Talk:Stronger (Kanye West song)

Possible Merge with Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger
It's basically a remake of the old song, shouldn't the two pages just be merged? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 72.12.185.94 (talk • contribs).
 * Not really. "Stronger" isn't a remake, but a distinct composition that contains a vocal sample from "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger". Just64helpin 16:43, 5 August 2007 (UTC)
 * What an odd suggestion. Shouldn't we then merge Stronger and Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger into an article for Edwin Birdsong's Cola Bottle Baby? Sf2070 17:19, 7 August 2007 (UTC)
 * "Stronger" doesn't contain any samples from "Cola Bottle Baby", so I don't quite understand this analogy. Just64helpin 18:01, 7 August 2007 (UTC)
 * "Stronger" samples Daft Punk which in turn samples "Cola Bottle Baby". 74.107.53.64 17:38, 31 August 2007 (UTC)
 * "Cola Bottle Baby" has nothing to do with "Stronger", which samples only an accapella vocal from Daft Punk. Just64helpin 17:42, 31 August 2007 (UTC)
 * No analogy needed, "Stronger" is its own song, not a remake. It's called sampling/interpolation for a reason my friends. --Ayoleftyz 03:49, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

Block
Someone needs to block this page from newly registered users and unregistered users, because people are vandalizing this page a LOT with a lot of bullcrap. For example, peopel are saying that he stole this song when really Draft Punk are given credit everywhere except for on the YouTube videos uploaded by users (where these people get their "information" from). Armyrifle 21:41, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

"Mr." West?
I came here just to check if he really is calling himself "Mr. West" now. Now that I know this, does anybody know why? His arrogance - and I did not think it possible - has reached new levels of idiocy. 75.64.2.15 09:28, 8 August 2007 (UTC)

It's a joke dumbass. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.255.231.70 (talk) 03:39, August 30, 2007 (UTC)
 * I don't think it is: he uses 俺 (ore) in the video (albeit incorrectly, with katakana, which seems to be his mistake-filled motif throughout the video), which implies arrogance or rudeness. At least he wasn't calling himself Kanye-sama.--Piroteknix 03:00, 18 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Does it matter what he calls himself? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.4.53.142 (talk • contribs)

Nietzsche?
Worth mentioning that the song's chorus is based around the famous Nietzsche aphorism? --Delirium
 * Do you have a source for that? Just64helpin 11:26, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Well if you want the Nietzsche quote, Twilight of the Idols II, 8. If you want a mention of it w.r.t. Kanye specifically: --Delirium 18:30, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Akira
The music video has some references to akira...I think those should be mentioned...more. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 204.111.136.209 (talk) 02:54, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Radio Edit
Should the radio edit be posted with the album version? Merath 21:50, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

Irony
I don't know whether the line "does anybody make real shit anymore?" is actually relevant enough to mention, because of irony - the song samples another song, quite heavily. 130.127.78.139 23:10, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Mistake
In the song there is a shot of the Japanese word Ganbare, but the katakana actually reads Gasobare. This should be noted in the article as this is a big mistake. 122.187.67.149 20:11, 04 January 2008 (UTC)

...not to mention "Sutosoga" instead of "Sutonga" which I guess is what they were going for to represent the word "Stronger" (me, I'd do "sutoronga-" similar to how strawberry is rendered in Japanese -- but I'm only a student guessing at it...). Both of these mistakes were the same, they mixed up ソ and ン...easy to do... and funny in a video :D. Definitely worth mentioning in the article if anyone can figure out a good way to word it. JorenCombs (talk) 17:50, 2 February 2008 (UTC)

Oh hey, here's an external blog link about the mistakes: Kanye Fails at Japanese JorenCombs (talk) 17:55, 2 February 2008 (UTC)

