On Sight

File:DaftPunk NeverEverLand Sydney 2007.JPG's involvement with Yeezus.]]

"On Sight" was first heard when West performed it live at the Governors Ball Music Festival on June 9, 2013, nine days before the album's release.{{cite web|url=https://www.stereogum.com/1376472/watch-kanye-west-perform-new-songs-at-governors-ball/video/|title=Watch Kanye West Perform New Songs At Governors Ball|last=Breihan|first=Tom|website=Stereogum|date=June 10, 2013|access-date=February 4, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190207015259/https://www.stereogum.com/1376472/watch-kanye-west-perform-new-songs-at-governors-ball/video/|archive-date=February 7, 2019|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}} Thomas Bangalter of French duo Daft Punk revealed in an April 2013 interview about their album Random Access Memories that during the recording of it, the duo worked with West on material for his next album.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/daft-punk-reveal-secrets-of-new-album-exclusive-191153/|title=Daft Punk Reveal Secrets of New Album – Exclusive|last=Weiner|first=Jonah|magazine=Rolling Stone|date=April 13, 2013|access-date=May 12, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180730115319/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/daft-punk-reveal-secrets-of-new-album-exclusive-191153/|archive-date=July 30, 2018|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}} At the listening party for Yeezus on June 10, West said in a brief speech after playback that he worked with Daft Punk on three or four of the songs, but "Black Skinhead" was the only one the public knew at the time that they had been involved with and the duo are among the album's major producers.{{cite news|url=https://consequenceofsound.net/2013/06/kanye-wests-yeezus-features-daft-punk-tnght-justin-vernon-and-chief-keef/|title=Kanye West's Yeezus features Daft Punk, TNGHT, Justin Vernon, and Chief Keef|last=Young|first=Alex|website=Consequence of Sound|date=June 11, 2013|access-date=February 4, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190204174438/https://consequenceofsound.net/2013/06/kanye-wests-yeezus-features-daft-punk-tnght-justin-vernon-and-chief-keef/|archive-date=February 4, 2019|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}{{cite news|url=https://www.complex.com/music/2013/06/here-are-the-full-liner-notes-on-kanye-wests-yeezus|title=Here Are The Full Liner Notes on Kanye West's "Yeezus"|last=Nostro|first=Lauren|website=Complex|date=June 19, 2013|access-date=February 4, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180720110211/https://www.complex.com/music/2013/06/here-are-the-full-liner-notes-on-kanye-wests-yeezus|archive-date=July 20, 2018|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}} Bangalter revealed in a July 2013 interview that Daft Punk were the first people West came to during the creation of Yeezus.{{cite web|url=https://www.vibe.com/2013/07/vibe-exclusive-daft-punk-speaks-producing-kanye-wests-black-skinhead-yeezus-lp#sthash.gz8WJ2WK.dpuf|title=VIBE Exclusive: Daft Punk Speaks On Producing Kanye West's 'Black Skinhead' For 'Yeezus' LP|website=Vibe|date=July 10, 2013|access-date=February 4, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190204180100/https://www.vibe.com/2013/07/vibe-exclusive-daft-punk-speaks-producing-kanye-wests-black-skinhead-yeezus-lp#sthash.gz8WJ2WK.dpuf|archive-date=February 4, 2019|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}

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|description = Audio sample of "On Sight", featuring West setting up the narrative of Yeezus over electronic production.

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The song includes an electronic sound, which was mostly crafted by the producers Daft Punk.{{cite web|url=https://www.hotnewhiphop.com/kanye-wests-yeezus-unpacking-a-truly-divisive-album-news.60194.html|title=Kanye West's "Yeezus:" Unpacking A Truly Divisive Album|last=Findlay|first=Mitch|website=HotNewHipHop|date=September 19, 2018|access-date=December 10, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181210202715/https://www.hotnewhiphop.com/kanye-wests-yeezus-unpacking-a-truly-divisive-album-news.60194.html|archive-date=December 10, 2018|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}} The production of its opening moments left people polarized upon first listen of the introductory track, which was confirmed by Rick Rubin as intentional.{{cite web|url=https://www.dailydot.com/upstream/yeezus-on-sight-meaning/|title='Yeezus' the Movie, Part 1: 'On Sight' And Its Hollow Heart|last=Lambert|first=Chris|website=The Daily Dot|date=February 5, 2019|access-date=February 5, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190207072305/https://www.dailydot.com/upstream/yeezus-on-sight-meaning/|archive-date=February 7, 2019|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}} In the outro, West recalls the "I need you right now" refrain of his 2007 single "Stronger".{{cite web|url=https://www.avclub.com/kanye-west-yeezus-1798177119|title=Kanye West: Yeezus|last=Rytlewski|first=Evan|website=A.V. Music|date=June 17, 2013|access-date=December 10, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181210202718/https://music.avclub.com/kanye-west-yeezus-1798177119|archive-date=December 10, 2018|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}} When describing the song's sound, Noah Goldstein was quoted as saying:

