Coldest Winter (song)

"Coldest Winter" is a song by American hip hop artist Kanye West, from his fourth studio album 808s & Heartbreak. It was produced by West, with co-production from No I.D. and additional production from Jeff Bhasker. The track was covered by a cappella group Pentatonix on their 2016 album A Pentatonix Christmas.

Composition and recording
Lyrics from 1983 track "Memories Fade" by Tears for Fears are quoted, but changed slightly within parts of the song and synths are sampled from it as well as this. Co-producer No I.D. revealed that he was the one who came across "Memories Fade" and played it for West - as soon as No I.D. heard West make usage of the sample, he knew it was special. "Coldest Winter" is centered around the passing of Kanye's mother Donda West.

Release
On October 16, 2008, an excerpt of the track was released by West on the radio station Power 106 in Los Angeles, around one month before the featuring album was released. A slightly revamped version of it was used when West released the music video in February 2010.

Critical reception
Consequence of Sound branded the song's position as the closing track as showing in conjunction to West's previous three studio albums that: '808s slams the door on it all, explaining why there’s so much hate, self-aggrandizing, and animosity on everything of his that’s come out since'. Pitchfork pointed out 'the 909 and descending synth' of "Coldest Winter" as being: 'among the sonic highlights' of the album.

Live performances
When West performed the first concert in New York City on The Yeezus Tour, the track was part of his set list. At the 2015 Hollywood Bowl, West performed the song live with fake snow, which gathered notable attention from his fanbase. The snow was unleashed above the audience during the performance.

Music video
The music video was released on the internet on February 14, 2010 and was directed by Nabil Elderkin. A revamped version of "Coldest Winter" was used for the audio of the video. In the music video, a bride is depicted running through a forest in slow motion and West doesn't appear at all. Elderkin revealed that at the time of its release that West was cool with putting out visuals that fit the song without having to be in the music video and said of West that: 'I think he's in that place in his life where right now he just wants to make art.'.