Producer ?
I know that Daft Punk's "Harder Better Faster Stronger" vocals are in this song. But did the duo Daft Punk help write the lyrics of "Stronger" or can Daft Punk also be counted as co-songwriter if they are just sampled ? I am confused. Sorry for my bad English. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Nerd72 (talk • contribs) 20:04, 7 April 2009 (UTC)

I'm almost 10 years late but yes, in most cases, the sampled artist does receive songwriting credits. PlayPus2 (talk) 03:26, 14 November 2019 (UTC)

Stronger
this is what wikipedia says is the start of the song "stronger" but

This song appears in the 2003 "Interstella 5555" movie at about 45:00 I have not seen any information about this song coming from a movie or someone else. The credits of the film say that the music comes from.

Music 2001 : Daft Life Ltd under exclusive license to VIRGIN RECORDS Ltd.

A portion of "Stronger" was first released in May 2007 on West's Can't Tell Me Nothing mixtape.[3] Shortly afterwards, on May 31, 2007, Brendon Joshua played the full-length song on his podcast. On June 27, 2007, "Stronger" was put onto the BBC Radio 1 Up-Front playlist and was later upgraded to the A-List a month prior to its release. The single's cover art was released on West's website on June 28, 2007. It was designed by Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, who West collaborated with to produce the artwork for Graduation.[4] The cover features a cartoon version of West's mascot "Dropout Bear" wearing sunglasses similar to the those West wears in the music video, as well as the small, robotic heads of Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo of Daft Punk. West performed a partial version of "Stronger" live at the Concert for Diana held at Wembley Stadium on July 1, 2007 to a crowd of 63,000 people. An estimated 500 million people watched the event in over 140 countries worldwide.[5] —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.161.66.85 (talk) 23:41, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

Quote from 2007 Zane Lowe interview - verification needed
In trying to verify the claim "On July 3, 2007, West told Zane Lowe on BBC Radio 1 that although he believes "Stronger" is a great song, it does not compare to the sampled original" I have been unable to find any primary or secondary sources to back it up. Rather than wholly removing it I thought it best to present what I have and flag it as needing verification.

I have no reason to doubt that Kanye appeared on the stated program on the given date, as suggested by the current article. Reference to this interview first appeared within two days of the interview, added by a very trustworthy and still-active Wikipedian. The BBC radio archive does indicate that West was interviewed and "Stronger" was played, but does not elaborate or offer a transcript or recording.

Some older versions of the article place 'a great song' in quotes, but West's full statement has never been offered in the article. More concerning, I cannot find any further information about this interview or any direct quotes from West on his opinion comparing "Stronger" and "Harder Better Faster Stronger". Lowe's later interviews with West - in 2013, 2015, and 2019 - are far more well-documented and tend to muddy the search results. In addition, this Wikipedia article has been quoted and cited widely throughout the internet (typically with identical phrasing), further frustrating my search for a primary source.

If I may editorialize a bit, over the last decade-plus I've seen "Stronger" serve as the target of ire from misguided Daft Punk fans who call it 'stealing from' or 'ripping off' HBFS (just look at previous posts on this very talk page!). Including this quote seems to be a bit of a mea culpa to ease tensions - 'see, even Kanye thinks the Daft Punk song is better!' - hence why I'm loath to simply delete it even if it is unverified. With DP's recent breakup I suspect more eyes than usual may be on "Stronger", as well. Mashed Potate Jones (talk) 22:50, 1 March 2021 (UTC)
 * I'm assuming the "still-active Wikipedian" is in reference to me. I should clarify that the contribution was not written by me, but was a botched cut-and-paste on my part of text contributed in the edit immediately prior, by an editor who ceased being active in 2007 according to their contributions history. jhsounds (talk) 23:21, 1 March 2021 (UTC)
 * Oh, you're correct on both counts! Looks like I had tunnel vision on the "History" subsection and missed its presence in the header. That editor (albeit briefly) was active in Kanye pages but obviously that's not enough for verification of the quote. Mashed Potate Jones (talk) 20:05, 2 March 2021 (UTC)