"On Sight" sets a new bar. Nobody's doing that. There's no chance in hell that anybody's gonna put that on and be like, 'Oh, that's J. Cole'-- not to diss J. Cole. But there's only one person who can do that kind of shit.{{cite web|url=https://pitchfork.com/features/article/9157-the-yeezus-sessions/|title=The Yeezus Sessions|last=Dombal|first=Ryan|website=Pitchfork|date=June 24, 2013|access-date=December 10, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106144327/https://pitchfork.com/features/article/9157-the-yeezus-sessions/|archive-date=November 6, 2018|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}

The song contains a studio recreation of "Sermon (He'll Give Us What We Really Need)", written by Keith Carter Sr. and performed by Holy Name of Mary Choral Family, sung by a choir.{{cite web|url=https://pitchfork.com/features/overtones/9156-kanyes-sold-soul/|title=Kanye's Sold Soul|last=Greene|first=Jayson|website=Pitchfork|date=June 21, 2013|access-date=December 10, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181210202644/https://pitchfork.com/features/overtones/9156-kanyes-sold-soul/|archive-date=December 10, 2018|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}

"On Sight" was released on June 18, 2013, as the opening track on West's sixth studio album Yeezus.{{cite web|last=Jeffries|first=David|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/yeezus-mw0002554883|title=Yeezus – Kanye West|publisher=AllMusic|access-date=June 19, 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130621043546/http://www.allmusic.com/album/yeezus-mw0002554883|archive-date=June 21, 2013|df=mdy-all}} It was changed to being the first track instead of "Blood on the Leaves" at the last minute. Scottish record producer Hudson Mohawke described this decision as being "probably for the best", explaining by calling "On Sight" what "puts a message across that this is a very different record".

The song was met with widespread acclaim from music critics, with the majority of them praising its position of the album's opener. Helen Brown of The Telegraph viewed the song as being where "West slams the breaks on an industrial-electro grind for a sudden, gloriously demented burst of the Holy Name of Mary Choral Family".{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/cdreviews/10130246/Kanye-West-Yeezus-review.html|title=Kanye West, Yeezus, Review|last=Brown|first=Helen|website=The Telegraph|date=June 19, 2013|access-date=December 10, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181210154732/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/cdreviews/10130246/Kanye-West-Yeezus-review.html|archive-date=December 10, 2018|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}} Its position on Yeezus was branded by Jon Dolan from Rolling Stone as being a "system-shock body rock of an album opener".{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/yeezus-94536/|title=Kanye West, 'Yeezus'|last=Dolan|first=Jon|magazine=Rolling Stone|date=June 14, 2013|access-date=December 10, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181210202622/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/yeezus-94536/|archive-date=December 10, 2018|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}} Steph Blasnik of Mic claimed for West to be "almost taunting the listener" with the bridge: "How much do I not give a fuck? / Let me show you right now before you give it up", and viewed the bridge as where "short and to the point nature sets the tone for the album and lets you know what it all about — non-compliance".{{cite web|url=https://mic.com/articles/49425/kanye-west-yeezus-review-rapper-s-new-album-exactly-what-hip-hop-needed|title=Kanye West 'Yeezus' Review: Rapper's New Album Exactly What Hip-Hop Needed|last=Blasnik|first=Steph|website=Mic|date=June 18, 2013|access-date=December 10, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150424112804/http://mic.com/articles/49425/kanye-west-yeezus-review-rapper-s-new-album-exactly-what-hip-hop-needed|archive-date=April 24, 2015|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}} Chris Martins of SPIN viewed the track as being a "glitch-blitzed Atari Grown Man Riot of an opener".{{cite web|url=https://www.spin.com/2013/06/kanye-west-yeezus-first-review/|title=Kanye West's 'Yeezus': Our Impulsive Reviews|website=SPIN|date=June 15, 2013|access-date=December 10, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130618183905/https://www.spin.com/2013/06/kanye-west-yeezus-first-review/|archive-date=June 18, 2013|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}} The Guardian critic Alexis Petridis wrote that "a screaming, distorted acid line runs through the opening 'On Sight'" and in reference to Daft Punk, viewed it as "the kind of music some people doubtless wish they'd made instead of Random Access Memories".{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/jun/17/kanye-west-yeezus-review|title=Kanye West: Yeezus – review {{!}} Music|last=Petridis|first=Alexis|website=The Guardian|date=June 17, 2013|access-date=May 12, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181005153647/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/jun/17/kanye-west-yeezus-review|archive-date=October 5, 2018|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}} The New York Times{{'}}s Jon Pareles wrote in response to the song: "The music hurls Mr. West's rhymes like a catapult, an effect compounded by his vehement delivery. But the sound and attitude often say more than the actual words".{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/17/arts/music/yeezus-kanye-wests-raw-and-jolting-new-album.html|title='Yeezus,' Kanye West's Raw and Jolting New Album|last=Pareles|first=Jon|website=The New York Times|date=June 16, 2013|access-date=May 12, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130618023159/http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/17/arts/music/yeezus-kanye-wests-raw-and-jolting-new-album.html|archive-date=June 18, 2013|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}

