page_title: Fear (Kendrick Lamar song)
section_title: Critical reception
hierarchical_section_title: Fear (Kendrick Lamar song) / Critical reception
caption_attribution_description: English: Cropped photograph of Kendrick Lamar at a 4th of July celebration with Barack Obama and Janelle Monáe at the White House in 2016
context_page_description: "Fear" is a song by American rapper Kendrick Lamar, from his fifth studio album Damn, released on April 14, 2017. The twelfth track on the album, the song was written by Lamar and Daniel Maman a.k.a. the Alchemist, and produced by the Alchemist, with additional production by Bēkon. At seven minutes and forty-one seconds, it is the longest song on the album. Although not released as a single, the song charted in multiple countries in 2017.
  The song, structured in three parts, describes events in Lamar's life, specifically his worries and fears, at the ages of seven, seventeen, twenty-seven, and at the time of recording. The song has received critical acclaim from music critics, with multiple critics calling the track as Damn's centerpiece, as well as a huge standout.
context_section_description: The song has received critical acclaim from music critics, with multiple critics describing "Fear" as Damn's centerpiece. Sydney Sweeney of Atwood Magazine called "Fear" a contemplative standout on DAMN. Maeve McDermott of USA Today said that with "Fear", "the album's purpose solidifies beyond its political statements, showing a portrait of an artist terrified of failure, in the eyes of his community, his peers and himself. Ryan Alfieri of DJBooth named the track as "one of [the] countless number of standout selections from his newly released opus." Writer Yoh of DJBooth described "Fear" as "the most important song on [Damn]".
  Several critics have described the song's structure as similar to the 2017 Best Picture-winning film  Moonlight, specifically how Moonlight follows a character in three sections – childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Because of this, Patrick Lyons of Merry Jane called Lamar "the best storyteller in hip-hop." Lawrence Burney of Vice has compared the song to Lamar's "Momma", from To Pimp a Butterfly, a track that also explores Lamar's self-actualization.
  Lamar himself, in an interview with i-D Magazine, spoke highly of the track, believing some of his best verses he's ever written come from "Fear", saying "[The song's] completely honest." Lamar continued "The first verse is everything that I feared from the time that I was seven years old. The second verse I was 17. In the third, it's everything I feared when I was 27. These verses are completely honest."
caption: Lamar himself believes "Fear" contains some of the best lyrics he's ever written.
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