Everything We Learned From Kanye West’s Interview With Ellen

Info about his new album, having more kids with Kim, and why he’s trying to chill out.

January 29, 2015

Today, Kanye West appeared on Ellen to premiere the new music video for his and Paul McCartney's "Only One"—and he also had a sit-down with the Czar of Chat (that's what I'm calling Ellen now—deal with it). Here's seven facts we learned while absorbing their discussion:

1. Kanye doesn't know what his new album will be called—and it sounds like he's still working on it, too

"I don't know yet, I'm still trying to find the vibe," he replies when Ellen asks about the title of his "next CD." (Ellen! How old-fashioned!) "This transition from what I felt when I did Yeezus to what I feel now—we're just creating, we haven't found it yet." Ellen suggests Ellen Is My Friend, and Kanye says, "I think that's pretty good." I'll wager a bet he's not gonna run with that one, though.

2. Kanye and Kim Kardashian are looking to expand their family

"Yeah, we're trying," he says with a sly grin. Ellen asks how many kids, specifically, he and Kim want, and his answer is pretty much perfect: "I just want whatever Kim wants."

3. He's learned valuable lessons from getting married

"I've definitely learned to compromise more," Kanye said with a laugh. "I've learned how to shut up more. I think I'm a better human being because of her and because of my daughter." Aww.

4. One of those lessons: being outspoken has its drawbacks

"There's things I've done in the past that were considered negative, but I was really jumping in front of the tank for other people, or for culture," he said, the last part being a very Kanye-esque statement. "So now I always have to have that in my mind—that I have a family to protect, too."

5. Having a daughter has taught him a thing or two about cooling out...

"You are calmer, I think. You don't seem...angry," Ellen said to Kanye, with a pause before that last word so pregnant that it might as well have been Octomom. "I think I was going through a version of my terrible twos,'" Kanye says in a very parent-like way. "My daughter wants to express herself and she doesn't have the words for it. For me, there's so many things I want to do—with film, with clothing—and I just didn't have the words, or the resources, or the backing, or the perception being that I could do it because I was a rapper—all these things."

6. ...And coincidentally, so has his deal with Adidas

"They allow me a little bit of oxygen," he said before launching into a reasonable explanation of why he repeatedly expressed public frustration over the last few years. "The difference between what people give you about celebrity—the idea of money versus creativity—there's no amount of money that someone could give you to make you not be creative, if you were born to create. A lot of times, people try to block your creativity, control you with money. Adidas allowed me to make my own clothing line, which I wanted to do—it was a little bit of oxygen. You guys, two or three years ago—you were seeing someone being suffocated by perception. Being suffocated by people in a position that could blatantly see, 'Wow, the Yeezys are really good. He was this influential. All these albums did this. But we're not gonna give him a shot at something else.' There's a lot of people that were really calm about that. The definition of crazy is trying to do the same thing and expecting a different result. So I tried something different over the past couple of years—and I actually got some results from it, too."

7. Kanye played "Only One" for Ellen in her living room

"I was blown away by how beautiful the song is," she said. Us too, Ellen—us too.

Everything We Learned From Kanye West’s Interview With Ellen