"Fade" is a song by American rapper Kanye West from his seventh studio album, The Life of Pablo (2016). The song features vocals from Post Malone and Ty Dolla Sign. It was first played at West's Yeezy Season 2 show in September 2015, before later being released for digital download and streaming as the third and final single from the album on September 9, 2016, through GOOD Music and Def Jam. 11 days later, the aforementioned labels serviced the song to radio stations across the United States. A hip house song with club elements, it samples Mr. Fingers's "Mystery of Love", Rare Earth's and The Undisputed Truth's respective cover versions of "(I Know) I'm Losing You", Hardrive's "Deep Inside", and Barbara Tucker's "I Get Lifted (The Underground Network Mix)". The lyrics of the song focus on trying to hold on to a fading love.
"Fade" received generally positive reviews from music critics, with many of them being complimentary towards the sampling. Some highlighted Ty Dolla Sign's and Post Malone's vocals, while other critics commented on the song's inclusion on The Life of Pablo. It was ranked amongst year-end lists for 2016 by multiple publications, including Spin and Billboard. In 2016, the song reached number 47 on the US Billboard Hot 100, alongside attaining fellow top 50 positions in Canada, France, Scotland, and the United Kingdom. The song has since been certified double platinum and gold in the US and the UK by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and British Phonographic Industry (BPI), respectively.
An accompanying music video was briefly made available as a Tidal exclusive on August 28, 2016, before being released to West's YouTube channel nine days later. Directed by Eli Russell Linnetz, the video features Teyana Taylor dancing, before she appears in a shower with her then husband, Iman Shumpert. The visual received positive reviews from critics, who often praised Taylor's dancing. At the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards, it received the award for Best Choreography. West performed "Fade" live with the Sunday Service Choir throughout 2019, including respective performances from him and them at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Ty Dolla Sign expanded on the song with "Ego Death", which was released in July 2020.
A reinterpretation of the song with "Follow Me" by Aly-Us entitled "Follow Me – Faith" was released on the Sunday Service Choir's debut studio album, Jesus Is Born (2019). A two-part gospel track, the reinterpretation begins with a riff off the latter of the two songs before transitioning into a version of "Fade", titled "Faith". The group lead listeners to Christianity in the first part, while the second part's lyrics are focused on God's love. The reinterpretation received positive reviews from music critics, some of whom were complimentary towards the composition. Others appreciated the reinterpretation's development of the original songs, while a few critics cited it as one of the album's highlights. The reinterpretation peaked at number 22 on the US Billboard Gospel Songs chart in 2020.
Background and recording
In October 2015, American rapper Post Malone revealed he first met West at a party thrown by West's sister-in-law Kylie Jenner. He recalled that West was eager to "make something" with him, which led to Post Malone going over to his, where the two worked together and talked. Elaborating, he said "we just kept on going. I went in the studio with Kanye and we just recorded the scratch vocals and then I wrote over it." Post Malone described West as "just a normal guy, like me," as well as "super cool," "very quiet" and "very, very humble." He later stated that the song "was just a dope vibe, a little funky vibe," viewing it as trying something new. Post Malone continued, admitting: "You never really know what to expect, but [Kanye] played me the song, or he sent me the song so I could hear it." According to him, he "got in the actual studio" with West after recording his scratch vocal "and actually cut the real vocals" for "Fade". Of collaborating with West on the song, American musician Ty Dolla Sign said it was "amazing" working with him and labeled West "one of the dopest musicians I know." Ty Dolla Sign asserted that when the two "actually got in the studio, it was dope," admitting they came up with the song in five minutes. He continued, recounting that West "did the beat on the spot, like from scratch."
At West's Yeezy Season 2 runway show on September 16, 2015 for New York Fashion Week, he debuted a new song. The song was played over video footage that showed people lined up in lines in a manner reminiscent of 1984 and various celebrities were in attendance for the debut, including Drake, Common, 2 Chainz, and Pusha T. After it leaked following the debut, Post Malone subsequently confirmed him and Ty Dolla Sign appear on the song while Pitchfork reported that it is titled "Fade". By November 2015, two months after West had debuted the song at his Yeezy Season 2 show, the official audio was yet to be released and designer Virgil Abloh played "Fade" in full during a DJ set in London that month.
The song samples American DJ Larry Heard's recording "Mystery of Love", which is a house track that was released in 1985 under his moniker Mr. Fingers and co-written by him with Robert Owens. In response to West sampling the recording, Heard called "Fade" first appearing 30 years after its release "quite an interesting anniversary present" while noting that he and West share the hometown of Chicago. Heard was hopeful that the song's success would bring him new listeners, saying: "Every little thing that helps people who maybe don't hear any dance music, maybe just hear what's available via radio, maybe that opens something for them to Google search the name and look at the Discogs page and check out some things there." However, Heard was cautious of being associated solely with the recording's dancefloor friendly vibe due to stereotyping in the 1990s from Sony Music officials that he admitted "were like, 'doesn't he just do house music?" In the months following the February 2016 release of The Life of Pablo, West continuously made changes to the album; Def Jam referred to it as "a living, evolving art project." For "Fade", the production was mostly minimized.
