In the Spike Jonze-directed Only One, ‘Ye and his adorable daughter head out on a rainy country walk. With Paul McCartney on keys, the home video style visuals were likely shot while the Wests were in town for the #whospaulmccartney collaboration on both this track and Rihanna’s FourFiveSeconds. The project marks a new direction for Kanye, who’s past videos have often been full of intensity and aggression, littered with politics and sexuality. This time around we’re presented with his vocals (albeit autotuned) as he sweetly channels his late mother singing to him and North.
As she points out during their interview, Kanye certainly seems a lot calmer than he used to. He agrees, explaining, “I think I was going through my version of my terrible twos. My daughter wants to express herself but doesn’t have the words for it, and for me, there are so many things I wanna do with film and clothing but I just didn’t have the words or the resources or the backing.” A recently announced adidas collaboration has helped ease the frustration and provide a creative outlet. “A lot of times people try to block your creativity and control you with money but adidas allowed me to create my whole clothing line.”
“The definition of crazy is trying to do the same thing and expecting different results, so I tried something different over the past couple of years and I actually got some really good results from it too!” he adds, smiling. “I think I’m a better human being because of Kim and because of my daughter.”
Credits
Photography Inez and Vinoodh