"On Sight" contains controversial lyrics referencing Parkinson's disease: "Soon as I pull up and park the Benz / We get this bitch shaking like Parkinson's". The lyrics aroused controversy from the American Parkinson Disease Association (APDA).{{cite news | url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/19/kanye-west-parkinsons-lyric-on-sight_n_3465123.html | website=Huffington Post | title=Kanye SLAMMED By Parkinson's Group For 'Distasteful' Lyric | date=June 19, 2013 | access-date=July 19, 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304085022/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/19/kanye-west-parkinsons-lyric-on-sight_n_3465123.html | archive-date=March 4, 2016 | url-status=live | df=mdy-all }} The group called the verse "distasteful and the product of obvious ignorance". Maurice Bobb of MTV replied to the lyrics, stating: "The self-professed 'black new wave artist' is no stranger to controversial lyrics, drawing the ire of PETA for saying that his 'mink is draggin' on the floor' on last year's "Cold", but APDA's outrage seems perfunctory considering that this isn't the first time a rapper has used the symptoms of Parkinson's disease for lyrical effect", and West had yet to respond to the APDA at the time.{{cite news|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/2501365/kanye-wests-on-sight-lyrics-criticized-by-american-parkinson-disease-association/|title=Kanye West's 'On Sight' Lyrics Criticized By American Parkinson Disease Association|last=Bobb|first=Maurice|website=MTV News|date=June 19, 2013|access-date=March 21, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330143431/http://www.mtv.com/news/2501365/kanye-wests-on-sight-lyrics-criticized-by-american-parkinson-disease-association/|archive-date=March 30, 2019|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}

In the week that Yeezus was released, the track reached number ten on the US Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 and dropped out of the chart permanently afterwards.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/kanye-west/chart-history/hbu/|title=Kanye West – On Sight – Chart History|magazine=Billboard|access-date=February 4, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190207044500/https://www.billboard.com/music/Kanye-West/chart-history/bubbling-under-hot-100/song/786072|archive-date=February 7, 2019|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}} It also debuted at number 38 on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/r-b-hip-hop-songs/2013-07-06|title=Top Hip-Hop Songs / R&B Songs Chart – July 6, 2013|magazine=Billboard|access-date=February 4, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181210003712/https://www.billboard.com/charts/r-b-hip-hop-songs/2013-07-06|archive-date=December 10, 2018|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}

