Love Lockdown is a song by Kanye West who probably needs no introduction at this point of time. He released this song on 18th September 2008 as part of his fourth album ‘808s & heartbreak’.
The song was debuted at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards. Kanye had written the song in less than ten days before the award show. It was quickly withdrawn because it received a major negative reaction from the fans.
This was the first song in which Kanye was purely singing and not rapping.
Review and Meaning
As far as the song is concerned, one thing about the song that strikes you is the melody and the 808 drum beats which sound like a heart beating. It complements well with the album.
I’ve called the album 808s & Heartbreak because all the drum sounds are made by the Roland TR-808 drum machine which was really big in the 1980s. Most drum machines use samples of real human drumming but the Roland doesn’t so you’ve got that MTV-in-the-1980s feel throughout the whole album.
Kanye West on Love Lockdown
Kanye is an expert at expressing his feelings through his music. He has profound and myriad ways of delivering his message. This song just proves how much of a versatile and thoughtful personality Kanye is.
The sound somehow does not seem all that clear and is somewhat distorted but that doesn’t take away anything from it. Rather, it gives the song a different feel in itself.
The song is about Kanye talking about how he loves a woman but is probably unable to express it to her. He wants to love her his way but is not able to do it the way he wants it. It could most likely be referring to Alexis Phifer who was his girlfriend at the time that he broke up with.
It could also be talking of situation where he knows that the girl is not the right one for him so he gets a negative vibe from her because of which he wants to stay away from her. However, not being with her ironically haunts him.
However when he realizes that he has to move on from her, he doesn’t waste time in doing so.
He doesn’t reveal his feelings and keeps his love a secret so that no one comes to know. He doesn’t express his love and she is not able to receive it.
