(Photo courtesy latimes.com)

By Ismar Junuzovic – Columns Editor

New Year’s Eve is a special day for everyone, but this year was slightly more exciting with highly anticipated music being released from Kanye West. The self-proclaimed genius has not put out any sounds since the polarizing release of his sixth studio album in 2013, “Yeezus,” which essentially divided fans who either loved it or loathed it.

Since then, West has not put out any music, and rumors have swirled about what his next project would be – these ranged from an eight-track album to an entirely spoken word album. On New Year’s Eve, West answered those questions with the release of a new single, “Only One.” The song is emotional, similar to what he showed on his 2008 album “808’s and Heartbreak.” West sings over a more electronic sound which again was a large departure from his previous works at the time. The song is sung through the perspective of his mother, Donda who passed away a few years ago. West’s intent was to show how he felt that it was his mother singing through him to his daughter. A feature also accompanies the emotional track with Paul McCartney on background vocals and piano.

West usually has the ability to try and attempt new sounds and make them sound brilliant and fitting to his style, but unfortunately this was not one of those times. This song is extremely underwhelming from someone with West’s talent. The song is very emotional but aside from the content and meaning behind the lyrics, it feels forced. A usual saving grace for West is his high attention to detail and incredible production on his songs, which this lacks immensely. The ambient piano does not provide anything unique to the vocals that West sings.

Rumors have circulated this year that West and McCartney have been planning a full length release together, and if this is any indication of what it may be like, Kanye West will be finished. It does seem somewhat ironic for such a bland and lifeless song to be released by him after his previous projects have been held to such high standards by all passionate music fans as being perfect. He has previously broken the barriers of hip-hop and putting his own unique spin on it. This song shows how no matter how passionate a musician is; the end product can still be sub-par. Kanye West finally showed his weakness.

Rating: 1 out of 5 stars