West first performed "On Sight" live at the Governors Ball Music Festival in June 2013. In response to the performance, Tom Breihan of Stereogum described the song as what "sounded like Kanye's version of late-'80s industrial dance music". When performing the song live at Seattle's KeyArena on The Yeezus Tour in October 2013, West played the choir sample repeatedly.{{cite web|url=https://www.spin.com/2013/10/kanye-wests-yeezus-tour-opener-seattle/|title=Kanye West's Masked 'Yeezus' Tour Opener in Seattle Brushes Off Idea of 'A Fun Night Out'|last=Wolk|first=Douglas|website=SPIN|date=October 20, 2013|access-date=December 10, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181122131249/https://www.spin.com/2013/10/kanye-wests-yeezus-tour-opener-seattle/|archive-date=November 22, 2018|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}} Later that month, on the same tour, West staggered out to the bleeps of the song when he performed it live as the opener for a concert at Staples Center in Los Angeles and he also performed it as the opener to a concert on the tour at Dallas' American Airlines Center in December 2013.{{cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/concert-review-kanye-west-kendrick-651143|title=Concert Review: Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar at Staples Center|last=Weiss|first=Jeff|website=The Hollywood Reporter|date=October 27, 2013|access-date=March 24, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160617165121/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/concert-review-kanye-west-kendrick-651143|archive-date=June 17, 2016|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}{{cite web|url=https://www.dallasobserver.com/music/how-kanye-west-changed-the-message-of-his-yeezus-tour-in-dallas-7064221|title=How Kanye West Changed the Message of His Yeezus Tour in Dallas|last=Quilantan|first=Vanessa|website=Dallas Observer|date=December 9, 2013|access-date=March 24, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190324190429/https://www.dallasobserver.com/music/how-kanye-west-changed-the-message-of-his-yeezus-tour-in-dallas-7064221|archive-date=March 24, 2019|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Yeezus.{{cite AV media notes|url=http://images.modlife.com.s3.amazonaws.com/custom/kanye/YEEZUS-CREDITS.pdf|title=Yeezus|others=Kanye West|year=2013|publisher=Def Jam Recordings|access-date=February 5, 2019|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131003021031/http://images.modlife.com.s3.amazonaws.com/custom/kanye/YEEZUS-CREDITS.pdf|archive-date=October 3, 2013|df=mdy-all}}

{{div col|colwidth=22em}}

• Songwriters: Kanye West, Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, Thomas Bangalter, Malik Jones, Che Smith, Elon Rutberg, Cydel Young, Derek Watkins, Mike Dean
• Producers: Kanye West and Daft Punk
• Additional producers: Mike Dean #MWA and Benji B
• Engineers: Noah Goldstein, Anthony Kilhoffer, Andrew Dawson and Mike Dean
• Assistant engineers: March Portheau, Khoi Huynh, Raoul Le Pennec, Nabil Essemlani, Keith Parry, Kenta Yonesaka, David Rowland, Sean Oakley, Eric Lynn, Dave "Squirrel" Covell and Josh Smith
• Mix engineer: Noah Goldstein
• Assistant mix engineer: Sean Oakley, Eric Lynn, Dave "Squirrel" Covell and Josh Smith
• Choir production: Ken Lewis
• Drums: Dylan Wissing
• Percussion: Matt Teitelman
• Choir director: Alvin Fields
• Choir: Carmen Roman, K. Nita, John Morgan, Jessenia Peña, Ronnie Artis, Crystal Brun, Sean Drew, Natalis Ruby Rubero, Lorraine Berry, Gloria Ryann, Timeka Lee
• Choir engineer: Uri Djemal

{{div col end}}

{{Certification Table Top}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United States|award=Gold|certyear=2022|title=On Sight|artist=Kanye West|type=single|digital=true}}

{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=true|noshipments=true|streaming=true}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Kanye West songs}}

Category:2013 songs

Category:Electroclash songs

Category:Industrial songs

Category:Kanye West songs

Category:Obscenity controversies in music

Category:Song recordings produced by Daft Punk

Category:Song recordings produced by Kanye West

Category:Song recordings produced by Mike Dean (record producer)

Category:Songs written by Cyhi the Prynce

Category:Songs written by Fonzworth Bentley

Category:Songs written by Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo

Category:Songs written by Kanye West

Category:Songs written by Malik Yusef

Category:Songs written by Mike Dean (record producer)

Category:Songs written by Rhymefest

Category:Songs written by Thomas Bangalter