coldest winter". On the chorus, he repeats the couplet "Goodbye my friend / Will I ever love again?" thrice. To close out the song, West sings the couplet with the alteration of the last line to "I won't ever love again". Release and reception On November 24, 2008, "Coldest Winter" was released as the eleventh track on West's fourth studio album 808s & Heartbreak. The song was met with generally positive reviews from music critics, mostly being praised for its composition. The staff of The Observer pointed to the song as one of the album's tracks to download, alongside comparing its "frosty synths" to raw Detroit techno. Scott Plagenhoef of Pitchfork chose the song as one of the album's highlights, focusing particularly on the "909 and descending synth". Greg Kot from the Chicago Tribune detailed that on 808s & Heartbreak, West discovers "a hole in his life that keeps getting larger" until he reaches "Coldest Winter", which he dubbed as "a eulogy for his mother". Kot further remarked that West's voice "floats over tribal drums", describing the instrument as channeling "passion into a song that sounds like it's slowly bleeding to death". At The New York Times, Jon Caramanica offered that the "thunderous drums cut[ting] through an electro haze" on the song are suggestive of West's "old, oversize sound". Andy Kellman from AllMusic noticed West "longs for his departed mother" on the song, while praising its usage of "the most desolate song" from Hurting. Writing for the Chicago Sun-Times, Jim DeRogatis favored West's level of eloquentness on the song to that of fellow album track "Pinocchio Story", specifically acclaiming his lyrical content, as well as noting it as an instance of where West's auto-tune usage is "touching and very effective" on the album. Cara Nash from No Ripcord saw the song as "an ode to [West's] mother" that would work perfectly as the record's closing track. RapReviews author Jesal 'Jay Soul' Padania felt the song is the only one on 808s & Heartbreak that seems real due to delving into "the death of [West's] mother", and his involvement in the death. In a review of the album at USA Today, Steve Jones recommended the song as one of the tracks to download, a selection shared by IGNs Alfred H. Leonard, III. Dave Heaton of PopMatters held a moderately positive opinion, affirming that the song's "machine-gun blast of electric fuzz and