Fans can expect some changes on season 16 of Keeping Up With The Kardashians. Not to worry, Khloé Kardashian and Scott Disick will probably still play their silly tricks on Kris Jenner, there will be (fingers crossed) an inexplicably over-the-top family vacation grounded by drama, and yes all the Jordyn Woods tea will be served piping hot.
The big changes will focus on how the show looks — in which Kanye West, Kim Kardashian West’s husband, had a big say. The show’s “creative director,” as a New York Times article refers to Kanye, was the force behind getting KUWTK’s intro sequence away from its Brady Bunch feel and into the modern look it has now.
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“He’s a real creative force, clearly, and had thoughts on marketing, thoughts on presentation of the show, on the opening title sequence,” Adam Stotsky, the president of E!, said.
This season’s trailer shows off the new amber lighting that the show’s confessionals will have in the upcoming season, courtesy of another of Kanye’s directional notes. The Times’ article compared Kanye’s new role in the show to that infamous episode when he made over Kim and threw out her clothes.
“So, it’s basically like that but for business,” Kim said. “He’ll have a room full of a dozen people or sometimes three of us and we go over packaging and colors and the photo shoot.”
Not only is Kanye’s influence seen in the little details, but in the overall content direction, too. The trailer opens on a scene of Kanye’s Sunday Services and shots from the church are spliced throughout the clip. In new promotional stills for the show, Kim is also given prominence as she stands out in a sequin bodysuit while the rest of her sisters wear all black.
For multiple seasons Kanye’s on-screen involvement in the show was limited, which will also change this season. He will be prominently featured, and regularly interviewed for into-the-camera confessionals. Perhaps his heavier behind-the-scenes involvement made him more comfortable? Back in 2013, he said he didn’t appear on the show due to his objections to the aesthetics, according to Vanity Fair.
“I don’t really do her show just because I don’t particularly like the way the producers shoot some of the shots,” he said during a radio interview on Hot 97. “I’m very meticulous to that, right? I like to get a different DP [director of photography] or whatever.”
It looks like Kanye got his wish. You can see all the new changes on the season 16 of KUWTK, which premieres on E! on March 31.