Fade

"Fade"Single by Kanye West
General information
Featured artist(s)	Ty Dolla $ign, Post Malone
Released	September 9, 2016
Recorded	2014-2016
Genre	Hip house R&B
Length	3:13
Album	The Life of Pablo
Label(s)	GOOD Music, Def Jam Recordings
Writer(s)	Norman Whitfield, “Little” Louie Vega, Barbara Tucker, Rapture Stewart, Eric Seats, Robert Owens, Harold “Big Ed” Matthews, Malik Yusef, Eddie Holland, Larry Heard, Cornelius Grant, Ronald Carroll, Static Major, Samo Sound Boy, Jerome LOL, Benji B, Noah Goldstein, Charlie Handsome, Mike Dean, Anthony Kilhoffer, Post Malone, Ty Dolla $ign, Kanye West
Producer(s)	DJDS, Charlie Handsome, Noah Goldstein, Benji B, Mike Dean, Anthony Kilhoffer, Kanye West
Singles chronology
Previous	"Saint Pablo"
Next	"BED YEEZY SEASON 5"
Track list
Previous	"Facts (Charlie Heat Version)"
Next	"Saint Pablo"
Music video

"Fade" is the nineteenth track from Kanye West's seventh studio album, The Life of Pablo (2016). It was released as a single on September 9, 2016, serving as the fifth and final single from the album. The song features vocals from Ty Dolla $ign and Post Malone.

Production

The song is mainly built around Mr. Fingers' 1985 song, "Mystery of Love". The song also samples audio from Rare Earth's 1970 song, "(I Know) I'm Losing You", Hardrive's 1993 song, "Deep Inside", and Barbara Tucker's 1994 song, "I Get Lifted".

Background

According to Ty, he and Kanye originally created the song in 5 minutes. On September 16, 2015, a demo version of the song was previewed at Yeezy Season 2. In October 2015, Kanye first met Post Malone at a birthday party for Kanye's then-sister-in-law, Kylie Jenner. Soon after the party, Post recorded a 17-minute-long freestyle over the beat. Some of the vocals from this freestyle would be chopped up and placed in the final version of the song. On January 24, 2016, Kanye announced an early track list for SWISH, listing "Fade" as the seventh track. When the album was renamed to Waves on January 27, "Fade" was moved to the eighth track. This stayed the same for several track lists until February 12, where Kanye revealed the "final ever" track list for the newly-renamed The Life of Pablo, now listing "Fade" as the seventeenth and final track. On February 11, a snippet of the song was previewed at the Yeezy Season 3 fashion show.

An updated version of the song was released on March 30, 2016, extending the song by 6 seconds. However, it has since been removed from streaming services.

Music video

The music video for "Fade" was first previewed at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards on August 28. On the same day, the video was uploaded exclusively to TIDAL. It was uploaded to YouTube on September 6. The video was directed by USC graduate Eli Linnetz, who drew inspiration from 1970s and 1980s pornography, the movie Flashdance (1983), and the Olympics, among other media. In the video, a half-clothed Teyana Taylor is seen dancing and working out to the song. After Taylor is finished dancing, she is seen making out with her husband, Iman Shumpert. After making out, their oiled-up bodies are seen lying down with their baby, Junie.

Lyrics

[Intro]
Your love is fadin'
I feel it's fadin'

[Chorus]
When no one ain't around
I feel it's fadin'
I think I think too much
I feel it's fadin'
Ain't nobody watchin'
I feel it's fadin'
I just fade away

[Bridge]
I feel it
Fade away
I feel it
I feel it
Fade away-ay-ay-ay
I think I think too much
I feel it
Your love is fadin'
I feel it

[Verse 1]
Roll up, roll up
Hold up, hold up
Po' up, po' up
I feel it
I love to
I wanna
I'm tryna
I feel it
I'ma rock the boat
Work the middle 'til it hurt a little
I feel it
Your love is fadin'
I feel it
Fuckin' with a real ass n***a
I feel it
Fuck how you feel ass n***a
I feel it
Bitch better act like you know better
I feel it
Woah

[Chorus]
When no one ain't around
I feel it's fadin'
I think I think too much
I feel it's fadin'
Ain't nobody watchin'
I feel it's fadin'
I just fade away
I feel it's fadin'

[Verse 2]
You don't even know
I've been so far gone
I feel it
I've been so led on
I've been runnin' 'round
I feel it
I've been on my shit
Whole world on my dick
I feel it
I just need to know
I can feel it

[Bridge]
Oh, deep inside
Deep, deep, down inside
I feel it
Yes, deep inside
Deep, deep, down inside
I feel it
Oh, deep inside
Deep, deep, down inside
I feel it
Yes, deep inside
I get lifted, yes
Deep, deep, down inside
I can feel it
Oh, deep inside
Oh, I get lifted, yes
Deep, deep, down inside
I feel it
Yes, deep inside
Oh, I get lifted, yes
Deep, deep, down inside
I feel it
Oh, deep inside
Oh, I get lifted, yes
Deep, deep, down inside
I feel it
Yes, deep inside
Oh, I get lifted, yes
Deep, deep, down inside
I get
I feel it's fadin'
Oh, I get lifted, yes

[Outro]
I feel it's fadin'
I feel it's fadin'
I feel it
I feel it's fadin'