HIGHS AND LOWS Lyrics – Ye | from “BULLY”

Ye’s BULLY barrels toward January 30 like a freight train of unfinished business, his 12th studio swing via YZY that promises to bully back at the chaos he’s stirred, and “HIGHS AND LOWS” is that woozy, sample-laced exhale—previewed at a Switzerland private bash last fall—that’s equal parts apology and anchor in the storm.

Snagged from whispers at that intimate Geneva gathering, this snippet’s pure Ye vulnerability: a hazy soul-rap drift over ethereal French folk loops from Pomme’s 2019 cut “soleil soleil,” twisted into a plea for forgiveness amid love’s wreckage. Co-produced with 1SRAEL, it’s got that signature West warmth—swelling keys and sparse beats that cradle his half-sung bars like a late-night voicemail.

Thematically, it’s a tightrope walk through toxic cycles: “climax fast to a slow jam,” heart attacks before heartbreaks, separations that snap back like rubber bands. It’s alternative hip-hop with a chemical romance edge, less bombast than his Vultures era, more like a faded Donda diary entry—creative direction zeroed in on owning the mess, highs crashing into lows without a safety net. But here’s the snag: Pomme (Claire Pommet) straight-up denied clearance, slamming Ye’s political stances in a January ’25 Complex interview, leaving fans speculating if it’ll drop cleared, reworked, or scrapped. No official Ye socials have touched it yet, but the clip’s bootlegs lit up TikTok, racking stitches of folks debating if it’s genius or gamble.

BULLY itself? It’s Ye reclaiming the narrative after 2025’s endless delays—originally teased as a short film, now a 12-track beast clocking around 45 minutes of raw introspection on power, pain, and the bullies in the mirror. Spotify’s pre-save teases gems like “PREACHER MAN,” “BEAUTY AND THE BEAST,” and “LOSING YOUR MIND,” blending gospel ghosts with trap undercurrents, all wrapped in that YZY merch ecosystem of vinyl box sets already selling out. No grand concept drop, just Ye folding fame’s fractures into something fiercely personal, proving he’s still the architect of albums that double as therapy sessions.

At 48, Ye’s in that defiant renaissance—post-Adidas fallout, Vultures trilogy highs (and the inevitable backlash), he’s evolving from provocateur to poet, house-arrest vibes fueling a quieter fire. Fresh off holiday pop-ups hawking Bully tees and those cryptic Insta reels hinting at gospel choir cameos, this feels like his shot at redemption, one uncleared sample at a time. It’s messy, magnetic, and quintessentially him.

Dive into the HIGHS AND LOWS lyrics below and unpack its raw narrative. Don’t miss other BULLY tracks for more of Ye’s soul-baring hip-hop confessions.