He still hasn’t dropped it.
There have been two live-streamed listening parties and several rumored release dates, but still no Donda. Kanye West is taking his time.
With each delay, restlessness is growing among Kanye’s fanbase. Some are having fun with it—some of the memes of Mike Dean being held hostage in the bowels of Mercedes-Benz Stadium are hilarious. But others are having a more, um, challenging time with the delays. Kanye fan forums, subreddits, and Instagram pages are in disarray. People are starving for the album, and complaints are flying.
How are the delays really impacting appetite for the album, though? Are people getting tired of it all and tuning out? Or is anticipation only building with each delay? Members of the Complex Music team (Eric Skelton, Andre Gee, and Jessica McKinney) each weighed in and debated how the delays are really affecting Kanye’s Donda rollout. See each of their perspectives below.
Eric: The delays are annoying, but I think the hype for Donda is actually higher than ever. People were excited back when Kanye Justin LaBoy first announced the album’s arrival and they did the listening session at a church in Vegas. But they got even more invested after hearing an early version at the first event in Atlanta. That’s when the delays started, but then Kanye spent two weeks going viral for living in a stadium (even my mom was texting me about “the new Kanye album” at this point) and when he emerged to play the album again, it sounded noticeably better, which only added more hype. This has been an untraditional rollout, to say the least, but I think he’s only built excitement with each change of plans.
Andre: The hype has definitely turned to frustration and confusion for many. At first, the listening session into album rollout was cool. Then the live feed into listening session rollout was polarizing. It would have been something to thinkpiece and speculate about (the live feed still will be, to a lesser extent) but no one knows what’s going on now. The indecisiveness isn’t a novelty. It’s just confusing.
Jessica: I think the hype for Donda has been on a decline since Kanye started pushing the release date back, but it hasn’t completely diminished. The only saving grace was the second listening event, because the album sounded significantly better than the first listening party, and Kanye was able to revitalize some of the intrigue for the album while keeping fans wondering what would come next. Still, people are growing impatient and skeptical about whether this album will actually be released, so if Kanye’s antics continue, the hype will die down.
Eric: Stans will stay tapped in forever, but casual fans will start dropping out if this keeps happening. I think the key is to stop announcing specific dates. Kanye could keep tinkering with the album and continue playing it for people without losing much hype, but if he announces (and misses) any more release dates, people will stop anticipating those dates.
Andre: Kanye is polarizing, so the people who never wanted to listen made that choice for other reasons. As for the rest of the people, they can say they don’t care today, but those who were already planning to listen when it was announced are still going to listen. Even the people who have decided to tune out until the project is actually on DSPs will listen once it’s uploaded. I can’t envision a significant bloc of people saying “this took so long that I’m not listening at all” about a Kanye album. It might affect his first-week sales, but his core fanbase will make sure it goes No. 1, which is all any artist could ask for.
Jessica: People still care what Kanye does next, so it’s tough to pinpoint a time when they will turn their back on him. But should the due date get postponed for the fourth time, I think there will be less chatter on social media. People will turn to other artists and conversations. With that being said, though, once the album officially drops, I don’t foresee a drop in its success. People move on fast these days, and as we’ve seen by all the fans who made it out to both listening events in Atlanta, Kanye is still able to sell out arenas and release chart-topping albums.
Eric: I’ve been entertained, and I think it’s worked out well for Kanye so far. Even without saying a word, he knows how to get attention and create a spectacle. For years, his rollouts have been overshadowed by controversial tweets and interview outbursts, but this time he’s focused on the music (for the most part) and stayed quiet. So far, it’s working. There’s some grumbling from impatient fans, of course, but he’s managed to shift the narrative back to the actual music. In the process, he’s gained back some goodwill and public opinion is shifting back in his favor. And based on the livestreams anyway, the music is better than it’s been for years. Instead of rushing out an unfinished product like he did with Ye, he’s finally taking his time and focusing on actually making an album again. For all the talk there was about TLOP being a “living, breathing album” that kept changing after it was released, I think this album will be remembered for the way Kanye showed us his creative process and allowed us to watch it take shape over time. This has been a productive (and very entertaining) rollout.
Andre: It would’ve been great if it had come out last Friday, but now it’s getting a little ridiculous with the pushbacks. His core fans aren’t going anywhere, though. These people sold Ziplocs of air from the first listening session. In a twisted sort of way, the delay just feeds his idolatry, for him to continuously move the goalpost and have his fans still be thirsty for the album.
I think this rollout can elicit discussions on ego, fan entitlement, the cult of celebrity, the nexus of commerce and art, responsibility amid COVID, how much fans are willing to tolerate from an artist, the hopelessness of “perfection” and pleasing everyone, as well as how distanced we can stomach an artist being from their operation. How much expectation should fans have of artists, and how obligated should artists feel to fans?
That said, I think the delays have annoyed a lot of people. I don’t think you ever want frustration to be a part of your album rollout. I feel like a lot of people outside the Stan bubble have tuned out until the album is actually on DSPs.
