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Stronger (Kanye West song)

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"Stronger"
Song

"Stronger" is the second single from Kanye West's album Graduation. The single was first released digitally on July 31, 2007. "Stronger" features a prominent sample from the song "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" by the French house music duo Daft Punk, who received songwriter credit and had their costumes appear in the music video.[2] The song won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance for the 50th Grammy Awards.

History

A snippet of "Stronger" was released from West's Can't Tell Me Nothing mixtape. Shortly after, on May 31, 2007 Mark Ronson played the full-length song on his podcast. On June 27, 2007, "Stronger" was put onto the BBC Radio 1 Up-Front playlist and was later upgraded to the A-List a month prior to its release.

The single art was released on West's website on June 28, 2007. It was designed by artist Takashi Murakami. It features a cartoon version of the "Dropout Bear" previously seen on the cover of West's The College Dropout and Late Registration albums wearing sunglasses similar to the those West wears in the video, as well as the robotic heads of duo Daft Punk.

Kanye West's Shutter Shades in the music video

West performed a partial version of this song live at the Concert for Diana held at Wembley Stadium on July 1, 2007 to a crowd of 63,000 people. An estimated 500 million people watched the event in over 140 countries worldwide.

The song was released to iTunes on July 31, 2007 and has reached number 1. It debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 47 and later peaked at the number 1 position the same week his album Graduation took the number one spot. It is West's third number one in the U.S., following "Slow Jamz" and "Gold Digger." The song debuted on the UK singles chart at number three and later became West's first number one single in the UK. Climbing on downloads alone, it surpassed the prior week's number one single, Robyn's "With Every Heartbeat". It has also topped the Canadian Hot 100 and New Zealand charts.

30 Seconds to Mars performed a cover version of "Stronger" on BBC Radio 1, which is featured on Radio 1's Live Lounge – Volume 2. The cover features a slower tempo on guitar and omits the profanity, which was reworded by their lead singer Jared Leto. Leto said that he "hoped that Kanye [was] okay" with the editing.[3]

After getting "jibbed" out of opening the MTV Video Music Awards, West appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres Show and expressed his displeasure at the circumstances which lead up to and came during and after the award show. He then performed "Stronger" on the show. He also performed a portion of the song at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards in a competition between The Office actor Rainn Wilson similar to Don't Forget the Lyrics (which, like the 2007 Emmys, airs on FOX) with host Wayne Brady presiding. West sang the last line of the chorus as "That how long I've been on you" which was supposed to be "That how long I've been on ya", losing to Wilson. West jokingly retorted "I never win", poking fun at his losses at award ceremonies and presented the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program alongside Wilson.[4]

The song can be heard for the promo of the 2007 film The Kingdom. It can also be heard as the introductory song of the Toronto Raptors as well as the Texas Longhorns and the Washington Wizards. Also, the New York Giants entered the field to this song at Super Bowl XLII and during most of their home games during the season. The New York Rangers play it at every home game as well. The song won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance for the 50th Grammy Awards. It is also Featured in Season 4 Ep 4 of Entourage as background music in a night club. The song was also named the number one record of 2007 in the January 2008 issue of Spin magazine with Kanye West and Daft Punk presiding on the cover. This song was number 11 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007.[5] This song was also number 96 on MTV Asia's list of Top 100 Hits of 2007.[6]

Daft Punk themselves made a surprise appearance at the 50th Grammy Awards on February 10, 2008 to join West in performing a reworked version of the song on stage at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. A press release specified that this was the first televised live performance by Daft Punk in their career.[7]

Structure

"Stronger" features a sample of the popular 2001 song "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" by Daft Punk that consists of a vocal performance by the duo. On July 3, 2007, West told Zane Lowe on BBC Radio 1 that although he believes "Stronger" is "a great song", it does not compare to the sampled original. Daft Punk were delighted upon first hearing the new song on Power 106 while on a San Francisco flight. As Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo of the duo stated, "Our song had a good sound, but when [the radio DJ] put Kanye's record on, the sound was really fat. It sounds really big."[2] The use of "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" was requested through Daft Punk's manager Pedro Winter and approved by the duo.[8] De Homem Christo also clarified that "It's not a collaboration in the studio, but the vibe of the music we do separately connected in what [West] did with the song."[2]

West collaborated with Timbaland to rework the percussion for the final cut of the song, which appears on the Graduation album.[9] This version contains master use of Edwin Birdsong's "Cola Bottle Baby",[10] a song sampled by Daft Punk for "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger". The pre-album version of "Stronger" known to the public and being used by radio, television and other outlets is the version used as the single.

