"Lost in the World" is a song by American hip hop recording artist Kanye West from his fifth studio album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010). The song features vocals by Justin Vernon of indie folk band Bon Iver, as well as sampling his 2009 song "Woods". It also contains portions of "Soul Makossa" written by Manu Dibango, and samples of "Comment No. 1", performed by Gil Scott-Heron. It was produced by West and Jeff Bhasker, who wrote the track with Vernon and Malik Jones. "Lost in the World" was initially leaked on September 29, 2010, and was 5 minutes and 55 seconds long. The version on the album was divided into two parts, with the outro becoming a new track entitled "Who Will Survive in America".
The song received acclaim from music critics, who praised the atmospheric production, the appearance of Vernon, and West's verse. The verse by West was described as one of the most poetic of his career, with the song being cited as one of the strongest on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. "Lost in the World" was featured during the closing credits of Runaway, a 35-minute short film directed by West set with music from the album. The song peaked at number 104 on the South Korean Gaon Chart. A music video was directed by West and Ruth Hogben, featuring black and white cinematography, frantic dancing by models and a brief cameo by West. The music video received positive reviews from critics.
"Lost in the World" was sampled in a freestyle by West's GOOD Music labelmate Pusha T, and a remix produced by DJ Tiësto. West first performed the song live at Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. He notably performed the song with Justin Vernon at both Coachella Festival and Glastonbury Festival. Additionally, "Lost in the World" was performed by West at the funeral of Gil Scott-Heron in 2011.
Background
Kanye West initially wrote the verses of "Lost in the World" as a love poem emailed to American model Kim Kardashian, who he would later begin dating in 2012 and married in 2014. West previewed "Lost in the World" in July 2010 at the offices of Facebook. West performed production-free versions of several songs at the event, standing on top of a table. Rolling Stone writer Daniel Kreps, who reported the event, wrote "in an unorthodox move, Kanye West debuted verses from three new songs, a cappella for employees at Facebook's headquarters in Palo Alto, California." Before launching into a performance of "Lost in the World", West mused that "this is actually a bit more like a poem" and described it as more of a "serious rap". A version of the song leaked online on September 29, 2010; the version was unfinished, with a length of approximately 6 minutes. At this time, it was unknown whether or not the song would appear on West's upcoming fifth studio album. Later, in October 2010, it was confirmed that "Lost in the World" would indeed appear on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, but that the leaked version had subsequently been split into two different songs. The first part of the track remained titled "Lost in the World", while the end became another song, titled "Who Will Survive in America".
Recording
Following some media controversies, West chose to record My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in a reclusive manner in Oahu, Hawaii. Like the majority of the album, "Lost in the World" was composed there. West attempted to shy away from working with artists he didn't consider himself familiar with; however, he made an exception for Justin Vernon, singer of the band Bon Iver. Vernon's involvement in the project stemmed from a phone call by West. West had gotten into contact with Vernon and described his intention of sampling the song "Woods" from Bon Iver's Blood Bank EP. After the phone message, West invited Vernon down to his record studio in Hawaii to appear on the album.
West also cited the Bon Iver album For Emma, Forever Ago as something he was a fan of, and admitted an admiration of the unique aesthetic of Vernon's music. The two quickly became friends through discussions of music and games of basketball. While at Hawaii, Vernon collaborated extensively, reportedly producing a total of 10 tracks together, including the album cuts "Dark Fantasy" and "Monster". Vernon told Pitchfork Media about the composition of the song, stating: