“Come to Life” by Kanye West

Kanye West’s “Come to Life” is premised on the idea of individuals being in dire straits and resultantly ‘wishing they had another life’. An ambiguous “uncle” and “auntie” are mentioned in that regard in the chorus. But as for the verses themselves, they center more on Kanye and his feelings.

And whereas, in the pre-chorus in particular, he espouses the practice of “praying for a change in your life” if such is proving unsatisfactory, the verses don’t particularly stick to that notion. Instead the first verse depicts him as being in sort of a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t type of situation with his wife. 

In other words, Kanye suffers when she’s away, but he suffers when she’s around also. So similar to another Donda track, Lord I Need You, he decides to put the situation in God’s hands.

The second verse is a bit more perplexing. Here, Yeezus starts off alluding to the well-known media persecution that he suffers. This then leads to him once again apparently calling on God and then giving an indirect shoutout to his own daughter, which may well be the first of such an instance on Donda. 

But the vocalist asserts that this song is not about himself but rather an affirmation that God is still on the throne, so to speak. So once again reading in between the lines, Kanye is looking to a Higher Power to hold him down in these emotionally tumultuous times of his.

In fact all lyrics considered, this song is pretty much a regurgitation of the aforementioned Lord I Need You. But it’s as if this time around, West is doing his best not to put the focus squarely on himself. But of course personally being in the midst of a divorce isn’t something you can just ignore as an artist. Indeed the first half of the lengthy Donda album appeared to be pretty much devoid of any references to Kim Kardashian altogether. But obviously and understandably, getting through this current ordeal with her is a pressing issue on Kanye’s mind.

Primary Artist(s): Kanye West
Album/EP: “Donda”
Release: August 29 of 2021

Who are the composers of “Come to Life”?

The song was obviously written by Kanye. However, the following personalities also hold writing credits on “Come to Life”:

• Chopsquad DJ
• Raul Cubina
• Mark Williams
• Warryn Campbell
• Jeff Bhasker

What genre of music is this song?

It can be considered a proper gospel track.

Are there any samples used on “Come to Life”?

Yes. Kanye sampled “Congregation Speaks in Tongues When Led by Holy Spirit” (2011) by Rev. Dr. David P. Moten.