Love Lockdown

Infobox Single
Name = Love Lockdown

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Artist = Kanye West
Album = 808s & Heartbreak
Released = September 18, 2008
Format = Digital download
Recorded = 2008
Genre = R&B
Length = 4:30 (album version)
4:15 (radio edit)
Label = GOOD Music, Island Def Jam, Roc-A-Fella
Writer = Kanye West
Producer = Kanye West
Certification =
Last single = "Go Hard"
(2008)
This single = "Love Lockdown"
(2008)
Next single = "Heartless"
(2008)
Misc =

"Love Lockdown" is a song by American hip hop artist Kanye West. It is the first single off West's upcoming album "808s & Heartbreak".

Background

"Love Lockdown" was written by West less than ten days before it premiered live as the "explosive" finale of the 2008 MTV VMAs on September 7, 2008. [http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2008/09/kanye-west-love-lockdown.php] West has cited the track as his "favorite to date", saying "go where your heart takes you". The song marks a drastic change for West, standing as his first solo single to feature no rapping, instead sung using the vocal effect of Auto-Tune. Due to negative feedback from fans, Kanye re-recorded the song. In addition to re-recording the vocals, the newer version of the song uses "new taiko drums". [http://www.kanyeuniversecity.com/blog/?em3106=206347_-1__0_~0_-1_9_2008_0_0&em3281=&em3161=] The new re-recorded version was uploaded on Kanye's blog on September 16, 2008. [http://www.kanyeuniversecity.com/blog/?em3106=206428_-1__0_~0_-1_9_2008_0_0&em3281=&em3161=]

The single, cover art, and a 30-second preview shortly appeared on the iTunes store on September 16, 2008, but the song was not available to download. The single was quickly taken off of the store, due to it being the first version. The final version of the song, along with the final artwork, was added to the store on September 18, 2008. [http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=291539239&s=143441] It immediately jumped to number 3 on iTunes top downloads. Then the next day it was the top download on iTunes.Fact|date=September 2008 On September 27, the song dropped 1 spot to #2 due to the song So What by P!nk reaching #1.

Cover Art

The cover art for the single has been released, showing a deflated red heart-shaped balloon against a gray background, with the words "Love Lockdown" written in white below. There has been speculation over whether or not there is a hidden image in the deflated balloon, with several fans thinking that it is the face of West's icon, Dropout Bear.Fact|date=October 2008 West re-released a better quality cover art on his blog on September 16, 2008.

Music Video

The music video for "Love Lockdown" premiered on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" on Tuesday, October 7, 2008. The music video is inspired by the film "American Psycho" in which actor Christian Bale stars as Patrick Bateman. [ [http://ellen.warnerbros.com/thisweek/] ] The video features Kanye in an all white room, also dressed in white singing the verses of the song. During the choruses, African tribe members appear, beating on drums. More tribe members are shown with each chorus, and near the end, two very tall female figures with drawings like the Nazca Lines appear. When coupled with the images of what appears to be a spacecraft of some kind, it can be assumed that the figures are in fact extraterrestrials. The video ends with Kanye laying in a fetal position on the couch in the white room.

tems

Kanye posted six "stems" of "Love Lockdown" on his blog, available for listening and to download for free with the intention that fans are able to remix the song themselves [http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2008/09/25/kanye-west-lets-fans-remix-love-lockdown-for-free/] . These include the piano stem, outro synth stem, acapella, distorted vocals, 808 stem, and percussion stem versions of the song. [http://www.kanyeuniversecity.com/blog/?em3106=207109_-1__0_~0_-1_9_2008_0_0&em3281=&em3161=]

Cover Versions

Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy did a cover of this song to generate hype for the band's new album, "Folie à Deux". Stump felt as if it was Kanye's personal song so he was unsure whether he should cover it as it sounded like a genuine break-up song. [http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1595610/20080925/fall_out_boy.jhtml]

Trey Songz, an artist that frequently covers popular songs has also covered this song.

50 Cent lip synced a snippet of the song as a cover during one of his shows in Albany to mock Kanye, a snippet of this has since appeared on YouTube via 50 Cent's official channel. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyGhmcHj-t4]

Chart performance

"Billboard" confirmed that "Love Lockdown" sold 213,000 digital downloads in only four full days of release, therefore causing it to make a "Hot Shot Debut" at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and a "Hot Shot Debut" on the Pop 100 at #13. This is West's highest debut of his career, and the second highest debut on the Hot 100 of 2008, tied with David Cook's "The Time of My Life". "Love Lockdown" is also only the tenth song of the millennium to debut in the top three, and only the second song by someone not from "American Idol". [ [http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/chart_beat/bonus.jsp Chart Beat] Billboard. Accessed=2008-09-25] It also made a "Hot Shot Debut" at number 5 on the Canadian Hot 100. [ [http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003854860] ]

In Europe, "Love Lockdown" debuted at #16 on the UK Singles Chart, and #5 on the Irish Singles Chart. It also debuted at #38 in Italy and #39 in Sweden. In Australia the song has debuted at #37 on the ARIA Charts.

Charts

References

External Links

[http://www.musicvideocast.com/2008/10/kanye-west-love-lockdown-video.html Kanye West - Love Lockdown Music Video]