On October 4, 2007, a previously unreleased version of "Stronger" was revealed. This version features a singular, unused verse from West. The structure is also different, as it features less synthesizer chords and percussion, with the Daft Punk sample more dominant at the forefront of the production. It is believed that this version was an early draft of the final song.[11]

The refrain "That that don't kill me can only make me stronger" stems from Friedrich Nietzsche's quote "What does not kill me, makes me stronger" from his Twilight of the Idols.

The A-Trak remix of the song is used in an advert for the short-lived American TV show Bionic Woman.

Music video

File:Strongerpic.png
Kanye West in the music video for "Stronger"

The music video for "Stronger" was directed by Hype Williams and shot over nine days in Japan. It features shots in Aoyama-based clothing store A Bathing Ape and Harajuku clothing store Billionare Boys Club/Ice Cream. The video took three months to complete. A rough cut first premiered at the Tribeca Studios in New York City on June 19, 2007 by West himself.[12] It made its public premiere on June 26, 2007, on MTV Germany's TRL. The video was also shown on the BET countdown show 106 & Park on June 28, 2007. On VH1, BET and MTV, West is credited as "Mr. West" in the "Stronger" video.

The video features appearances by singer and model Cassie Ventura and the two principal actors from the film Daft Punk's Electroma[2] dressed as Daft Punk. The video features multiple scenes which pay homage to the 1988 anime film Akira.[13] These include the light effects on the motorbikes, the hospital scenes and West being scanned by machines.[14] Both West and Williams had originally planned to integrate scenes from the film.[13] West also wears a pair of Alain Mikli sunglasses, which he specifically requested from the designer.[15] The sunglasses have since become a signature of West, who often dons them during performances.

Track listing

CD single (UK)

  1. "Stronger" (Album Version - Explicit)
  2. "Can't Tell Me Nothing" (Album Version - Explicit)

CD single (international)

  1. "Stronger" (album version)
  2. "Stronger" (instrumental)
  3. "Can't Tell Me Nothing"
  4. "Stronger" (video)

12" picture disc (UK)

  1. "Stronger" (radio edit)
  2. "Stronger" (LP dirty)
  3. "Stronger" (instrumental)
  4. "Stronger" (LP clean)

iTunes Remixes single

  1. "Stronger (A-Trak Remix)"
  2. "Stronger (Andrew Dawson Remix)"

Chart positions

"Stronger" entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart on the charting week of August 11, 2007 at number 47, the highest debut single on the chart that week. The song steadily climbed the chart, reaching the number one position on the charting week of September 29, 2007, pushing the previous week's chart topper, Soulja Boy's "Crank That (Soulja Boy)" into the number two position. However, the following week, "Crank That" replaced "Stronger" atop the charts, making the West's single reach its peak for only one week.

The song's electronica overtones has affected its prevalence on other charts, most notably the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, where it only achieved moderate success, peaking at number 30.