Jessica: The actual music on Donda definitely benefited from the delays. The first version of the album sounded unfinished. The production and features were great, but it seemed to lack direction, and Kanye failed to say anything of substance. On the second go-around, we saw a dramatic change, though. There were more features, and the production sounded more polished, but Kanye also added in some of his most vulnerable lyrics in years. Although the delays gave Kanye more time to create a more enjoyable album, it would’ve been nice if he had released it on the initial date (instead of showing his work as he went along) but I guess it wouldn’t be a Kanye album rollout if the album was finished by the deadline.
I enjoyed hearing less from Kanye this rollout season. His presence on Twitter or any media outlet has always been a distraction and often negatively influenced my opinions on his music in the past. I also enjoyed the idea of a live streamed listening event, but that’s where my positive review stops. Since then, Kanye has been scattered and disorganized. The delayed dates are one thing, but what’s even more confusing and annoying is that he still seems to be releasing or teasing some of the music while he’s updating it. This isn’t new for Kanye; we saw this process during TLOP. But instead of teasing “Hurricane” or dropping and deleting songs on Apple Music, it would be nice if he put all of his energy in finishing the album and putting it out at one time.
Eric: In case you haven’t been keeping up, here’s a quick rundown of the theories going around. Basically, some people think Kanye is dragging his feet so Drake will announce a date for Certified Lover Boy, opening the door for a release-day battle between the feuding stars (similar to ’Ye’s notorious standoff with 50 Cent back in 2007). As unlikely as that sounds, there are some clues that something might be going on behind the scenes. On July 24, Kanye’s close collaborator Consequence tweeted, “We looking for @drake drop date.” A week later, Drake went on OVO Sound Radio and said, “Certified Lover Boy on the way, and that’s for anyone in the way,” which some people interpreted as a response to Kanye’s camp. Then, in the most recent version of Donda played during the second listening party, Kanye had some bars about release-date jockeying, although he didn’t name names. On the song with Playboi Carti, he raps, “Move out of the way of my release.”
I don’t think the Donda delays are happening because of Drake. But I do think there’s some jockeying happening behind the scenes. Drake (and LeBron James) have said CLB is finished and coming soon, and it’s likely he wants to drop it before the summer ends. But he’s probably hesitant to announce a date and let Kanye crash his party (assuming Kanye even wants to). It’s all speculation at this point, but there’s clearly still tension between these camps, and they’re both trying to coordinate album releases without much communication.
Andre: I don’t wanna speculate too crazy, but that tweet Consequence made about wanting to go head up with Drake is still there, whereas other recent tweets and IG comments from Kanye’s peers have been deleted. I’m gonna assume Kanye wants that messaging out there. Maybe he wants to prove a point to himself, Drake, and the rap world.
Jessica: Everything is about Drake. (Just kidding). Although there may have been some jabs at Drake in the early version of the album, I don’t think this album rollout has anything to do with him. I just think Kanye has gotten into a habit of promising things he can’t deliver on, and there’s no one—not the label, his management, or friends—who can do anything about it, other than support him and help make it into more of a spectacle.
Eric: I’m willing to wait until Kanye is finished with the album. It got a lot better between the first listening session and the second, so if he needs even more time, he should take it. I just hope he doesn’t announce any more release dates that he won’t stick to. That’s what’s pissing people off more than anything. Just work on the album until it’s finished, and put it out. I also hope he doesn’t go too far down the rabbit hole of seeking feedback from everyone. Just a few days ago, Mike Dean was polling Kanye West fan Discords and asking which version of “Hurricane” they wanted. Getting general feedback from crowds at listening sessions is one thing, but lurking Discords might be a step too far, and could end up fucking up the album. We’ll see.
Andre: At this point, the ideal situation is for him to just drop the album immediately, or to have someone tell us that he wants to do further work on it and actually doesn’t know when it’s coming. Then he can reset the intrigue for it amongst his supporters, instead of just annoying people.
Jessica: Ideally, the album will drop on or before August 13, and will sound even better than it did during the second listening event.
Eric: I think there are a few artists who are big enough to delay their album this many times without much consequence. People would stick with artists like Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Jay-Z, and Beyoncé (although it’s hilarious to think of any of the latter three ever doing anything like this) through this many delays, too. But beyond the A-listers, I think it would backfire. Kanye has a uniquely passionate fanbase (and he’s able to turn delays into entertaining spectacles in a way no one else can) but a smaller artist would alienate their fans and people would tune out if they did this. For that reason, I really hope this isn’t another trend Kanye just started.
Andre: Kanye knows he has a devoted fanbase and so much prestige that even the people who are mad right now are eventually going to listen. He has the ideal attributes to be able to toy with his fans: a signature sound and a core fanbase who eats out the palm of his hand. A less popular artist with a more derivative sound would have been tuned out a while ago.
Jessica: I don’t think there is another artist in this industry who can do what Kanye does. Not even Beyoncé. Part of what makes Kanye so much fun to watch is that he’s unpredictable and chaotic, but you can’t look away, because nine times out of ten, you’re going to get some kind of show. No other artist would hold two listening parties for an unfinished album, or livestream a makeshift bedroom/studio in the basement of an Atlanta stadium. As annoying as it is, that’s part of the reason why there’s still hype nearly one month after the initial announcement.
