In a new interview, Bon Iver mastermind Justin Vernon has revealed he “can’t really kick it” with former collaborator Kanye West anymore.
In the Pitchfork feature, centred around fourth Bon Iver record i,i, Vernon says that he and West have drifted apart due to their politics. “I can’t really kick it with him anymore on a personal level, just the energy. But I’ve got mad love for him, and we’re still friends.”
West has famously displayed an admiration for Donald Trump in the past, while Vernon says in the interview he is drawn to progressive presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
Vernon and West have collaborated together in the past. Vernon featured on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and Yeezus, perhaps most notably on MBDTF cut ‘Lost in the World’. West “commandeered” Vernon’s Wisconsin studio April Base for a week in October 2014, while working on The Life of Pablo.
In the interview, Vernon explains that he began writing i,i track ‘Sh’diah’ – an acronym for “shittiest day in American history” – the morning after the 2016 election. He also suggests the potential benefits of President Trump engaging in recreational drug use.
“If you could drop an MDMA cloud on the White House, just maybe he would have empathy,” he says. “But we don’t want to make the mistake of sending all our energy to this one guy. He’s just a metaphor. He’s a black hole.”
You can read the entire Pitchfork interview here.
i,i is out now.
