Ultralight Beam
"Ultralight Beam" is a song by American recording artist Kanye West from his seventh studio album The Life of Pablo. The song features vocals by R&B singers The-Dream and Kelly Price, rapper Chance the Rapper, gospel singer Kirk Franklin and a ten-piece choir, with additional vocals by Natalie Green and Samoria Green. It was first performed live on Saturday Night Live in February 2016.
The song, heavily influenced by soul and gospel music, is about West's faith in God. As described by producer Derek Watkins, Its recording process took place over multiple jam sessions, where some of West's regular collaborators, including Mike Dean, were involved. Other participants included Watkins, producer Swizz Beatz and singer Justin Bieber, whose contributions were omitted from the final recording. In an interview, Watkins describes the "ultralight beam" as "the connection that goes straight to heaven." The song's opening is taken from a video uploaded to the social media site Instagram of a four-year-old girl named Natalie Green talking about God.
Since being released, "Ultralight Beam" has received universal acclaim from music critics, who complimented its message and performances. Chance the Rapper was singled out with praise for his performance. It charted in the United States, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Ireland, and Canada in 2016. The song was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Performance and Best Rap Song at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards in 2017. The song appeared on year-end lists for 2016 by multiple publications, including Complex and Consequence of Sound. In 2019, Pitchfork and Rolling Stone both listed it among the best songs of the 2010s.
The song has since been performed by both West and Chance the Rapper in concert. It has left a significant legacy despite never being released as a single. The song has been covered by other artists including Harry Styles, Stormzy, Austin Gleason and Local Natives. A reinterpretation of the song, produced by West, was released by the Sunday Service Choir in 2019.
Background and recording
According to writer and producer Derek Watkins, better known as Fonzworth Bentley, the song originated after he arrived at an L.A. studio and heard Mike Dean playing the song's chords. The drums were programmed by Swizz Beatz several days later. Watkins and Plain Pat retrieved some tambourines and held an impromptu jam session with Kanye West and Chance the Rapper. The tambourines from this session are on the song's final mix. The group was joined by Justin Bieber and his collaborator Poo Bear. A freestyle was initiated by West. The song's melody and the lyrics "this is an ultralight beam" were sung by West and Chance the Rapper during this freestyle. According to Watkins, many of West's patterns and words during the freestyle ended up in his final verse. The two were joined by Bieber, who sang a cappella. Bieber's participation was first revealed by Chance the Rapper, and later confirmed by Fonzworth Bentley in an interview with The Fader. However, he does not appear on the final version of the song.Watkins began editing the freestyle at West's request. As he was editing, he "heard" Kelly Price and Kirk Franklin in a choir and knew they had to be on the track. Watkins told West and contacted Price and Franklin. He told Price about the concept of the "ultralight beam." Price said Watkins sent her the track and told her to "write what you feel." She felt the connection between the contributors was "spiritual." Watkins called Franklin and had him fly to L.A. to record his verse. When he was in the studio with the choir, Franklin taught every member their parts in seven minutes. After the choir had performed, Franklin and Price recorded their parts. Chance the Rapper knew the lyrics to his verse. He put headphones on and penned it out. According to Watkins, the song was not officially complete until The Life of Pablos release. The song, like its parent album, was viewed as "a working document." He stated, "you don't hear the final version of it until it is available for purchase."
In an interview, producers Samo Sound Boy and DJ Dodger Stadium said they both contributed to songs on The Life of Pablo, including "Ultralight Beam", a month before the album's release. On the final release, Same Sound Boy is credited as a writer and DJ Dodger Stadium is credited as both a writer and producer.
Composition and lyrics
"Ultralight Beam" is a hip hop song with elements of soul and gospel music. The song has one official sample credit, a video uploaded to the social media site Instagram by user @sheisnatalie of a four-year-old girl named Natalie Green talking about God. In the video, she says, "We don't want no devils in the house, God!", followed by: "We want the Lord, and that's it!" The clip is used as the song's intro. The girl's adoptive parents sued West on February 8, 2019, claiming in court documents that although the sample was cleared by her biological mother, she was not authorized to give permission for its use.After the Instagram sample, West sings his verse, with assistance from The-Dream. Kelly Price provides the third verse and Chance the Rapper raps the fourth verse. The song ends with West, the choir, and gospel singer Kirk Franklin. In his verse West talks about his relationship with and his faith in God. In her verse, Price asks her own questions about God, but ultimately knows when her faith is tested she can look towards "the light" and everything will be alright. In his verse, the longest on the song, Chance the Rapper speaks about his relationship with God, his daughter, and his life growing up in Chicago. He also comments on Spike Lee's film Chi-Raq, whose premise he has openly spoken out against. Explaining the lyrics: "You can feel the lyrics, the spirit coming in braille/Tubman of the underground, come and follow the trail," Chance the Rapper wrote: "The Tubman line refers to my own leadership of all other artists towards independence and freedom."
