The Power to Let Go

As many may see it as a treatise of his own egotism, the song “Power” by Kanye West stands as a statement of the artist’s own struggle to find happiness after he has gained a distinct power over himself in the pursuit of his dreams. Kanye has fulfilled his goal of becoming a successful artist in the 21^st century but he feels that this fulfillment has made him monstrous due to his overwhelming insecurity in trying to maintain his self-power brought about by his new image in society. In analyzing the lyrics Kanye seems to have deceived himself with power by claiming not to care about control but at the same time trying to achieve it. As Kanye counts the hours until his death he is steadily losing control over himself and, at the end of the song, he commits suicide reinforcing the point that his insecurity has caused him to lose his sense of power over himself and jump out the window to let all the control go. The music video serves to back up Kanye’s power struggle as it presents Kanye in the middle of a moving portrait in front of columns with surrounding images and symbols of timeless power. Together the lyrics and the music video use unique visual literacy to portray a message of inner-turmoil within the artist’s mind to conserve control over himself as he continues to grow older in a cruel world that drives him to be self-conscious of his own control.

In analyzing the lyrics one can find multiple examples of Kanye’s desire to overcome his power struggle and move past his aggression towards the current world and find true happiness. Kanye acknowledges his fame in the opening lines of the song when he brings up how his popularity has increased in the 21^st century and he’s “doing it better than anyone ever seen do it” (l.2).  The artist knows he holds some sort of power in music industry because of the successes he has gained throughout his career but he still questions whether or not it is good for one man to possess this power. In becoming a successful artist, Kanye has managed to place himself in a position where he must choose to grasp the power he has acquired and try to control it or let the power go and maybe be happy with himself by not having to deal with the struggle of keeping it. Power is blinding Kanye with what it means to be truly happy because he continues to stay “tripping off the power” (l.7).  His life has changed because the fame has built him up into someone who is arrogant and with this new self-image Kanye feels that he “has nothing to lose” in the cruel world because he is so far ahead of everyone else already. (l.9) With this attitude he is essentially able to say “goodnight” to the cruel world and separate himself from its ideals because he feels that his power is above those in the “white man world” (l.12). Kanye is overwhelmed with this feeling of power and at the end of verse he admits to himself, “This is way too much, I need a moment” (l.15). As the song moves on the listener continues to find lines of how Kanye has seized power over himself but he is still insecure and unhappy. Kanye is scared to lose control and he is taking his anger out on society (other n***gas) which drives him to be more mad and start to “count the hours” till his death. That fact that he is growing older and losing his “child-like creativity” only makes it worse because he feels his gifts that allowed him to acquire his power are growing old which makes him question himself even more. In a realization of self-deception Kanye claims not to have a power trip in the third verse but still asks the supposed girl he is talking to who she is going home with (l.46).  Kanye has deceived himself, claiming not to care about control yet he acts in a way where he needs to know what she is doing. This idea can be applied to Kanye himself because he lives a self-centered life unconcerned for how people view him (“I don’t need your p***y b***h I’m on my own d**k) but he still wants to know what people think of him. The deception has created a struggle within the mind of the artist because it causes him to question the power he has over himself and become insecure about his fame and image in today’s society.

After studying the lyrics one can connect the music of “Power” and see how the moving portrait supports the idea of Kanye’s power struggle within himself and further backs up the point by using images and symbols of historical power. The video starts with a close up shot on Kanye’s face and one can see into the power-driven eyes of the artist as he stares directly at the viewer. The face is dark and the video turns into one continuous shot away from the artist almost like it’s slowly revealing a moving painting. As the screen gradually widens more and more, Kanye comes to be in the middle of a portrait standing surrounded by visual images of sexuality, power, and struggle. Once the screen is at its full shot and is no longer moving back, Kanye’s power struggle is brought to a climax after a string of zoom-ins on the different parts of the portrait when the artist is shown standing alone about to be killed by what looks to be a historical painting-like man and woman with swords. The symbols of the video come to explain and elaborate many of the problems Kanye expressed in his lyrics and serve to back up and express his inner struggle for control in a more visual and tangible way. The beginning of the video portrays Kanye in front of two rows of pillars that seem to be in the sky or a heaven-like place in the clouds. Kanye, who claims to have to set himself above the cruel world with his own power, depicts this notion by putting himself in front of pillars (pillars serving as a symbol of strength and power in architecture) in the clouds separate from the world below. The guards (girls with horns) serve to symbolize Kanye’s insecurity by showing the Kanye is scared to lose his power and he feels that he needs to protect himself and maintain it. The attractive woman sitting in front of Kanye in the music video represents the sexual aspects that surround his new life of fame that blinds Kanye from true happiness and keeps him “tripping off the power”(l.7).  Power has brought Kanye into a separate world surrounded by struggle and sexuality and these images are pictured throughout the moving painting. As Kanye stands in the middle of the video a crown with a sword through it comes to picture right above his head as the camera moves back. This depiction represents that even though Kanye claims to be struggling to keep power over himself in his new life he has already lost his crown (lost his power) and it’s too late. Shortly after the viewer sees the whole image of the sword the video begins a line of close ups showing different images of sexuality surrounding Kanye that have been making it difficult for him to manage his powerful life and the video finally ends with the supposed death of the artist by the two figures with swords. Kanye’s struggle is over and he can now once and for all separate himself from the cruel world through death.

The music video and lyrics work well together in describing Kanye’s desire to overcome the self-power battle he finds himself fighting in his celebrity lifestyle. Kanye has lost this battle as the ideas surrounding the “cruel world” have overwhelmed him and made his insecurity get the best of him. Through his own self- deception Kanye managed to convince himself that he doesn’t need to control his power that drove him into a state of arrogance and aggression at those around him and eventually caused him to lose any sense of ascendancy he had over himself. At the end of the song Kanye is ultimately left without power and he decides to jump out the window (suicide) and let all his struggles go. After all, we do “have the power to let power go”(l.53).