On Using Kanye’s Prescient “POWER” To Survive The Pandemic

Kanye’s “Beautiful, Dark, and Twisted” single turns a decade old today…

In one song released a decade ago, Kanye West predicted our current nihilistic and dystopian mess. In 2020, we’re learning about the perils of what happens when one man (or one thing) has all that power. “POWER” led Kanye down the path of a beautiful, dark, twisted, and fantastic relationship with the world, similar to where we’re likely all headed in our post-pandemic society. Thus — as a case study for discovering tools to survive our modern age — it’s an appropriate time to both investigate the components of its creative process, as well as celebrate the song’s greatness. Kanye has emerged, scathed, from a space where the “system [is] broken, the school is closed, the prison’s open, and we ain’t got nothing to lose.” Can we do the same?

“POWER” is best seen as a study of what happens when having a hit single and megastardom aren’t enough to satiate one’s need to embrace spirituality in the face of nihilistic surroundings. More than…