"Stronger" has seen widespread success internationally, reaching number one in Canada, Turkey, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States, and on the composite United World Chart. The song ended 2007 as the years 19th biggest-selling single in the UK.[16]

Chart (2007) Peak
position
Australian ARIA Charts 2[17]
Austrian Single Top100 29[17]
Brazilian Hot 100 10[18]
Canadian Hot 100 1[17]
Czech IFPI Chart 27[19]
Danish Singles Chart 20[17]
Dutch Single Top100 35[17]
Euro 200 (EU) 7[20]
Finnish Single Top20 11[17]
French Single Top200 33[17]
German Singles Chart 17[17]
Irish Singles Chart 2[17]
Lithuanian Airplay Chart 1[21]
Norway Top 20 3[17]
Polish National top 50 16[22]
Portugal Singles Chart 30[17]
Slovak Airplay Top100 14[23]
Swedish Top 60 19[17]
Swiss Single Top100 29[17]
Turkish Singles Chart 1
New Zealand RIANZ Top 40 1[17]
UK Singles Chart 1[17]
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 1[17]
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs 30[24]
U.S. Billboard Hot Rap Tracks 3[25]
U.S. Billboard Pop 100 1
United World Chart 1[17]

References

  1. ^ RIAA
  2. ^ a b c d Jonathan Cohen (August 14, 2007). Exclusive: Live Album to Chronicle Daft Punk Tour. Billboard. Retrieved on August 27, 2007.
  3. ^ BBC - Radio 1 - Jo Whiley
  4. ^ Kanye West and Rainn Wilson performed the song Stronger at the 2007 Emmy Awards
  5. ^ No byline (December 11, 2007). "The 100 Best Songs of 2007" Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2007-12-21
  6. ^ MTV Asia. "Top 100 Hits List". Retrieved 2007-12-27
  7. ^ Daft Punk Make Surprise Grammy Appearance with Kanye West nme.com. Retrieved on February 10, 2008.
  8. ^ Interview: Daft Punk Pitchfork Media. Retrieved on October 3, 2007.
  9. ^ Shaheem Reid (August 21, 2007). Kanye West Thanks 50 Cent for Much-Hyped Rivalry: 'We Push Each Other'. VH1. Retrieved on August 31, 2007.
  10. ^ Kanye West Graduation liner notes (2007).
  11. ^ kanYe Live! - The #1 kanYe West Fan Site » Alternate Version of Stronger (Unreleased)
  12. ^ Shaheem Reid (June 20, 2007). Kanye West's 'Stronger' Video: Japanese Motorcycle Gangs, Mad Scientists — And Cassie. MTV. Retrieved on August 27, 2007.
  13. ^ a b Kanye West Music Video Inspired by Akira. Anime News Network (July 7, 2007). Retrieved on August 27, 2007.
  14. ^ Screencaptures of similarities between Kanye West's "Stronger" and "Akira". The Montoya Harold (June 28, 2007). Retrieved on August 27, 2007.
  15. ^ The Scoop on Kanye West's Sunglasses. people.com. Retrieved on October 10, 2007.
  16. ^ BBC Music. "Top 40 Singles of the Year 2007 ". Retrieved 2007-12-30
  17. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q "Kanye West - Stronger worldwide chart positions and trajectories". aCharts.us. Retrieved October 20, 2007.
  18. ^ Brazilian Hot 100 Songs & Tracks. Hot100Brasil. Retrieved on December 23, 2007.
  19. ^ Czech IFPI Radio Top100 – Stronger. IFPI. Retrieved on August 27, 2007.
  20. ^ euro200.eu
  21. ^ Lithuanian Airplay Chart
  22. ^ APCCHART.COM © since 1988 APC-stats EU/UE
  23. ^ Sns Ifpi
  24. ^ Bubbling Under Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs – Stronger. Billboard. Retrieved on August 27, 2007.
  25. ^ Hot Rap Tracks – Stronger. Billboard. Retrieved on August 27, 2007.
Preceded by UK Singles Chart number-one single
August 19, 2007 – August 26, 2007 		Succeeded by
Preceded by RIANZ New Zealand number one single
September 10, 2007 – September 17, 2007 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Billboard Hot 100 number-one single
September 29, 2007 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Canadian Hot 100 number-one single
October 27, 2007 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Billboard Pop 100 number-one single
September 29, 2007 		Succeeded by
Preceded by United World Chart number one single
September 29, 2007 - October 13, 2007 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Turkish Singles Chart number-one single
October 5, 2007 		Succeeded by
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