Ghost Town (Kanye West song)

It was produced by West, co-produced by Mike Dean, and features additional production from Francis and the Lights, Benny Blanco, and Noah Goldstein.

A link was shared by West via his blog on February 7, 2009, to a cover version of his 2007 single "Can't Tell Me Nothing" by American pop project Francis and the Lights.

[3] He handled additional production for the former of the three, alongside Benny Blanco and Noah Goldstein, while Mike Dean co-produced it and West served as the lead producer.

[3] In an interview with Rolling Stone, she stated that after the song, a lot of people were contacting her by phone and recalled being "like, 'How did you get my number?'

[11][12] West assembled the listening party on the night before the album's release in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, which is the same place that it was recorded by him.

[13][14] Kevin Parker of Tame Impala initially believed that he was credited as a co-writer on the song instead of "Violent Crimes", until he was informed that the latter was played at the listening party.

[17] When discussing his songwriting process during an interview with The New York Times on June 25, 2018, West revealed that co-writer Malik Yusef was responsible for the lyrics "Sometimes I take all the shine/Talk like I drank all the wine.

[19][22][23][24] The song includes a sample of "Take Me for a Little While", written by Trade Martin and performed by the Royal Jesters, within its leading bass, drum, and keys combination.

[19][24][28][29] In particular, "Ghost Town" has been noted for taking rock influence from Kid Cudi's work, with a "strong presence of guitars" that Will Lavin of Joe.co.uk called "very reminiscent of a couple of tracks" from his second studio album Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager (2010).

[30] Mental illness is a common theme on Ye; the song is linked to the subject matter of the album that West's mind is unraveling.

[32] While singing the chorus of "Ghost Town", Kid Cudi interpolates vocals from rock and roll artist Dave Edmunds' 1979 version of "Take Me for a Little While".

"[10] "Ghost Town" was released on June 1, 2018, as the sixth and penultimate track on West's eighth studio album, Ye.

"[35] According to 070 Shake, she wrote the reference track after first arriving in Wyoming, and West had forgotten about it due to him being "very focused on a lot of other things, other songs and stuff [sic], and it just left his mind a little bit.

"[10] Recording for Ye started after West made controversial comments about slavery in a TMZ interview earlier in May 2018 that led to the album being re-done afterward.

"[21] Carrie Battan from The New Yorker named the track as the best song, pointing out its elements of soul and pop punk, though she viewed the track as "the finest example of hip-hop's current fascination with rock music" and praised the outro by 070 Shake for showing that her "androgynous, pubescent voice is used to create a bridge between the joyous and the morbid.

"[22] Outside of "I Thought About Killing You" and "Yikes", The Independent's Christopher Hooton billed the track as the album's "only other remotely good song.

[39] Adam Rothbarth of Tiny Mix Tapes commented with praise for Kid Cudi's "purposely gnarly" refrain, West's "elegant vocal performance" and the production of the song.

"[43] Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune said that it shows "West telegraphing his vulnerability through shaky singing," despite concluding that 070 Shake "walks away with the song.

"[44] AllMusic writer Neil Z. Yeung asserted that the song shines as one of the album's "moments of clarity" and commended the lyrical content.

[45] Zachary Hoskins was less enthusiastic in Slant Magazine, dismissing West's verse despite naming the song as the most polished track on Ye and positively writing of the guitar, as well as Kid Cudi's vocals.

[24] In a negative review for The Line of Best Fit, Ross Horton panned the singing on the song and called it "the kind of thing that you once could, objectively, understand to be joke," with the loudness of the vocals receiving criticism from him.

[48] Hunter Harris of the site labeled the track as "a mediocre album's best offering," though directed praise towards 070 Shake's outro.

"[52] Joe ranked "Ghost Town" at the same position on their list, with Dave Hanratty calling it "an exceptional song that hit the heavens with power and grace.

"[53] The track was named by The Daily Beast as the seventh-best song of 2018, and Marlow Stern called it West's most impressive work from that year, while he praised 070 Shake's outro, which accordingly "soars to the stratosphere.

"[54] Following the release of Ye, "Ghost Town" debuted on the US Billboard Hot 100 at number 16, standing as the highest charting non-single from the album.

[79] The track experienced lesser performance in the Czech Republic, reaching number 42 on the country's Singles Digitál Top 100 chart.

[84][85] However, the performance was cut off around the time that 070 Shake began to deliver her part of it, and the song was followed by a speech from the West about his support of US President Donald Trump.

[87] West was joined by Kid Cudi and 070 Shake when leading his gospel group the Sunday Service Choir through a rendition of "Ghost Town" at their first concert on January 7, 2019.

[90][91] Kid Cudi brought out West as a surprise during the start of his weekend two set at the 2019 Coachella Music Festival, where the two performed a rendition of "Ghost Town".

[34] Prior to the album's release, Revolt TV writer Ralph Bristout stated that the song managed to "set up the excitement for" it.