Watkins, Price, and Chance the Rapper have spoken out about the song's meaning. In an interview with The Fader, Derek Watkins describes the "ultralight beam" as "the connection that goes straight to heaven." Watkins continued, "This is the thing that people say is intangible, that people try to wrap their heads around. A lot of different people articulate it in different ways, but it just made sense in the way that Kanye said it." Chance the Rapper has said that "'Ultralight Beam' is about West's faith in God. Whenever he's down or feels he can't fight anymore, he searches for the light and knows, in God's hands, everything will be alright." Price has praised the track, calling it "a street parable." Price continued, "I can listen to it and hear messages of hurt, shame, anger, and fear, and then I can turn around and see hope, faith, redemption, compassion, rejuvenation, forgiveness, and getting up from a fall."
Release and promotion
"Ultralight Beam" was released on February 14, 2016, as the first track on West's seventh studio album The Life of Pablo. The day before, West performed the song on Saturday Night Live with Chance the Rapper, Kirk Franklin, The-Dream, Kelly Price and a gospel choir. The performance received positive reviews from critics, with many commenting on Chance the Rapper's verse. Matt Wilstein of The Daily Beast said that he "ended up stealing the show with his fire verse." Jon Caramanica of The New York Times described the performance as "stirring" and "of uncommon intensity and vision." Price, in particular, has praised the performance because of her "spiritual connection" to the song. Two days before the album's release, a handwritten track list had been tweeted by West. It showed the song was called "Ultra Light Beams" rather than "Ultralight Beam" as it was titled on the official release. Chance the Rapper revealed the song was originally slated to be the closing track to The Life of Pablo rather than the album's opener.On Easter 2016, West shared the SoundCloud link to an alternative version of the song, titled "Ultralight Prayer", via Twitter and wished everyone a happy Easter in his tweet. Chance the Rapper is not present on the two-minute long alternate gospel version, as sung by Franklin. When West traveled to Iceland with The Kardashians in April 2016, it had been rumored he was either filming a music video for "Ultralight Beam" or another album track, "Highlights". His wife Kim Kardashian and her sister Khloé Kardashian confirmed West filmed a video for "Highlights". Kim released Ultra Light Beam Highlighters for KKW Beauty in November 2017, as an "unexpected tribute" to her husband's song of the same name. This marked the first time West was part of KKW Beauty. It was not the first connection between his music and Kim's brand. She featured prominently on some of the merchandise for West's Saint Pablo Tour. The name choice was praised by fans across Twitter.
Critical reception
The song has received universal acclaim from music critics. David Jeffries of AllMusic called the song a "masterpiece." Jeffries felt " represents the angelic side, offering a complicated emotional ride with the Gospel of Kirk Franklin fueling the song's jaw-dropping climax." Slates Forrest Wickman described the track as signaling listeners that " will be the anti-Yeezus." Ray Rahman from Entertainment Weekly praised the performances and viewed the song as a "powerful" and "electric opening track." Writing for The Guardian, Alexis Petridis looked at the song as not feeling "episodic so much as fractured."Many critics have commented upon Chance the Rapper's verse and performance on the track. Wickman called him "a clear highlight". Brian Josephs of Spin wrote that, "Chance's performance on "Ultralight Beam" was arguably his strongest" performance of 2016, on top of his own critically acclaimed mixtape Coloring Book. Complex called Chance the Rapper's verse one of the best rap verses of 2016 describing it as "dexterous and forceful" noting it is "more than a star turn, it's the kind of performance legacies are built on." Ryan Dombal of Pitchfork also praised Chance's the Rapper verse, writing, "In one virtuosic verse, Chance raps his redemption, how he was saved by God, by Kanye, by his baby daughter. He's giddy, young. 'Ugh, I'm just having fun with it,' he glows as a swell of brass joins his exaltation. Then those same horns dissipate, leaving Kanye alone with his cavernous choir once again." Okayplayer listed Chance the Rapper's verse among the 25 best rap verses of the 2010s, with the verse being ranked at number 16. Entertainment Weekly ranked the verse at number six on their list of the top ten rap verses of the decade.