West uses unconventional styles and sudden musical shifts in song structures, drawing comparisons to the Beatles' experimental era. Kim observed a heavy difference between the album and West's previous work, stating, "West ambitiously attempts to depart from the street sensibilities of Dropout by giving Late Registration a shiny, quasi-alt-pop finish." Rolling Stone writer Rob Sheffield concurred with this sentiment, analyzing that West "claims the whole world of music as hip-hop turf", taking on a "mad quest to explode every cliché about hip-hop identity". The album has been described as a work of pop rap by Caleb Wossen of the Dallas Observer. The first full track on Late Registration, "Heard 'Em Say" exhibits a cascading piano melody provided by excerpts of "Someone That I Used To Love", as performed by Natalie Cole, embellished over tumbling beats, a bass synthesizer, and brief plucks of acoustic guitar. The song's intricately composed outro features the last vocals fading out as various bells and whistles are incorporated, succeeded by the bass synthesizer. "Touch the Sky" stands as the sole song on the album not to feature production by West. The song was produced by fellow Roc-A-Fella producer Just Blaze, who uses a slowed-down sample of Curtis Mayfield's "Move On Up" (1970), filled with Latin horns. "Gold Digger" contains an interpolation of "I Got a Woman" by Charles and a bouncy beat that relies on handclaps, accompanied by scratches from West's touring DJ A-Trak. Towards the end, the song employs vintage synthesizers, which are joined by a honking keyboard. West's production approach is simplified for "Drive Slow", a song that contains a looped sample of the alto sax from Hank Crawford's recording of the 1973 track "Wildflower" by Skylark, before slowing down the sample towards the end, which is antithetical to West's "chipmunk soul"-styled loops. The interlude "My Way Home" contains a sample of "Home Is Where The Hatred Is" (1971) by Gil Scott-Heron. "Bring Me Down" has more orchestration than any other track on Late Registration, including string arrangements, violins, and cello. The structure of "Addiction" contains synths, congas, strings, and elements of Etta James's "My Funny Valentine" (1937). All the while, West's vocals go through heavy overdubbing. "Diamonds from Sierra Leone" is built around a sample of Shirley Bassey's theme song for the 1971 James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever, layering it with lush instrumental arrangements that feature drums, horns, strings, and a harpsichord.