Kanye West‘s infamous commandeering of Taylor Swift‘s spotlight at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards led him into a self-imposed exile, but the hip-hop star has returned with an onslaught of new material, including the softhearted single “Runaway.” With a simple piano melody and rumbling drums sampled from Pete Rock & CL Smooth‘s “The Basement,” West may present “a toast for the douchebags” in the chorus, but the song mainly pertains to the rapper’s relationship woes. West sings with the same timid cadence he used on 2008’s “808s & Heartbreak,” offering a humble plea for understanding over a groaning bassline. “I could never take the intimacy,” West admits before Clipse‘s Pusha T arrives with a barbed verse full of justifications. Baring his soul to an antagonized audience, a vulnerable West confronts his character flaws in this dramatic comebac.
