While Todd In The Shadows is someone I have watched and respected for a long time, I admit that I rarely go out of my way to watch his music reviews anymore. I’m not sure why, maybe at some point I just found peace in my own opinions, but my interest in reviews in general has been dwindling, and poor Todd has become a casualty in this imagined conflict. There is, however, an instance I always come back for: his year-end top tens, eventfully detailing his thoughts on the year in popular music, both for good and ill. Since he’s a critic I’ve known for a long time, I understand the way that he thinks, so this is a good opportunity to collect my own thoughts on mainstream music as well.
Today, I woke up to a YouTube notification bearing a Christmas gift for me: Todd had just uploaded his Top Ten Worst Hit Songs of 2024. Excitedly, I prepared myself a quick breakfast (just a coffee and some christmassy sweets, really) and sat down in front of the TV to let the boss lay it on me.
Sometimes you get unlucky with these lists. There’s always the chance that artists you’ve never heard of or songs that didn’t make it across the pond take up many spots on the list, or -god forbid- the number 1 spot. This year, fortune would have it that Todd put a very familiar face at the top of the ladder: none other than Kanye West with his hit song «Carnival» off of his February album «Vultures 1». I’d heard of this song before: I knew it was essentially the only hit in a project that had been widely panned by critics (the most favorable interpretations I can find from professional reviewers seem to be granting Kanye a mulligan on it) and, while I had never heard it in full, I’d listened to snippets before and I had felt like it sounded terrible.
However, there was one aspect I had never actually come into contact with: the music video. To my surprise, it appeared to be football (erm, soccer) themed, showing hooligans clashing with each other and the police over the strange, dark, sampled chanting of the beat. As it turns out, that chanting itself is a recording of Italian football ultras communally yelling the chorus for the song. If you’re not European, you may not be aware, but these guys genuinely tend to be the scum of the Earth, so bringing them to be an integral part of your project is a creative choice and a half, especially coming from someone like Kanye, who has been stewing in his own bigotry for a while now. In the context of all this, his lines comparing himself to R. Kelly, Bill Cosby and Diddy seem less like pure shock value and more like inspired artistic decisions, or so I thought. I still thought the song was probably ass, but now I was intrigued. I wanted to find out for myself.
When I put it on, something about it just clicked for me. The grating chorus and the chanting, the awful mixing, the throwaway guest verses and Kanye’s and Ty’s patent disinterest somehow all cancel each other out and create a song that manages to feel like a sign of the times. There was a certain vibe to this year that, as much as I like it, poptimism can never capture, and Kanye somehow had it in the chamber in February. Was the project really that bad? Or was it just misunderstood?
All of these thoughts raced through my head as I played the song through my headphones early on my nightly walk. I was planning on putting something else after it was done, but I had a bit of a crazy idea: what if I just listened to the rest of «Vultures 1» right now? The album is right there, and my walk should be more than long enough to accomodate it. Plus, if I actually, genuinely enjoyed it, I would be granted one more thing to be a contrarian on, which I adore doing.
So, it was decided: I would work my way through the record to figure out what makes it tick, why Carnival worked for me and why so many people seem to despise it with a passion. The production on the opening track gave me hope that I would see something in this that other people didn’t, but I’m sad to report that «Vultures 1» really is as bad as everyone says it is.
A shocking amount of what goes on in this album is clearly off the dome, or a first draft at most. If it’s not, I genuinely fear for Kanye’s basic cognitive abilities, and I’m only half joking. The sampling is usually so obnoxious that I kind of wonder if it would’ve been better to leave a royalty-free beat on there, and it’s everywhere. It’s like every song needs to have an annoying snippet they pulled out from whocaresville to make the track seem interesting when the lyrics fall completely flat. Oh my God, the lyrics. Kanye can’t seem to decide if he resents having mental health issues, if his issues are a price he’s willing to pay for fame, money and sex, or if he doesn’t actually have any issues at all and it’s all cancel culture’s fault. The only thing he seems to be completely sure of? It’s fucking awesome to be an antisemite. Also, this is the most terminally pornbrained piece of media I have ever consumed. I guess that could be kind of fun in a vacuum, but these guys are in their 40s. It’s genuinely a little sad.
Trust me, I tried liking this thing. I gave it as many goes as I could stomach. The conditions were favorable: I love walking at night, the weather was cozy and my only impression going into the full album was that I liked what both Todd In The Shadows and Anthony Fantano had called the worst song of the year. But the tracklist is a total slump. By the time I entered the back half of the record and reached «Carnival» again, I had already formulated a theory: it hit for me because I didn’t have the crucial context of just how disorganized and unhinged the full album was and, now that I did, I would surely hate it when it came back on, my only remaining emotional link to the project cleanly severed, liberating me from ever caring about the Vultures series ever again.
It came on. I didn’t like it. I loved it. Everything hit in the exact same way again, only way harder. Goddamn it. The song is good. Fuck. I like «Carnival».
Look, I can’t really explain it either. I hesitate to call it «good music», exactly. But there’s something about the zeitgeist this year that is spotlessly imprinted on this track’s soul. I don’t really care if the mixing is bad, or whatever else. Right now, this feels like one of the best songs I have ever listened to. I’m sure my interest in it will wane eventually, but there’s something to be said for a piece of art that manages to do basically everything wrong and is still so thoroughly captivating and enrapturing.
To be clear, Kanye didn’t deftly launch a dart into the bullseye. The rest of the album is so bad that I’d honestly rate it at a 2/10. There’s no way he did it on purpose. I guess sometimes a nazi plays slots 15 times and happens to win a jackpot on the 12th spin. I’m as confused as anyone. My Christmas Carnival has now wrapped up, but I’m still standing there, wondering what just happened.
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