“It’s just an emotional time, I think for everybody in the world, dealing with change,” Kanye said of his tour in an interview with Spike Jonze. “It was all about change and graduation: my first year into my thirties, the losses I was dealing with–my mother, my relationship.
Courtesy of Rizzoli
West and his mother lived in China together when he was 10 years old, but when the Glow In The Dark tour stopped in Beijing in November of 2008, West and his friends reigned free on the streets of the city. They shopped, ate, and posed with mannequins.
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The detritus of West’s recording studio.
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West enjoyed Cap’n Crunch in a rare moment of peace on his tour bus shortly after leaving Washington, D.C. in May, 2008.
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West designed a red, structural patent-leather jacket for Rihanna, one of his opening acts, to wear on stage. “Originally, she had some outfits done by – I won’t say what brand, because I don’t want to knock it – but I just felt like, with her being her, her thing could have been even more dramatic than it was,” West says of Rihanna’s outfits on the tour. “The reason I put her on the tour is to throw her into the lion’s den with credible artists, like me, Lupe, and Pharrell–take this pop princess and throw her right into the middle of it.”
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For Glow in the Dark Tour Part 1–before it hit the States–it included a massive female robot designed by Simon Henwood, seen here. When it moved stateside, however, audiences were introduced to J.A.N.E, a talking female robot.
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“People were actually upset that we didn’t have the robot girl once we came to the U.S.,” said West of the first incarnation of his female robot. “Simon’s style is more Metropolis, more vintage-y; mine is more mod sixties, Kubrik-meets-manga.”
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West relaxes in his studio after bringing his tour to the States.
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Kanye’s set list in the studio after the American redesign. “I was going to start from scratch, because we had to clean it up, make it more dramatic, more conceptual,” West said of the second leg of the tour.
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West designed the jagged set for Rihanna as opening act.
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“It was a workout, and my breathing, my voice, and the amount of energy I’m putting out–it was very emotional because of the things I was going through when I would do certain songs,” West told Jonze. “Especially towards the end–by the time the newness of all the ideas was wearing off and it was time to think about new ideas–It became more routine. At that point, I was forced to think about real life again, and about the sadness of where I was and where I am–what I’m trying to get over. I went from not having talked to my mom for three months to not having talked to her for a year, and still being on that same stage.”
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The act of performance was, at times, a solitary one for West.
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In the end, however, West says the object of his songs is just to communicate. “There is a certain competition in politics and music and stuff. What resonates more, Stevie Wonder’s ’Happy Birthday’ song or Dr. King’s ‘I have a dream’ speech? Do you remember the entire speech, or do you remember an entire song? What’s embedded? What are the things that will flash before your eyes when you’re passing away? What things are you going to remember? I guess that’s my goal, to be a part of that memory, like, when you look back years from now, “I remember this right here.”
(All quotes extracted from Kanye West’s interview with Spike Jonze,
Glow in the Dark; Kanye West and Nabil Elderkin, Rizzoli, 2009.)