Composition and lyrics
Musically, "Fade" is a hip house song, with Chicago house influences. The majority of the production is minimal. The song is built around a slowed down sample of the bassline from "Mystery of Love", written by its performer Mr. Fingers alongside Owens. The vocals "Your love is fading/I feel it fade" from a 1970 cover version of the Temptations' "(I Know) I'm Losing You" (1966), written by Cornelius Grant, Eddie Holland and Norman Whitfield, and performed by Rare Earth, are sampled on the song. The song includes a sample of a version of the same title as Rare Earth's cover, written by the same musicians and performed by The Undisputed Truth. "Fade" contains vocal samples of "Deep Inside" (1993), written by Louie Vega and performed by Hardrive. The song features samples of "I Get Lifted (The Underground Network Mix)" (1994), written by Vega, Ron Carroll, Barbara Tucker and Harold Matthews, and performed by Tucker, which adds club elements. On the song, West, Ty Dolla Sign and Post Malone alternate verses. Post Malone contributes his vocals alongside the samples of Mr. Fingers' "Mystery of Love" and Rare Earth's "(I Know) I'm Losing You".
Lyrically, "Fade" centers around attempting to hold on to a love that is fading. The word "fade" is stretched out vocally. In West's verse, he expresses the urge to engage in sex with someone after having consumed marijuana or alcohol. West interpolates lyrics from "Rock the Boat" (2002), written by Stephen "Static Major" Garrett, Rapture Stewart and Eric Seats, and performed by Aaliyah.
Release and reception On February 14, 2016, "Fade" was released as the nineteenth track on West's seventh studio album The Life of Pablo. In June of that year, Def Jam confirmed the song was set to be released to contemporary hit radio stations across the United States. The song was released for digital download and streaming in various countries by West's record labels GOOD Music and Def Jam as the album's third single on September 9, 2016. That same day, it was serviced to UK mainstream radio stations. On September 20, 2016, the song was sent to US contemporary hit, rhythmic contemporary, and urban contemporary radio stations.
"Fade" was met with generally positive reviews from music critics, who mostly praised the sampling. Alexis Petridis from The Guardian said the song "woozily interleaves two house classics" in Mr. Fingers' "Mystery of Love" and "I Get Lifted" by Tucker "with a snatch of barked vocal" from "(I Know) I'm Losing You" by Rare Earth "to startling effect," concluding that the sampling is "proof that when The Life of Pablo is good, it's very good indeed." NOW Magazines Kevin Ritchie noted that the song "pays homage to Chicago house classics." Greg Tate, writing for Spin, analyzed that it sees "Motown's blue-eyed-soul-outfit-that-could Rare Earth and house diva Barbara Tucker cross-fade and elevate the curtain moment with what gooder-than-Yeezus-and-thou Christians call the Good News" while opining rapper Kendrick Lamar should have provided vocals for the song instead of fellow album track "No More Parties in LA". Jayson Greene of Pitchfork described the song as pitting Post Malone "against a sample of" "Mystery of Love" as well as "a flip of" Rare Earth's "(I Know) I'm Losing You", with him admitting that the song "rigs the mix so that Malone, somehow, sounds more important than both of them" while calling the sampling "a reminder of Kanye's audacious touch with huge, immediately recognizable pieces of musical history."
Comparing the song to the version played at Yeezy Season 2, Corbin Reiff from The A.V. Club stated it went from "a plodding, repetitive instrumental number" to "an intricately layered legitimate banger" that features "some superb scumbaggery from Ty Dolla $ign." In HipHopDX, Justin Hunte labeled the song an "ode to dwindling love that moves more like a Ty Dolla $ign and Post Malone collaboration than a Yeezy solo offering," concluding by pointing to it as "an ironic ending to an album" that is mostly about the polarizing topic of West's greatness. For RapReviews, Jesal 'Jay Soul' Padania selected "Fade" as a "fan favorite" on the album and compared the song to a "happy catwalk model" due to it being "taken from front and centre, and shoved right to the back, just to be contrary and fit in something like '30 Hours'." In a mixed review, referencing the position of the tracks on The Life of Pablo, Philip Cosores of Consequence of Sound viewed the song and "No More Parties in LA" as "A-sides on the wrong album shoved onto the end of the collection that would have been stronger if it ended with 'Wolves'," though called the tracks "not flawed lyrically."
Accolades