The TIME 100 cover star performed for a crowd of the world's most influential people
+ READ ARTICLETIME 100 cover star and hip-hop icon Kanye West stunned a crowd of dignitaries Tuesday with a performance art-infused 20-minute set at the annual TIME 100 gala honoring the most influential people in the world.
Bathed in an orange-yellow light and flanked by several shirtless men covered in white chalk, West took the stage to James Brown’s “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World” before kicking his set off with his new single “All Day,” from his upcoming album, So Help Me God.
He followed with three tracks from 2013’s Yeezus — “Black Skinhead,” “New Slaves” and Amy Schumer favorite “Blood on the Leaves” — before moving on to “Runaway” and “Only One,” which was inspired by his late mother and his daughter with wife Kim Kardashian, who was also in attendance.
He closed out his set with a few of his older favorites, such as “Good Life” and “Gold Digger,” but stopped “Touch the Sky” midway and asked everyone in the audience to get on their feet before he continued. If getting world leaders, tech innovators and business moguls to bounce up and down isn’t a sign of influence, what is?
“It was an incredible performance,” supermodel Karlie Kloss told TIME afterward. “He knows how to work a room.”
“He was great,” added Frozen songwriter Kristen Anderson-Lopez, who says she used to listen to “Gold Digger” while running. “We write very different kinds of music, but I can respect the truth of what he’s saying.”
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