Wolves

Album: The Life of Pablo (2015)
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Songfacts®:

  • This moody tune finds a wounded Kanye West using Auto-Tune to croon some lyrics about feeling "lost and beat up" by some haters (the wolves), only to find solace in his love for Kim Kardishan. Chicago rapper Vic Mensa is featured in the middle while Sia appears near the end, with both continuing the song's saved by love theme.
  • West premiered the track during a fashion show in New York on February 12, where he debuted his new Yeezy 750 Boost trainer collaboration with Adidas. The event was broadcast in fifty movie theaters across the globe.
  • Kanye West performed the song during Saturday Night Live's 40th anniversary special on February 15, 2015 along with Vic Mensa and Sia. It was the final part of a three-song medley along with "Jesus Walks" and "Only One."
  • Speaking on WWPR (Power 105.1)/New York's The Breakfast Club, West revealed the song came from a discussion with Drake about the pair possibly collaborating on an album called 'Wolves.'
  • Norwegian DJ Cashmere Cat supplied the beat along with Canadian producer Sinjin Hawke. Known to his family as Magnus August Høiberg, Casmere Cat garnered attention for his remixes of Lana Del Rey and 2 Chainz, before gaining a mainstream audience with his work for such artists as Kanye West, Kid Ink ("Body Language", Ariana Grande ("Be My Baby") and Charli XCX "Break The Rules.")
  • Sia croons the second verse. She continues the "Wolves" imagery by singing of "yellow eyes" and being "too wild" a reference to the depression and drug addiction she endured. Like West, the Australian songstress found a love that took her out of her dark place - she informs us, "I found you, oh Jesus."
  • The version that appears as the closing track on The Life of Pablo is different with new verses from Kanye West, an outro by Frank Ocean, but without Vic Mensa and Sia's contributions.

    West first worked with Frank Ocean along with Jay-Z on the Watch The Throne tracks "No Church in The Wild" and "Made In America" when Ocean was a little known R&B singer.
  • The echo and drums song you hear at the 1:27 mark are sampled from Sugar Minott's "Walking Dub" a track from the Jamaican reggae producer's 1979 album Ghetto-ology.
  • Kanye West was still editing the song several weeks after the release of The Life Of Pablo. He shared a reworked version on March 15, 2016, which brings back Vic Mensa and Sia's vocals. Frank Ocean's outro was made into its own 38-second track titled "Frank's Track." West said he'd worked on the revamped song for three weeks and called the album-in-progress a, "living breathing changing creative expression."
  • The 7-minute black-and-white video was directed by Steven Klein and doubles as an ad campaign for fashion label Balmain. A tearful Kanye West and Kim Kardashian are seen in the same Balmain outfits they wore at the Met Gala back in May 2016 and the clip was shot during Balmain's Met Gala after-party.

    The video, which, like the track, features Sia and Vic Mensa, also stars a host of models. Jourdan Dunn, Kylie Jenner, Cindy Crawford, Maria Borges and Balmain creative director Olivier Rousteing all make cameos in the visual.

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