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Water (Kanye West song)

"Water" is a song by American vocalist and record producer Kanye West from his ninth studio album, Jesus Is King (2019). The song features a guest appearance by American singer Ant Clemons and additional vocals from gospel group the Sunday Service Choir. It was produced by West and BoogzDaBeast, while co-produced by Angel Lopez, Federico Vindver and Timbaland. The song came from a conversation between Clemons and West about Jesus. A psychedelic and gospel track, the song includes samples of "Blow Job", performed by Bruce Haack. It also interpolates "We're All Water", performed by Yoko Ono. The imagery of the lyrics represents the renewal of Baptism and West prays to Jesus in his verse. On April 16, 2019, the song was recorded and it was announced for release that same month.

Background and recording
in Beverly Hills, California|Ant Clemons became connected with West from having collaborated with Jeremih (pictured). West and BoogzDaBeast produced "Water", with co-production from Angel Lopez, Federico Vindver and Timbaland. West previously worked with him on the 2018 self-titled debut studio album by Kids See Ghosts, a hip hop duo composed of the former and Kid Cudi. Kano Computing CEO Alex Klein, credited as Alexander Nelson Klein, helped write the song. Alongside the song, Ant Clemons is featured on Jesus Is King track "Everything We Need", and was involved in the creation of "Selah". According to Clemons, the track was recorded five days prior to West and the Sunday Service Choir's appearance at the Coachella Festival on April 21, 2019. Clemons recalled BoogzDaBeast presenting a "phenomenal instrumental that sounds like the Seventies" during recording. Before the performance, West announced "Water" as a new track and revealed the title. However, he did not provide further details about the track at the time and it had a possibility of being featured on West's then-upcoming album Yandhi. The track was first revealed to be slated for release on Jesus Is King as the ninth track when West's wife Kim Kardashian shared a potential track list for it in August 2019. "Water" was one of the three tracks that ultimately caused the release of the album in October of that year to be delayed due to mixing modifications. ==Composition and lyrics==
Composition and lyrics
Musically, "Water" is a psychedelic and gospel track. A bassline is featured, which has been described as "bouncy". West's vocals have been classified as hoarse. The representation of baptism is connected to the theme of purification that is present within the song. West's verse sees him delivering prayers to Jesus, with it including him begging Jesus to "clean the music". ==Release and promotion==
Release and promotion
's 2019 Easter Coachella performance|During West and the Sunday Service Choir's Easter 2019 appearance at the Coachella Festival, he delivered a performance of the song with Clemons and Ty Dolla Sign, which was positively received by critics. "Water" was released on October 25, 2019, as the seventh track on West's ninth studio album Jesus Is King, switching position from its originally slated release as the ninth track. The song was performed by West at Coachella on April 21, 2019, coinciding with Easter that year. Simultaneously, Def Jam tweeted "New Song" in response. West was joined by Clemons and American musician Ty Dolla Sign for his performance of the song, atop a hillside campsite known as "The Mountain". Pitchfork writer Sheldon Pearce opined that anyone who was "willing to endure" West and the Sunday Service Choir's two-hour show at Coachella "were rewarded" with him and Clemons contributing to the performance of "Water". Following the performance, Hardeep Phull from Billboard noted the song for being "minimal and ghostly-sounding", though said that it "feels unfinished, but is clearly steeped in the gospel tradition that Sunday Service is embodying". Of his appearance at Coachella, Clemons labeled being stood "next to the Kanye West, on a mountain, singing about God" as "a dream come true". It was later played by him during a listening party for the album at The Forum in Los Angeles on October 23 of that year. On October 27, 2019, Belgian drum and bass producer Netsky shared a snippet of his remix of "Water". Netsky ultimately shared a Dropbox link to his bootleg of the song on January 15, 2020. However, the link was only made available for 24 hours. ==Critical reception==
Critical reception
hat in 2018.|Critical response to the vocals was often focused around those of West. The song was met with polarized reviews from music critics, who expressed mixed opinions mostly of the vocals. In a highly positive review, Matthew Progress of NOW Magazine viewed the content of it as being among "some of the most captivating melodies ever found on a West project" and said that the song continues the album's "vein of R&B-leaning, wavy church ballads" that begins with the vocals on "Everything We Need". Aaron McKrell from HipHopDX noted the song for seeing West "praying for blessings", linking it to West's "passion for and love for God". For NME, Jordan Bassett named the song as the second best track on Jesus Is King, praising "the sense of community in the backing vocals", as well as the optimism shown within the lyrics, and "the unshowy production". NPR's Oliver Wang questioned the possibility of it being the best track, complementing "the crooning of Ant Clemons" and the Sunday Service Choir's vocals, though Wang concluded by writing that the song "sounds like a glorious, end-of-night dance track, just without drums". In a mixed review, Pastes Steven Edelstone noted that the song is still "at least allowed the space to explore a few ideas" despite being short in length, while citing it as one of the album's highlights but criticizing the production. Rawiya Kameir of Pitchfork complained that the "raspy pleading" of West on the song "recalls the era of loosies", which he cited as including West releasing the singles "Only One" (2014) and "FourFiveSeconds" (2015). In Rolling Stone, Brendan Klinkenberg described West's singing that makes it "clear how urgent this album is for him" as being undercut by his meandering on the song. For RapReviews, Ryan Feyre criticized West's "under-baked verse" and called him annoying. Wren Graves from Consequence expressed heavily negative feelings, stating that the song "is more bland than its namesake". ==Commercial performance==
Commercial performance
Following the release of Jesus Is King, "Water" entered the US Billboard Hot 100 at number 51. By doing so, the track became one of Clemons' first two appearances on the chart, simultaneously with "Everything We Need". The track also entered at number eight and nine on the US Christian Songs and Gospel Songs charts, respectively. At the same time, it debuted at number 25 on the US Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The song charted identically on the ARIA Singles Chart and Icelandic Singles Chart, debuting at number 37 on both of them. "Water" also reached the top 100 in Slovakia and Portugal. ==Credits and personnel==
Credits and personnel
Credits adapted from Tidal. • Kanye West producer, songwriter • BoogzDaBeast producer, songwriter • Angel Lopez co-producer, songwriter • Federico Vindver co-producer, songwriter • Timbaland co-producer, songwriter • Alexander Nelson Klein songwriter • Anthony Clemons songwriter, additional vocals, featured artist • Bruce Haack songwriter • Victory Elyse Boyd songwriter • Sunday Service Choir additional vocals • Mike Dean mastering engineer, mixer • Jess Jackson mixer • Andrew Drucker recording engineer • Jamie Peters recording engineer • Josh Bales recording engineer • Josh Berg recording engineer • Randy Urbanski recording engineer • Shane Fitzgibbon recording engineer ==Charts==
Charts
Weekly charts Year-end charts ==Notes==
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