where he's playing with that, like, orange kid's fishing net and pretending it's Benjamin Netanyahu and talking with a voice like this and pretending that it's, like, it's just one of the most frightening turns this I have ever seen a public figure take. Like, I don't think I'll ever reach a point where I'm not curious about Kanye because of how fascinating I've always found him. I don't idolize him, but I find him just, he is a spectacle I cannot take my eyes off of, and the music that he has produced in, well, solidly up to 2013 and since then I think it's been patchy but

regardless you know I found a lot of meaning in his work and during times like now like where all I feel is shame and disappointment really and just kind of sadness and more I've said this before I have been mourning Kanye West for a long time because you know that thing at the end of the thick of it in season 4 where Malcolm Tucker says to Ollie, he says, you can't know Malcolm because Malcolm is gone. Malcolm is a host for the job and I feel like it's that with Kanye where it's like whatever he was, the human being that existed, is dead.

Whatever's walking around is a kind of something that's been taken over by a lot of hate and a lot of extreme negative forces. But I wonder so suspiciously about the people who engage with him completely uncritically and what Kanye is enabling and where the world is heading because of that. You know, the way that they defend him, the things they say when they're defending him, trouble me. I mean, you don't have to drag yourselves into it, but if anybody wants to go and have a look at what's happened with music YouTube critic The Needledrop, Anthony Fantano recently, where he regarded Vulture's the new album as unreviewable because of everything that's been going on and how it is not possible

to separate Kanye the person from his music in the way that you sometimes, you know, try and separate the art from the artist, he was saying that that's not really possible. And I don't know if I 100% agree with him, but the people that came after him and the things that they say, uh, yeah, it's just this, this is not everything that I could say on him, but the podcasters kind of have to end sometime. Um, stronger is pretty good. We are going to leave it in the poll if anybody does want to vote for it for song of the week because hey you know it's 17 years ago as far as pop music is concerned it's basically ancient history but this is the only time we come to Kanye on his own because I think it's easy to kind of

leave him out of the discussions that will do for Run This Town and a little harder to leave him out of American Boy but there are versions of the discussions that we'll do for Run This Town and a little harder to leave him out of American Boy but there are versions of the song that exist without him and stuff like that and so it would be but there's an elephant in the room with Stronger where it's like we obviously didn't talk about R. Kelly because he's in prison for 30 years for numerous sexences and child trafficking. Whereas, Kanye's not in prison, and we had trouble drawing a line, really. And so we were gonna have to kind of improvise. And so it was like, the idea was, well, Rob, do you wanna say anything?

And I feel like it's the only chance I will probably get to say anything on Kanye at this length publicly. So thank you to both of you for just sitting there while I was Going on but I am basically done now. I feel like I've exercised a lot of thoughts that I was having Yeah, I don't know if any of you want to say anything about Him no just thank you for filling that in now

It was quite cathartic. Yeah, I just I find him so difficult these days. I don't feel guilty or anything when I listen to his music or anything like that. And I don't think his old stuff has been tarnished for me. But like, I mean, to be honest, a lot, I enjoyed Donda rather a lot. I think Donda is a fascinating piece of work, but you know, there's stuff like Vultures and a good portion of the life of Pablo and bits of that yay, and basically all of Jesus is king. You know, his work has become patchier over the years, and so it's not like I go back to them regularly anyway to be honest but his stuff pre 2016 pre maga cap really um but i don't i don't know that i think that's the big thing i think the reason i still have so much

trouble with it is that i don't know why this has happened i wish i don't know why i want to understand i think it's just because i you know i, I didn't worship him or anything like that. I talked about this cult of Kanye thing, these people who will just uncritically engage with everything that he does and Kanye can do no wrong and stuff like that. Like, I think they're kind of enabling the worst of whatever is happening. But I think regardless of whether it's something he believes or whether it's something he kind of believes, but like his, you know, mental problems are making it worse, or if it's entirely a mental problem thing, it doesn't matter.

Because he has a very public platform and what he's saying is very dangerous and... he's stopped, he's gone beyond the point where he can look at himself and go, hmm, maybe I'm not in the right here and walk away. I feel like the decision needs to be taken by somebody else, but there is nobody else. There is no one around him anymore who will put an arm around his shoulder and say, come on, mate, like, let's get away from the cameras, get away from the microphones. You're hurting people and upsetting people and you're putting people's lives in danger, actually, which is what he's doing. And so I think that this is just it now. Like this

is just the future with Kanye West, he'll put out weird bland directionless albums with occasional high points. A bunch of people will feast on it for one reason or another and then attack anybody who dares criticise him. And Kanye will just carry on saying all these stupid offensive things in front of people like Piers Morgan and Tucker Carlson who are like the two people left in the universe who's still a even vaguely interested in what he has to say. Because we've gone from him being able to talk to Zane Lowe on Radio 1, Zane Lowe would never go near him anymore. Radio 1 wouldn't have him on anymore, he's just isolating himself and he cannot see that

what he's doing is isolating himself and putting people in danger, he just thinks that I'm in the right, that the interview that he does with Piers Morgan, he comes across like a complete child. There are several sections in it where they're talking over each other and Mr West feels as though he is not being listened to and so he goes la la la la la la la la la la la la la la that means that I want to talk right now. And Piers Morgan How how do you make Piers Morgan and Alex Jones? I'll let the reasonable person in the room to be honest I don't even need to ask that question you could just watch the interview yourself if you want to put yourself through I Couldn't even make it to the end to be honest. It's just awful absolutely

awful what it has become really really is But hey, you know we have to bring the whole episode to an end and I have to stop talking so Andy um piehole vault the way I are no the way I are is sitting in the middle it is staying the way I is yeah Yeah. Robin? Absolutely going into the vault. Absolutely. I will send it into the vault with every heartbeat that I have. Yes. And you're not voting for stronger in any particular capacity, I guess. No. Cool. Lizzie, Timbaland, the way I are. Vault, Piehole. Yeah, I like the way I are, the way it's are, but not enough to go in either, really. Cool. With every heartbeat, I presume, I presume that's a

Volta, right? Yeah, it's going straight into the Vault where it's gonna clear up. Cool. Sorry. Nice. And I guess you're not voting for stronger either. No. Cool. The way I am, I am putting that in the vault. With every heartbeat, I'm also putting that in the vault. So we have a triple-volta for Robin. Yeah.

Well done, Robin. Yes. I wouldn't have put stronger in the vault or the piehole anyway. So that is it for this week's episode. Thank you very much for listening. When we come back, we'll be continuing our journey through 2007 and I actually think it'll be our last proper episode of 2007 as well before we get to Christmas. We've never come around so fast to Christmas, have we? Wow. But we

will see you next time. So keep safe everyone and we'll see you soon. Bye bye. See ya. Bye bye. My next kill me, your magnet's kill me My gut is kill me, my PMS is kill me My email is kill me, these albums are kill me My tour is kill me, this flight is kill me My manager's kill me, my mother's kill me My landlady's kill me, my smoke is kill me

The TV is kill me, your magnet's chilly Ease up the tree, let go of the tree Come down here to me, my God you're chilly Don't fucking tell me what to do, do Don't fucking tell me what to do, do, do, do, do, do. Don't fucking tell me what to do.