10 Most Underrated Kanye West Songs
1. Pinnochio Story
This closer to 808s & Heartbreak only exists as a live performance from a show in Singapore. Yet it is definetly up there with one of the most emotionally affecting and heartbreaking songs in his entire catalog. It's Kanye at his most self-depricating and dissaccociated, and you genuienly feel that he could break down into tears at any point of the performance.
The theme of the entire song is that Kanye feels he is too far distanced from normal life and there is no going back, as a result of both his extreme fame and wealth, and his personal tragedy. He longs to know what it feels like to be a real person, describing himself as a facade on television. He calls out those who said he "ought to laugh" whilst he was dealing with trauma, simply because he is rich and famous.
The most heartbreaking lyric has to be "There is no Gepetto, to guide me, No one, right beside me, The only one, was behind me, I can't call her no more". This is the most overt reference to his mother in the song. His literal creator, his Gepetto, is no longer there to guide him. Or even to simply comfort him and there is nothing he can do about it. It's an utterly desperate and touching moment in the song.
Instrumentally the song is bare bones. Some keys, subtle piano and string work and that is it. The rest of the space is left for Kanye to bare his soul.
The nature of the recording of the song is almost important, and makes the song extra heartbreaking and ironic. He is wearing his heart on his sleeve and talking about how he simply wants to be treated like a normal person. Yet during the live performance you still clearly hear people screaming manically at him whilst he is on the verge of a breakdown. He is literally telling his audience he wants to be treated like a normal person, but yet they still treat him as just an artist to be marvelled at and nothing else. A product.
Pinnochio Story is one of the most emotionally resonant songs of the 21st century, regardless of genre. And that's because its so grounded. It's simply a grieving man who feels he has no sense of belonging. Its powerful.