Kanye West wants to do a David Bowie cover album.
This seems unfathomable. It’s hard to imagine Kanye singing anyone else’s lyrics, let alone Bowie’s. The Goblin King’s abstruse lyricism is the furthest thing from Kanye’s candid bluntness, and it’s also so wrapped up in the singer’s own lore that hearing it from the mouth of an artist with an equally rich mythology would be discomforting at best.
But Bowie and Kanye actually have quite a bit in common. They pull off stylistic shifts at the drop of a hat, often within the span of only a few years. They’ve both worked with Beatles, Bowie with John and Kanye with Paul. They embrace experimental influences, and in fact, they’ve even shared a lot of the same ones–dance music, classical music, soul, avant-garde electronica. The influence came full circle on Bowie’s final Blackstar, which was influenced by Kendrick Lamar – an artist whose hubris and grand concepts would likely never have hit the mainstream without Kanye.
It’s still hard to imagine Kanye singing “Ziggy Stardust” – in fact, the mere idea of Kanye crooning “jamming good with Web and Gilly” makes this writer cringe – but there are ways this could work. One would be if he yielded vocals to any of his many friends and collaborators in the industry and stuck to production; this would mitigate the obvious disconnect in hearing Kanye West sing Bowie songs. Another would be if he covered any of these gems.
- “Let’s Dance.” Kanye shouldn’t take the mic here; I could see Rihanna or Beyonce slaying this one. But it’s exactly the sort of joyous, druggy spectacle Kanye loves. “Let’s Dance” producer Nile Rodgers is also in the midst of a major career renaissance, so bringing him back wouldn’t be such a bad idea.
- “Beauty And The Beast.” The opener to Heroes is one of Bowie’s grimiest songs – and one of his least vocally demanding. Kanye could absolutely sing this one and back it up with some blaring Yeezus-style production.
- “Heroes.” Nobody has been able to beat the original and nobody ever will. But lyrically, it’s one of Bowie’s most – well, Kanye-like songs, mixing hubris and romance with apocalyptic imagery. I could see a spare R&B arrangement, not unlike the ones on 808s & Heartbreak, working for this one.
- Anything from Young Americans. Kanye had “chipmunk soul;” Bowie had “plastic soul.” Though Bowie’s Young Americans is a self-conscious experiment from an outsider, it’s as iconoclastic and mischievous a deconstruction as Kanye’s early, sample-heavy productions. Also, “Fame” is on it.
- “Under Pressure.” Kanye loves big pop statements and collaborations, and is there a bigger pop statement/collaboration than “Under Pressure”? I can imagine a sick, twisted self-duet, with Kanye garbling Freddie Mercury’s parts through Auto-Tune or that fuzzed-out filter he used on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Also, “Under Pressure” holds a vital place in hip-hop history – albeit a dubious one.
